ITV Beaten For First Time In Monthly Ratings By BBC1
The ITV network has been dealt a further blow this week with viewing figures for May showing that BBC1 has overtaken ITV1 in the monthly peak-time ratings for the first time.
During May, BBC1 secured a 29.4% share of viewing in the prime-time 6pm to 10.30pm slot, ahead of ITV1, which drew 28.4% of the available audience. The figures represent more bad news for the commercial network, which has seen revenues suffer as a result of the closure of ITV Digital (see Administrators Confirm ITV Digital Sale) and the downturn in advertising.
ITV recently injected an extra £25m into its programming budget for this year in an attempt to improve its audience share (see ITV Increases Programming Budget For 2002). The extra investment is intended to strengthen the its drama and entertainment output and give a much needed boost to ITV’s daytime schedule.
BBC1’s performance during May was helped by shows such as Auf Wiedersehen Pet and the success of new series such as Cutting It. A spokesman for the corporation said: “The extra investment in the channel can now be seen on screen with quality programming attracting more viewers.”
Annual viewing figures for 2001 show that across all hours during the year more people watched BBC1 than ITV1 (see BBC Claims Ratings Victory Over ITV). ITV’s director of channels, David Liddiment, has criticised the BBC for being too intent on winning ratings (see GEITF 2001 MacTaggart Lecture), but has said that he is not about to surrender ITV1’s position as Britain’s most popular channel (see Liddiment Defends Risk Taking).
ITV recently signed a four year, £320m airtime advertising deal with Unilever, part of which depends on the network delivering large audiences (see Unilever Signs Record UK Airtime Deal).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk
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