ITV Offers Advertisers Earlier Schedules

ITV has said that it will provide advertisers with details of its schedules two months in advance of broadcast following complaints from the industry that schedules were withheld for too long, preventing advertisers from effectively booking campaigns. Also some programmes were dropped from the schedule after ads had been booked around them. ITV has created an air of secrecy around its programming schedules in order to prevent the BBC from scheduling directly against it. Speaking at London’s National Theatre, ITV chief executive Richard Eyre, said that although advance schedules would be provided, last-minute changes would still be made and the schedules would not necessarily be complete.

Eyre also confirmed that the Network’s new evening schedule – without the News At Ten – will start on 8 March (see ITC Agrees To News At Ten Move). The new weekday schedule will feature the ITV Evening News with Trevor McDonald and the ITV Nightly News with Dermot Murnaghan. Both programmes are being produced by ITN. The ITV Evening News will broadcast for half an hour from 6:30pm. The 20 minute ITV Nightly News will be broadcast most evenings at 11pm, but may transmit earlier on some occasions, according to Eyre.

Steve Anderson, ITV’s controller of news and current affairs, is confident that the Evening News will establish itself as the country’s number one news programme. He also adds: “We are pleased there is an agreement that the new programmes are branded ITV. With more channels than ever, it’s important for ITV to reinforce its identity through a reputable and regular news service. However, the ITN brand remains important – particularly given its superiority over the BBC – and it will be at the forefront of our news service.”

Richard Eyre also spoke about the Network’s performance over the last year, claiming that there is a different mood about ITV now following the channel’s new look and re-branding in September 1998 (see ITV – Coming From The Heart). “What has been achieved in 1998 encourages me for 1999 – although it will be more difficult this year than last. The target is higher and it’s the first year we are pursuing growth, not the arrest of decline,” he said. The target is a 39% share of peak time viewing this year, rising to 40% in 2000. ITV just fell short of last year’s 38% (with 37.9%) peak time target, but claims to have achieved a share of 42.3% in the first three weeks of this year.

Eyre also repeated the familiar warning that the growth in the number of multi-channel homes will have significant impact on ITV’s performance in the long term. “However great we make ITV I don’t think it’s reasonable to imagine that we can make it so fabulous that people decide not to bother to go multi-channel. Digital television – of which we are part – will increase the penetration of multi-channel homes to our disadvantage, so there’s something of a conflict of ambitions here,” he warned.

David Liddiment, director of programmes, highlighted some areas in which he felt ITV had been a strong success. The new game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was seen to exemplify a new commitment to entertainment on the channel, he said. Liddiment also told advertisers that the introduction of the new news pattern would allow him to initiate important new schedule tactics as well as new programming.

ITV’s marketing and commercial director, John Hardie, noted that the creation of a centralised Network Promotions Unit and an off-air advertising campaign aimed at attracting younger and lighter viewers had paid off. He claimed that advertised programmes have performed 4 to 5 share points better than the norm on average.

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