ITV2 Scores With 6.1% Share For Football
ITV3’s Champions League Live attracted an impressive 800,000 viewers and an 6.1% share last night, making it the 6th most popular peak-channel in multi-channel homes and the most popular multi-channel programme by far.
The digital channel achieved its best Tuesday peak-time share since 8th March, when it obtained a 5.94% share, and its second best for a Tuesday this year.
In May, ITV1 saw massive audiences with its screening of the UEFA Champion’s League Final, drawing a peak of 14.6 million sports fans to the match. The peak audience represented a 60% share for ITV, while the programme’s average audience hit 10.8 million viewers to secure a 46% share, although this included an extra time period of thirty minutes (see ITV Sees Record Ratings For Champions League Win).
Broadcasters have voiced concerns over the multi-channel arena causing an increasing fragmentation of the media, with the television industry moving from a mass-market single event to a sector which is far more complex but potentially more profitable.
According to a report earlier in the year from Deloitte & Touche, the growth in on-demand TV, new television services and broadband is making it increasingly hard for broadcasters to target the traditional mass audience (see Advertisers Warned Of Fragmented Media).
The research shows that in order to keep up with the ever fragmenting media market, broadcasters must broaden their reach to new media channels and formats and deepen relationships with their customers by offering personalised services.
Last night however, ITV2’s ability to pull a large audience showed that big events still attract a large number of viewers, despite the increasing choice of channels available to viewers.
ITV has been preparing itself for the digital age, with the broadcaster expanding its offerings. The broadcaster announced last month that the latest addition to its family of channels, ITV4 will launch on the first of November this year, offering viewers a mix of new US drama, top end British drama, comedy, movies, sport, Sci-Fi and factual programming (see ITV4 To Launch In November).
The new channel will complement the programming on sister channels ITV1, 2 and 3, appealing to a more male audience than ITV1, and a younger one than ITV3.
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com