ITV’s Share Of Advertising To Tumble To 51% In 2003, Say Forecasts
ITV’s share of the advertising market looks set to fall further this year, as advertisers reduce the proportion of their budgets to be spent on the network.
The negotiations come after a particularly tough year for ITV, which has suffered at the hands of an increasingly populist BBC, toughening competition from commercial rivals and the ongoing advertising downturn. Month by month revenue shares since November 2000, based on agency estimates, are shown below.
In November last year, the Mediavest agency also forecast that ITV’s share would hit 51% this year, whilst OMD UK predicted a more optimistic 53% – flat year on year (see Tough Times Ahead For ITV Companies).
BBC1 pips ITV1 in viewing hours The latest figures from BARB show that BBC1 extended its annual ratings lead over ITV1 last year, with a 26.2% share of viewing across all hours, compared to 24.1% for ITV1. Further bad news came with confirmation that for the first time, the number of people watching cable, satellite and digital terrestrial TV channels outnumbered those watching ITV1 during the Christmas week.
Merger implications ITV1 has pledged to invest £825 million in new programming this year in a bid to increase its audience share and secure lucrative advertising deals. However, the decreasing share of advertising may actually benefit the merger plans of ITV’s owners, Carlton Communications and Granada.
One of the main oppositions to the merger is that it would give ITV control of well over half of the UK’s television airtime advertising (see ISBA Urges OFT To Block ITV Merger). It is conceivable that this could be a deal-breaker, if the regulatory authorities decide to block the merger on advertising competition grounds. But with ITV’s share tumbling towards the 50% mark, the union may start to look more stomachable to the market and authorities alike.