Programme Analysis: Kavanagh QC W/E 16/03/97

Although Kavanagh QC outperformed Goodnight Sweetheart with a consolidated TVR of 18 (9.614 million) compared with a TVR of 16 (8.941 million), there were several ITV areas where the BBC1 programme had a higher audience than the more upmarket legal drama.

While in the London region both programmes scored an equal TVR of 16, in the North West, the South West and the East Sweetheart had a higher audience than Kavanagh QC by between 1 and 3 TVRs. Kavanagh on the other hand, until recently sponsored by the Daily Telegraph, had a strong audience in the South (its highest with a TVR of 21 compared to BBC1’s TVR of 16), Yorkshire and Wales/West. Sweetheart‘s lowest audience was in the North East and Border with 12 TVRs, while Kavanagh was weakest in the South West and Ulster.

In terms of the other BBC1 programmes which ran during the rest of Kavanagh, viewing for the Nine O’Clock News (10 TVRs), which followed Sweetheart, dropped off sharply in most areas while the gulf was predictably smaller between the news and the next programme, Panorama (7 TVRs).

The audience for Men was disappointing for all programmes and was consistently lower than for Adults, Women and Housewives. For all categories, except Children, Kavanagh outperformed Sweetheart by an average of 4 TVRs. Housewives had the highest TVR for all the programmes, with a TVR of 24 for Kavanagh and a TVR of 19 for Sweetheart. The smallest difference in audience between the two programmes was among Men where it was 2 TVRs.

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