Programme Analysis: Return Of The Swamp Thing W/E 18/5/97
Return of the Swamp Thing, shown on Channel 5 on Monday 12th May, was watched by a consolidated audience of 1.112 million which is an average audience for the slot, though it is a high figure in comparison with the rest of the channel’s viewing.
Viewing was highest for this film in the Central Scotland, North West and Wales/West areas with TVRs of 3 and 4 while the South, East and Border regions did not register an audience, probably due to poor or non-existent signal reception. London, the Midlands, the North East and Ulster had TVRs of 2.
Perhaps not surprisingly considering the nature of the film, the highest rating was among Men viewers with a TVR of 3. The other categories each recorded 2 TVRs, which is a relatively high figure for Children considering that the film was shown after 9pm.
While the film was up against some popular programmes on the other channels, it could be argued that Return of the Swamp Thing would not really appeal to their audiences and was an offering which would attract a younger and slightly more male orientated audience not otherwise catered for on the main terrestrial channels. This was reflected in the advertisers in the film’s two centre breaks: they were Riva, Friends video, Maynards Wine Gums, MFI, Metz, Electronic (CD), Vauxhall Vectra and then Bacardi, Pot Noodle, Pepsi, Big Mix (CD), Bodyform, John Smiths, Pot Noodle and Vauxhall Corsa. All of the films shown in this slot are sponsored by Stella Artois.
The other programmes on at the same time included Bramwell on ITV (8.412 million with a strong Women and Housewives profile), Panorama on BBC1 (4.7 million with a Male and Housewives bias), Melissa on Channel (4.748m with strong Women and Housewives bias) and Till Death Us Do Part was on BBC2 (3.258m with more Men and Housewife viewers).
Advertisers in the two centre breaks of Return of the Swamp Thing were Riva, Friends video, Maynards Wine Gums, MFI, Metz, Electronic (CD) and then Bacardi, Pot Noodle, Pepsi, Bix Mix (CD), Bodyform, John Smiths, Pot Noodle and Vauxhall Corsa. This would indicate a young, slightly upmarket target audience of both males and females, though with perhaps a slight male bias. All of the films shown in this slot are sponsored by Stella Artois.
Click here for access to the Television Database