Television Round-Up – April Revenue
The combined ITV/C4 revenue for April, based on agency estimates, came in at £178.685 million, up 13.2% on last year. ITV only was £140.447 million, and C4 was £38.24 million, a split of 79:21, a decrease on the last two month’s share, when C4 achieved 22%.
In terms of contractor shares, YTTV and Central performed best compared to April last year, up 0.72% points and 0.61% points respectively. Carlton was up 0.57% points, but the overall London total was brought down by LWT, down 0.88% points on last year, despite having the same number of trading days in both 1994 and 1995. However, LWT’s 12.30% was its best performance so far this year.
TELEVISION ROUND UP – APRIL
| Apr 94 | Apr 95 | % Point Chg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlton | 15.16 | 15.73 | 0.57 |
| LWT | 13.18 | 12.3 | -0.88 |
| London | 28.34 | 28.04 | -0.31 |
| Central | 15.36 | 15.97 | 0.61 |
| Granada/Border | 11.01 | 10.91 | -0.1 |
| YTTV | 9.62 | 10.34 | 0.72 |
| STV | 4.97 | 4.78 | -0.19 |
| Grampian | 1.14 | 1.19 | 0.05 |
| HTV | 6.05 | 5.98 | -0.07 |
| Meridian | 11.76 | 11.29 | -0.47 |
| Anglia | 7.33 | 7.2 | -0.14 |
| Westcountry | 2.47 | 2.3 | -0.18 |
| Ulster | 1 | 2.03 | 0.07 |
TELEVISION ROUND UP – APRIL COMMERCIAL MESSAGES
Commercial messages for April were down for ITV, and also for ITV and C4 combined; C4 messages however, were up across all audiences except for ABC1 Adults, which lost 0.7% year on year. Among the combined ITV and C4 messages, Housewives with Children recorded the biggest decrease, down 7.9% year on year Men recorded the least decrease, but this was still down 4.4%.
COMMERCIAL MESSAGES
| H/wvs | Adts | Men | Wmn | H/wvs+Kids | ABC1 Adlts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | 21054 | 35008 | 14032 | 20977 | 5741 | 12694 |
| % Ch YoY | -5.9 | -5.3 | -4.4 | -5.9 | -7.9 | -5.9 |
COSTS PER THOUSAND
With revenue up 13% and messages falling, costs per thousand for April were up heavily year on year. ITV/C4 combined costs were up by around 20%, with the highest increase from Housewives with Children, up 22.8%, and the smallest increase from Men, up 18.3%.
COSTS PER THOUSAND –
| H/wvs | Adts | Men | Wmn | H/wvs+Kids | ABC1 Adts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | 1028 | 619 | 1543 | 1032 | 3772 | 1706 |
| % Ch YoY | 20.2 | 19.5 | 18.3 | 20.3 | 22.8 | 20.3 |
| *CPTS# for full details |
TV VIEWING
TV viewing for April was down on March, by 58 minutes to an average weekly viewing per head of 25 hours and 18 minutes. Compared to March, BBC1 fared worst, losing 1.5% points to a 31.5% share of viewing; ITV lost 0.8% points to 36.1% share and C4 lost 0.4% points to 11.3% share. BBC2 appears to have gained audience at BBC1 and ITV’s expense, with its share of 12.6% the highest it has been since July 1993. Non-terrestrial viewing also had a good month, with its highest ever share of viewing at 8.4%, beating last month’s record at 8%.
TV VIEWING
| TV VIEWING | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| SHARE OF TOTAL: INDS | APR 95 | MAR 95 | % PTS CH |
| BBC1 | 31.5 | 33 | -1.5 |
| BBC2 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 2.2 |
| TOTAL BBC | 44.2 | 43.4 | 0.8 |
| ITV | 36.1 | 36.9 | -0.8 |
| C4 | 11.3 | 11.7 | -0.4 |
| TOTAL ITV | 47.4 | 48.6 | -1.2 |
| OTHERS | 8.4 | 8 | 0.4 |
INDUSTRY NEWS
April saw the Independent Television Commission issuing its 1994 Licensee Performance Review; its biggest criticism was the overall lack of innovation or courage in scheduling and commissioning. Of the individual licensees which had been criticised in 1993, (GMTV, Carlton and Teletext), all had shown improvements for 1994, although Carlton was told that more was expected in 1995.
Spirits advertising was given the go-ahead on television at the end of April, with the Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Council announcing that it had received a formal submission for a TV script for a branded spirit, thus ending the self-imposed prohibition by spirits companies.
Rupert Murdoch announced his plans for an international rugby “super-league”, which will be shown on his various networks around the world.
There was promising signs for cable television when GfK Research released in April showed that twice as many people in Britain intend to sign up for cable once it is available in their area than satellite. Cable was attractive for two main reasons; it offers the possibility of low cost telephone services together with purely local television channels, neither of which satellite can provide.