Television Round Up – June
REVENUE
The combined TV revenue figure for June, based on agency estimates, came in at £155.57m, an increase of 8.8% year on year. The ITV share was £122.9m, up 7.3% on last year; Channel 4 had £32.67m, an increase of 14.6%. The better performance by Channel 4 is reflected in the split; 79:21.
With regard to individual contractor shares, the best performance came from LWT, with an 11.89% share, up 0.92% points on last year. Trading days were equal year on year. Carlton also increased its share, giving London an overall increase of 1.60% points. YTTV suffered the heaviest loss in share, down 1.56% points to 9.96%. Grampian/Border lost 0.36% points on last year’s share.
| 1993 | 1994 | % PT CH | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlton | 14.83 | 15.51 | 0.68 |
| LWT | 10.97 | 11.89 | 0.92 |
| London | 25.8 | 27.4 | 1.6 |
| Central | 15.55 | 15.66 | 0.11 |
| Granada/Border | 11.11 | 10.75 | -0.36 |
| YTTV | 11.52 | 9.96 | -1.56 |
| STV | 5.11 | 4.96 | -0.15 |
| Grampian | 1.15 | 1.14 | 0.01 |
| HTV | 6.11 | 6.32 | 0.21 |
| Meridian | 11.63 | 11.46 | 0.17 |
| Anglia | 7.49 | 7.75 | 0.26 |
| Westcountry | 2.63 | 2.44 | -0.19 |
| Ulster | 1.92 | 2 | 0.08 |
MESSAGES
Messages for June, as was also the case for May, bucked the recent downward trend to increase for all audiences except for men. Male audiences declined by 1.3% year on year. The highest increase was among ABC1 adults, up 7.3%.
COMMERCIAL MESSAGES - ITV/C4
| Hwvs | Adults | Men | Women | Hwvs/Child | ABC1 Adults | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | 20144 | 33506 | 13262 | 20245 | 5822 | 12156 |
| % CH YoY | 3.9 | 2.1 | -1.3 | 4.6 | 6.8 | 7.3 |
COSTS PER THOUSAND
Although messages did increase this month, the revenue rise was enough to make the costs per thousand increase across the board as well. The highest increase was among men, up 9.6% year on year. The lowest increase was among ABC1 Adults, up only 0.8% on last year.
COST PER THOUSANDS - COMBINED ITV/C4
| Hwvs | Adults | Men | Women | Hwvs/Child | ABC1 Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | 936 | 563 | 1422 | 931 | 3238 | 1551 |
| % CH YoY | 4.1 | 6 | 9.6 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
SHARE OF VIEWING
In terms of share of viewing, commercial television did not fare very well this month, losing 1.7% points compared to May this year. This could be expected, due to coverage of Wimbledon, accounting for BBC 2’s increase in share to 12.3 However, when comparing year on year the commercial stations fared even worse, losing 2.0% points share. ITV dropped 0.9% points, anc C4 dropped 1.1% points Cable and satellite stations increased share by 0.5% points.
BARB MONTHLY AUDIENCE SHARES
| 1994 | 1993 | 1994 | YR/YR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAY | JUNE | % PT | JUNE | JUNE | % PT | |
| % | % | CHNG | % | % | CHNG | |
| BBC1 | 31.8 | 31.2 | -0.6 | 30.8 | 31.2 | 0.4 |
| BBC2 | 9.9 | 12.3 | 2.4 | 11.2 | 12.3 | 1.1 |
| TOTAL | 41.7 | 43.5 | 1.8 | 42 | 43.5 | 1.5 |
| ITV | 40.7 | 39.4 | -1.3 | 40.3 | 39.4 | -0.9 |
| C4/S4C | 10.8 | 10.4 | -0.4 | 11.5 | 10.4 | -1.1 |
| TOTAL | 51.5 | 49.8 | -1.7 | 51.8 | 49.8 | -2 |
| Others | 6.8 | 6.7 | -0.1 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 0.5 |
INDUSTRY NEWS
The major news of the month was the Department of Trade and Industry’s ruling on Granada’s sales arrangements. Granada’s request to exceed the 25% limit was rejected, ruling that Granada must return its share to the 25% level by August 1995. Under current arrangements, Granada holds 29%. Granada announced it would set up a new sales house, Laser. Laser will sell the airtime of Granada, LWT, YTTV and Border from September.
Details are still not confirmed as to the future sellings arrangements of STV and Grampian.
The row over ITV and C4 funding continued, with C4 bosses meeting Peter Brooke Heritage Secretary to discuss the safety net.
RESEARCH
C4 issued some research into direct response, which showed that Monday is the best day to screen a direct response ad, and that the effectiveness of an ad increases by 25% when it contains a voice over. Ads that last for 60 seconds
were more effective than 30 second ads. Videotron released some research showing that video advertising can add a significant reach to TV campaigns.
The GFk satellite monitor put estimates for satellite dish ownership at 2.612m BARB data puts ownership at 2.739m, but this figure includes Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.