Television Round-Up – June Revenue

The combined ITV/C4 revenue for June, based on agency estimates, came in at £174.089m, up 11.9% on last June, although this is down £9m on May’s total. The ITV figure was £136m; C4’s was £38m; this is a split of 78:22.

The London contractors fared best, with London as a whole up 0.56% points to 27.96% share. Carlton, which had an extra day trading, increased by 0.52% points to 16.03%. This is however a big decrease on May’s high of 17.36%.

Those contractors faring worst in June were STV, down by 0.54% points to 4.42% – this is its lowest share this year; Grampian, down 0.07% points also recorded its lowest share so far this year at 1.07%.

TELEVISION ROUND-UP – JUNE MESSAGES

Combined ITV/C4 messages for June were a mixed bag; housewives with children recorded a big drop on last June, down 5.6%; most other audiences were fairly static compared to last year, whilst men recorded an increase of 2.0%. The increase in male viewing, noticable among just ITV messages as well, where the June year on year decrease of 1.1% is significantly less than previous months this year, must be attributable to the Rugby World Cup. The hot June weather may account for less viewing among housewives with children. C4’s messages, as has been the case all this year, were up across the board.

TELEVISION ROUND-UP – COSTS PER THOUSAND

With revenue up 11.9% year on year and messages for most audiences static, combined ITV/C4 costs per thousand were up by around 11% for most audiences; as would be expected, Housewives with children, whose messages fell for June, recorded the highest increase in costs per thousand, up 18.6%; men recorded the lowest increasre, 9.6%.

TV VIEWING

Average weekly viewing for June per head was 22:39 hours; this is a decrease on May of 33 minutes. In terms of channels, the major sporting events seem to have had an effect on viewing; ITV, which showed the Rugby World Cup has increased its share of viewing from 36.4% in May to 38.1%; BBC2, which showed most of Wimbledon in the last week of June recorded an increase from 10.2% in May to 11.6% share for June. These gains were seemingly at the expense of BBC1, which recorded a very low share of 30.4%. Its share last June was 31.2%.

Monthly TV Viewing Shares

INDUSTRY NEWS

June was a busy month in the cable industry, with the launch of Mirror Group’s new 24 hour entertainment and lifestyle channel, L!ve TV. There was also controversy caused by what cable companies called BSkyB’s “non-competition” clauses regarding its contracts with cable companies. ITV and C4 also stepped in to ask the MMC to launch an investigation.

The MTV Petar Survey was released; this showed that MTV was the most watched music channel among 16-34 year olds in cable and satellite homes across Europe. Other non-terrestrial surveys released in June included the GfK Marketing Services, which revealed that the increase in dish sales was steadily decreasing, despite cuts in the price of dish sales. Cable, on the other hand, according to ITC figures, recorded subscribers up by over 50% year on year to 930,000. The ITC issued its annual report, in which it was revealed that in 1994, TV revenue was over £2 billion for the first time – an increase of 11% on 1993. The ITC also issued its annual survey “The Public’s View” in June, in which it examined public attitudes towards both terrestrial and cable and satellite in the UK.

Another theme in June was that of digital broadcasting; Andrew Neil, in a lecture at the Royal TV Society warned terrestrial broadcasters of the impact the digital revolution will have on broadcasting; Stephen Dorrell, whilst still National Heritage Secretary, echoed these warnings to the BBC and ITV at a London conference at the end of June.

ITV chiefs held an emergency council meeting in June to discuss sliding ratings – it emerged that the meeting had fully backed the new planned autumn schedule. Other programming news in June was the warning which Channel 4’s The Word received over unacceptable content, such as Mr Powertool, in which a man pulled a girl on a chair across the studio using a rope attached to his penis; the show was eventually axed.