Television Round-Up – November
Revenue
November was a poor month for ITV in terms of revenue, with ITV’s actual figure down on last year by 1.4% to £147.37m. Channel 4 however, managed an increase of 14.2% year on year up to £43.67 million. This puts the combined ITV/C4 revenue at £191.038 million, an increase of just 1.8% year on year. (All figures based on agency estimates.) This means C4 took 23% of total terrestrial revenue; last November it took just 20%.
In terms of contractor revenues, Yorkshire Tyne Tees fared best compared to last year’s share, up by 0.98% points to 11.55% share. In the London market, Carlton had a good month, up by 0.82% points to 16.21%, whereas LWT lost 1.5% points on last year, to under a 10% share for the first time this year. Yorkshire Tyne Tees had its best month so far this year, taking 11.55% share of revenue.
TV CONTRACTOR REVENUE SHARE
| Nov-95 | Nov-94 | % Pts Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cltn | 16.21 | 15.39 | 0.82 |
| LWT | 9.51 | 11.03 | -1.52 |
| Lond | 25.72 | 26.42 | -0.7 |
| Cent | 16.16 | 16.51 | -0.35 |
| Gr/Bdr | 11.44 | 11.23 | 0.21 |
| YTTV | 11.55 | 10.57 | 0.98 |
| STV | 5.14 | 4.83 | 0.31 |
| Gramp | 1.2 | 1.13 | 0.07 |
| HTV | 5.91 | 6.06 | -0.15 |
| Merdn | 10.93 | 11.38 | -0.45 |
| Angl | 7.4 | 7.48 | -0.08 |
| Wtrcy | 2.3 | 2.43 | -0.13 |
| Ulst | 2.24 | 1.97 | 0.27 |
TV Viewing
Television viewing in November was up on October, from 25 hours and 13 minutes to 26 hours and 49 minutes. Both BBC1 and BBC2 improved their share on October, BBC1 up to 31.4% share, BBC2 up to 11.2% share. All commercial stations lost share.
TV VIEWING
| OCT | NOV | % Pts Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BBC1 | 31.3 | 31.4 | 0.1 |
| BBC2 | 10.4 | 11.2 | 0.8 |
| ITV | 39.3 | 38.6 | -0.7 |
| C4 | 10.2 | 10 | -0.2 |
| Others | 8.8 | 8.7 | -0.1 |
Messages
Messages for November were up across the board amongst audiences and for both ITV, C4 and ITV/C4 combined messages. The only decrease was for C4’s housewives with children, down 1.6% year on year; conversely, this audience showed the biggest increase for ITV, up 3.4% year on year. For the combined ITV/C4 messages, men showed the biggest increase.
MESSAGES
| Combined ITV/C4 Messages | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hwvs | Adults | Men | Women | H/Ch | ABC1 Ads | |
| Messages | 24391 | 40392 | 16110 | 24282 | 6918 | 14594 |
| YoY % Ch | 1.8 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1 | 2.5 | 2.9 |
Costs Per Thousand
With November being a poor month compared to 1994 in terms of revenue, but performing well in terms of revenue, costs remained static or actually fell year on year. For combined ITV/C4 costs per thousand the biggest decrease was among men, down 1.2%, while housewives and adults showed no change whatsoever year on year.
COSTS PER THOUSAND
| Hwives | Adts | Men | Wmn | H/W&Ch | ABC1Adts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | 949 | 573 | 1437 | 953 | 3346 | 1586 |
| %ChYoY | 0 | 0 | -1.2 | 0.7 | -0.7 | -1.1 |
Industry News
November was a month which saw high viewing figures for BBC1 with its Dianorama, at over 22 million, and C4’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, which attracted C4’s highest audience for 10 years. November was also a good month for ITV in that it won the coverage rights to the FA Cup from the BBC, but Sky also won the rights to the Football League.
The Channel 5 row began, with Virgin TV querying Channel 5 Broadcasting’s financing arrangements, leading to them winning the right to challenge the ITC’s decision in court.
Granada, BSkyB and Grampian all announced an increase in their profits in November; TeleWest’s results however, showed a decrease.
Research carried out in November included an ITC report into nudity, which concluded it was unlikely to have to alter its guidelines on the subject; and both ITV and MTV separately released research into sponsorship.