Television Viewing Round-Up – December 2007

ITV1 was the only terrestrial channel to keep its viewing share static year on year in all homes for December, at 18.4%.

BBC One retained its top position, with a 22.4% share for the month, despite a drop of 0.8 percentage points year on year.

All other terrestrial channels lost share in all homes in the month, with Channel 4 seeing the biggest decline, of 1.1 percentage points.

ITV1’s viewing remained static at 18.4% for December 2007, whilst all other terrestrial channels recorded a year on year fall.

The month started strong for the ITV1 with the final of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, with an average of 7.4 million adults seeing panto star Christopher Biggins crowned King of the Jungle (see More Than 7m Tune In To Cranford).

Singing contest, The X-Factor, as always put in a strong performance for ITV1 throughout the month, whilst Amir Khan’s live fight and The Royal Variety Performance also proved popular (see Strictly Come Dancing Gets 10.5 Million Adults).

The first part of The X-Factor final in mid-December had a peak of 10.5 million adults (a 47.7% share of the audience) and an average of 9.9 million adults stuck with it for its two-hour running time.

The second instalment revealed the winner, and a peak of 10.8 million adults tuned in to see Leon scoop the top prize (see 10.8 Million Adults Watch X Factor Final).

BBC Two saw the smallest decline in viewing share of the terrestrial channels in all homes for the month, down 0.2 percentage points year on year to 8.8% for December, which is above Channel 4’s share in all homes.

Channel 4’s share for December 2007 sits at 7.8%, compared to 8.9% for the same period in 2006.

BBC One holds its dominance in all homes, despite the channel dropping 0.8 percentage points year on year, taking its share down to 22.4%.

Five’s share had fallen year on year from 5.6% in 2006 to 4.6% in 2007.

Meanwhile, Other channels continued to improve their share in all homes, pushing it up to 37.5% for the month, equating to year on year growth of 2.6 percentage points.

BBC One, BBC Two and ITV1 bolstered their viewing share in digital homes in December, with ITV1 closing the gap on BBC One’s lead.

ITV1’s share in digital homes rose to 17.2%, up from 16.6% in December 2006, whilst BBC One’s share for December stood at 20.8%, up 0.2 percentage points year on year.

BBC Two’s share was also up, from 7.2% for the period the year before, to 7.7% in 2007.

Meanwhile, both Channel 4 and Five saw their share decline in digital homes for December 2007. C4 was down 0.4 percentage points year on year to 6.9%, whilst Five’s fell from 4.9% in 2006 to 4.3% in 2007.

Other channels also saw their share decrease in digital homes, losing 0.5 percentage points year on year to take their share to 42.6%.

BBC One once again retained its position as the most popular terrestrial channel in Freeview homes, with a 23.9% share in December.

The channel’s share in Sky homes now stands at 18.1%, whilst ITV1’s stands at 15.1%. ITV1 holds a share of 19% in Freeview homes for the month.

Multichannel options continued their dominance, remaining the most popular channel choice in both Freeview and Sky homes. Viewing share of these digital channels is 51.6% in Sky homes and 33.7% in Freeview homes, with the difference due to the smaller channel choice available on Freeview.

Data to form this report can be found in the Television database on mediatel.co.uk within the “Weekly – Analysis by Platform” section. For any assistance please contact the helpdesk on 020 7439 7575.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk