Television Viewing Round-Up – February 2007

Viewing share fell for most of the terrestrial channels during February, except for BBC One which slightly increased its share year on year in all TV homes.

In digital homes, both BBC One and ITV1 increased their share while the other channels dropped slightly year on year.

BBC One was the only terrestrial channel to have any growth in share of viewing all TV homes during February, as it grew slightly by 0.2% points.

All other terrestrial channels dropped share during the month, with BBC Two the worst hit, as its share fell by 1.0% points.

Channel 4 meanwhile lost 0.8% points. Channel 4’s Richard & Judy quiz began the recent phone-in furore as it emerged that the You Say, We Pay competition was continuing to advertise for people to ring in when competition lines were closed (see Richard & Judy Phone Quiz Controversy Takes New Twist).

The month brought some better news to ITV1, as the channel only lost 0.5% points year on year. The channel unveiled some strong programming, with the return of Morse spin-off Lewis (see Whately Wins For ITV1) and new series Bonkers and Benidorm, which started strongly but tailed off as the series continued (see Bonkers And Benidorm Drop Viewers).

Multichannel viewing increased its share year on year by 2.7% to take over a third of all television viewing.

Both BBC One and ITV1 saw an increase in share during February in digital homes year on year. BBC One increased its share by 0.6% points while ITV1 will be pleased to see an increase of 0.5% points year on year.

Channel 4 were worst hit in February as its share dropped by 0.5% points year on year, while BBC Two and Five both dropped 0.3% points.

Multichannel remained relatively static with a slight dip of 0.1% points year on year, maintaining its 42% share of viewing in digital homes.

BBC1 continued to be the most popular terrestrial channel in both Sky and Freeview homes during February, with nearly 18% of viewing in Sky homes and 24% in Freeview homes.

Multichannel meanwhile continued to take the lion’s share of viewing in both Sky and Freeview homes due to the extra channel choice available.

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