Television Viewing Round-Up – March 2005
Viewing share amongst the nation’s terrestrial broadcasters continued to slip in all homes during March, with all stations suffering a decline. The downturn, although slight, demonstrates a continuing trend of audience decline for the nation’s largest broadcasters, as multi channel TV grows in both popularity and the amount of channels it offers.
BBC2 was worst hit by the downturn, and while none of the terrestrial broadcasters saw major declines, the BBC’s smaller mainstream station led the way with a loss of 0.85% points year on year in all homes last month.
BBC1 fared better, but continued to see viewing share slide, losing 0.17% points year on year. The station now commands a 24.6% share in all homes, a clear 2% points above its closest rival, ITV1, which saw a 0.37% point decline year on year in March.
However, ITV has plans to increase its viewing share by redoubling its programming efforts at typically poor performing times of the day. Last month saw the broadcaster unveil a new line up for its daytime schedule, dubbing the programme strand ITV Day, in an effort to combat competition from rivals (see ITV Rebrands Daytime As Competition Hots Up).
The BBC has also announced increased spending on programming, with plans to increase its overall programme budget for television to £21 million (see BBC To Increase Programme Spend By £61 Million). The new funding will be spent primarily on enriching the summer schedule, increasing the Corporation’s drama and comedy output, and, on BBC1, beginning to reduce the number of repeats in peak time.
Elsewhere Channel 4 saw its viewing share dip by 0.47% points year on year in March, pushing it below the 9% mark, while Five lost 0.6% points in the same period to 6.35%.
Other channels continued to increase their viewing share, adding 2.5% points year on year in march to rise to 27.77%.
Declines in viewing share were less widespread in digital homes during March, although BBC2 continued to see a dip, losing 0.05% points year on year. The station’s total share now stands at 7.02% in digital homes, while its larger stablemate, BBC1, added 1.85% points in the same period to top 20.77%.
ITV1 also increased its share of viewing in digital homes during March, adding 0.7% points to rise to 19.22% in total. ITV has been increasingly active in expanding its digital portfolio in recent months, winning broadcast bandwidth on Crown Castle’s vacant Freeview slot earlier this month and dashing Channel 4’s hopes of launching a new channel this year (see ITV Scoops Crown Castle’s Extra Freeview Capacity).
The broadcaster is believed to be readying the launch of its fifth digital channel, ITV4, with speculation suggesting that Granada Men and Motors will be replaced with a new offering aimed at men on the Sky platform as well as through Freeview using the Crown Castle air space (see ITV To Replace Men And Motors With ITV4).
Elsewhere, other channels saw a dip in viewing, with their total share slipping by 2.9% points to 40.62%. Channel 4, meanwhile, remained largely stable, with a slight rise of 0.3% points year on year, while Five rose by 0.07% points in the same period.
Freeview homes continued to watch a greater proportion of the main terrestrial channels, owing mainly to the reduced variety afforded by the medium compared with Sky Digital.
BBC1 remained the most watched channel on the Freeview platform throughout March, with a total share of 25.67%. ITV was not far behind, however, with a total of 22.72%, but may have cause for concern as its viewing share has been narrowly topped by Other channels at 22.77%.
The picture looked the same in Sky Digital households, with BBC1 remaining the most watched terrestrial channel with an 18.75% share, while ITV1 notched up 17.55%. Other channels are clearly in their element on Sky’s platform, however, with the increased choice and variety available pushing their share to over 49%.
BARB: www.barb.co.uk