Television Viewing Round-Up – March 2007

March saw viewing share in all TV homes fall for terrestrial broadcasters, with ITV1 faring worst with a drop of over one percentage point year on year.

A similar pattern played out in digital homes as all terrestrial broadcasters lost share year on year.

ITV1 had a poor month in March as the broadcaster continued to see its share slide, dropping by 1.3 percentage points year on year, despite strong programming during the month. The channel showcased well performing shows including Dancing On Ice (see Dancing On Ice Wraps Up With More Than 8.6 Million) and cliffhanger Coronation Street storylines (see Strong Night For ITV1).

Channel 4’s viewing share fell by 0.6 percentage points in March year on year. The broadcaster secured Virgin Media as the new sponsor for Big Brother (see Branson Secures Big Brother Sponsorship), following Carphone Warehouse’s departures after the Celebrity Big Brother shenanigans earlier in the year.

Both terrestrial BBC channels lost share year on year, each dropping by 0.6 percentage points.

Multichannel options increased their share year on year, rising by 3.7% to take over 35% of all television viewing in the UK.

Viewing share dropped for all terrestrial channels in digital homes during March. ITV1 again fared worst, with a drop of 0.6% points share.

BBC One and BBC Two both remained relatively static year on year, each dropping just 0.2 percentage points. However this meant that BBC One dropped below 20% share within digital homes over the month.

Five’s viewing share was also practically unchanged year on year, at around 5% of all viewing, whilst Channel 4 lost 0.4 percentage points of share.

Multichannel viewing increased by 1.5% year on year, now taking 43% of all viewing in digital homes.

BBC One continued to be the most popular terrestrial channel in both Sky and Freeview homes during March, with the channel taking nearly 18% of all viewing in Sky homes and 23% 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. Multichannel viewing now commands 52% share in Sky homes and nearly a third of all viewing in Freeview homes.

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