Revenue
All but one of the terrestrial TV channels increased their December revenue year on year, according to agency estimates. The exception was GMTV, which dropped 10.7% compared to 1999. The largest increase among the terrestrials was Channel 5, which went up 15% year on year. Its revenue is still dwarfed by ITV, which managed revenue up 11.4% year on year.
The year on year increases enjoyed by terrestrial channels were small compared to satellite TV, however. The satellite channels increased their December revenue by 27% year on year.
Among the ITV franchisees, Central commanded the largest share of December 2000’s revenue. However this represented a drop of 0.1 percentage points in a year on year comparison. LWT saw the largest percentage point increase- a still modest 0.7- which kept it in third place in terms of total revenue.
Although North West/Border and Carlton performed well compared to the other franchises, they tied for the largest percentage point fall, each dropping 0.7.
Costs Per Thousand
December followed tradition by being a month of lower revenues, a fact reflected in the figures. Channel 5 continues to achieve the largest year on year increases in costs per thousand (CPT) and during December saw an increase of 16.6% for ABC1 Adults, 15.3% for Women and a 15.4% increase in the CPT for Housewives with Children.
The opposite was true of Channel 4, which dropped in CPT year on year across the board. Most notable was ABC1 Adults, which saw a decrease since last December of 6.3%. ITV saw increases in all categories, usually around the 5-7% mark. The exception was Housewives with Children, which jumped 15.7%.
Commercial Impacts
Satellite TV again leads the field in increasing numbers of commercial impacts. During December some of its more impressive year on year increases were 31.8% for ABC1 Adults and 27.5% for Housewives.
The same is not true for Channel 5, which saw reductions compared to 1999 for Women (-0.2%), Housewives with Children (-0.4%) and ABC1 Adults (-1.4%). C5’s bacon was just about saved by Housewives, which increased 4.9%.
ITV and Channel 4 both put in solid increases year on year, with the only exception being ITV’s Housewives with Children, which was reduced by 3.7% compared to December 1999.
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