TV Market Round-up – January 2004
Satellite channels saw their overall rise by 7.4% year on year during January to nearly £49 million, as the increasing popularity of Freeview helped to push digital television penetration to over half of all UK households.
The latest figures from Ofcom show that almost 3 million British homes received the digital terrestrial service in the final quarter of last year, with more than 860,000 set-top-boxes being sold during the same period.
According to the regulator’s first ever Digital Television Update, almost 12.5 million British households had access to digital television by the end of last year, representing an just over 50% of the country (see Freeview Surge Helps Digital Reach Half Of UK Homes).
The increasing up-take of digital television is good news for advertisers. The latest figures from the IPA show that non-terrestrial channels continue to gain ground in the all important battle for viewers, with their combined audience now share equalling that of ITV1 (see Digital Television Tops 10 Million Homes For First Time).
Five also performed well with revenue increasing by 13.2% year on year to over £18.5 million in January. The channel has invested heavily in science and drama programming with Home and Away, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law And Order proving popular with advertisers.
Channel 4 saw advertising revenue rise by 6.3% year on year during January. However, the channel may have a tough few months ahead with the impending conclusions of high-profile ratings winners such as Friends, Sex and the City and Frasier.
ITV’s modest improvement will come as a relief to the broadcaster and may signpost the end of its revenue slump. Sir Peter Burt’s appointment as chairman and the consolidation of Carlton and Granada should also bring some stability to the broadcasting giant (see ITV Appoints Ex-Bank Of Scotland Boss As New Chairman).
| Total Television Revenue – January 2004 | |||
| Total Revenue | Jan 03 | Jan 04 | % Change |
| ITV1 | 115,260,000 | 115,740,000 | 0.4 |
| C4 | 44,670,000 | 47,500,000 | 6.3 |
| Five | 16,470,000 | 18,650,000 | 13.2 |
| GMTV | 4,100,000 | 4,200,000 | 2.4 |
| Total Terrestrial (inc. GMTV) | 180,500,000 | 186,090,000 | 3.1 |
| Total Satellite | 45,430,000 | 48,800,000 | 7.4 |
| Source: Agency Estimates | |||
ITV Franchises
Central retained its top spot in January commanding a 15.82% share of ITV’s total revenue, despite dropping 0.29% points on last year. Scotland experienced a 0.49% point increase to 6.85% and Meridian improved by 0.43% points to 12.45%. At the other end of the scale Carlton dipped by 0.89% to 14.98%.
| January ITV Franchise Revenue Share Comparison | |||
| Station | Jan 03 | Jan 04 | % Point Change |
| Scotland | 6.36 | 6.85 | 0.49 |
| Anglia TV | 7.60 | 7.71 | 0.11 |
| Carlton | 15.87 | 14.98 | -0.89 |
| LWT | 12.20 | 11.76 | -0.44 |
| Central | 16.11 | 15.82 | -0.29 |
| North West/Border | 9.97 | 9.88 | -0.09 |
| Meridian | 12.02 | 12.45 | 0.43 |
| West Country | 1.84 | 2.07 | 0.23 |
| Ulster (UTV) | 2.22 | 2.43 | 0.21 |
| HTV | 5.29 | 5.51 | 0.22 |
| Yorkshire/North East | 10.52 | 10.52 | 0.00 |
Cost Per Thousand
Channel 4 and Five saw costs per thousands rise across the board during January, with Five’s prices in the Housewives with Children category rising by a notable 21%. ITV1 saw increases in both the Adults and Men categories and decreases across all other categories. Channel 4 experienced a significant 12.62% rise in the ABC1 Adults category.
| CPTs | ||||||
| ITV1 | % Ch YoY | Channel 4 | % Ch YoY | Five | % Ch YoY | |
| Adults | 5.09 | 0.5 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 3.38 | 2.1 |
| Men | 13 | 5.8 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 0.2 |
| Women | 8 | -2 | 10 | 3.6 | 6.03 | 3.6 |
| Hwvs | 8 | -1.7 | 9 | 7 | 5.27 | 4 |
| Hwvs/Ch | 33 | -2.7 | 42 | 4.8 | 25 | 20.9 |
| ABC1 Adults | 13 | 2.7 | 12.62 | 3.4 | 10 | 0.9 |
Commercial Impacts
Channel 4 saw commercial impacts decline across the board with the exception of the ABC1 Adults category, which rose by 0.3% during January. Five saw a notable 13% year on year increase in the Men category and Satellite impacts rose across the board with the Housewives category seeing a 17.8% year on year increase.