TV Market Round-Up: June 2010

The World Cup provided a significant boost to ITV1’s total television revenue in June.  The broadcaster enjoyed a 43.7% year on year rise to £109 million, although this was down on the £123 million seen in May, when the majority of World Cup spending is thought to have occured.

June’s revenues added to ITV’s impressive half-yearly results, which were announced this morning.  The broadcaster posted pre-tax profits of £118 million and a 18% year on year increase in TV ad revenue in the six months to the end of June.

ITV1 has also seen an increase in revenue compared to the last World Cup.  ITV1’s June 2010 revenue is marginally higher than the £103 million it recorded throughout the tournament in Germany in June 2006, despite the recent recession.   ITV1’s June 2010 figures also represent a vast improvement on last year’s £76 million, when the industry was in the midst of the economic crisis.

ITV1 wasn’t the only channel to increase its television revenue in June 2010.  ITV’s breakfast channel GMTV enjoyed a 4.2% rise to almost £4 million, while Channel 4 rose 1.8% to more than £42 million.  However, Richard Desmond’s recently acquired Channel Five struggled to keep up.  The ailing broadcaster posted a 1.3% year on year decline to £15.7 million.

Desmond will be looking to increase Five’s current share of TV ad revenues now he is on board.  While some analysts have suggested that he will struggle in this autumn’s trading season, others believe a cross-media commercial operation is a possibility – if he is quick enough.

It is feasible that Desmond could introduce a TV-style CPT model to the print market that would enable him to sell an integrated package across his TV and newspaper portfolio.  At the moment, this is only hearsay.  As TV is traded very separately from print, analysts have their doubts over Desmond’s ability to change things round in the coming season but News International has already raised the prospect of a new integrated model, so watch this space.

ITV Franchises

Once again, LWT enjoyed the biggest increase of the ITV franchise regions, up by 1.17 percentage points year on year to 12.52%.

Carlton, on the other hand, suffered the largest decline in June – down 1.34 percentage points year on year to 13.84%.

Costs Per Thousand

In terms of CPTs, ITV1’s biggest increases were in the Women and Housewives categories.  The cost of reaching these audiences rose by 41.7% and 40.9% year on year respectively.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 and Five both saw their biggest CPT price growth in the Men’s category.

Commercial Impacts

Commercial impacts were up across the board for ITV1 in June, a positive return from May’s decline.

Unsurprisingly, Men and ABC1 Adults saw the biggest increases, up by 25.2% and 22.1% year on year respectively.

However, without the World Cup’s influence, Channel 4 and Five both suffered across the board losses, particularly in the Men’s category as BBC One and ITV1’s football coverage dominated viewing figures throughout the month.

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