TV Round-Up – November 1998
Revenue
Estimates from agencies for November 1998 put total terrestrial TV ad revenue at £251.58 million.
ITV saw a 5.8% year on year rise in its total revenue, which rose to £174.1 million in November 1998. Channel 4’s total ad revenue rose 2.8% year on year to £54.8 million, and Channel 5 saw a rise of 33% on November 1997 to £14.7 million. GMTV suffered a loss of 8.9% on November 1997, falling to £7.9 million.
November ITV Franchise Revenue Share Comparison
Where revenue share within the ITV franchises is concerned, Central saw the largest proportional rise, increasing its share by 1.3% points to a 17.4% share. Central holds the largest share of all the franchises, at 17.4%.
Impacts
Adult impacts fell year on year for both ITV and Channel 4 which lost 3% and 0.8% respectively. There was a rise in both channels’ impacts with housewives for children however. Channel 5, on the other hand, continues to show substantial increases in its adult impacts, which rose 42.1% to 3,864 from November 1997.
November Impacts Year On Year Comparisons
Costs Per Thousand
CPT for ITV continued to rise year on year for all audience categories. For adults in November ITV’s CPT was 802p, which was an increase of 9% on November 1997. Women showed the highest rise of 10.4%. Channel 4 also increased CPT all round; women’s CPT was up 4%, and ABC1 Adults increased by 3.8%.
Channel 5’s CPT displayed decreases all round, with men being the category to fall most, losing 8.7%.
November CPTs Year On Year Comparisons
Viewing
BBC1 and ITV continue to slog it out for the viewing share lead, ITV leading with 31.2%. BBC1 pulls up behind with a 29.8% share of the viewing.
November Viewing Shares Year On Year Comparisons
Industry News
The breakfast TV station, GMTV, saw a significant reduction in the fee it pays to the Treasury each year in return for its ITV licence. The station, which is believed to be losing around £15 million a year, will now pay a proposed tender of £20 million from January 1999; its Treasury payment last year was over £50 million.
Carlton announced that it was terminating takeover talks with Arsenal football club, and United News & Media stepped into the ring to gain the club’s TV rights.
ITV was ordered to drop its advertisements for digital terrestrial television (DTT) after the ITC found them to be denigratory to the satellite platform run by Sky Digital. The watchdog was prompted by complaints from BSkyB earlier in the week about ITV’s adverts for its ONdigital service.
The Independent Television Commission reassessed its licence fee payments; most of the 11 ITV franchises saw their payments reduced. Border and Anglia saw only small reductions however, and Central suffered quite a sharp rise.
Carlton and Granada announced plans to link up with WebTV Networks to carry out an interactive television UK trial in London and Liverpool this year. The trial will gather information on how consumers will use interactive television.
The ITC announced that it was to allow ITV to go ahead with the axing of its News At Ten bulletin, and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) welcomed the ITC’s decision. At the other end of the scale, Gerald Kaufman, chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, announced that the group was unanimously opposed to ITV’s proposal.
Media research firm, Arbitron, began the first field tests of a new method of audience measurement for television and radio. The new device is a PPM – the personal portable media, and is the size of a pager and carried by people listening to various media.