Programmes This month saw the addition of an extra episode of BBC1’s top soap opera, Eastenders, to the schedules. In a move seen by many as an attempt to lure viewers back to BBC1 from ITV1’s double header of Coronation Street and Emmerdale, the first Friday episode managed to outperform its northern rival with 9.84 million viewers watching the former compared to 8.55 million viewers for the latter.
A number of big movie blockbuster helped to boost BBC1’s audience share, by pulling good viewing figures. Out of Sight attracted 5.79 million, The American President had 5.76 million viewers, Air Force One was watched by 7.24 million viewers and Deep Impact attracted 6.46 million viewers
The return of Absolutely Fabulous also pulled in the viewers, despite less than positive reviews. The first episode of the new series had 8.28 million people tuning in.
Viewing
Channel 4 saw a hefty drop in average hours and minutes in a year on year analysis. The key may well have been ratings booster Big Brother which was still going strong in August last year, but had wound up before the end of July this year, with an 18.1% drop resulting.
Channel 5 had some welcome news, with a year on year boost of 4.9% in viewing hours and minutes, while the non-terrestrial channels continue to stake more claim on viewers’ time, with a 16.7% increase.
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Aug-2001 | 5:48 | 2:41 | 5:39 | 2:15 | 1:25 | 5:00 |
| Aug-2000 | 5:59 | 2:31 | 6:13 | 2:45 | 1:21 | 4:17 |
| % Change | -3.1 | 6.6 | -9.1 | -18.1 | 4.9 | 16.7 |
Thanks to a year on year fall of 2.1 percentage points at ITV1, BBC1 overtook ITV1 in share of viewing during August, claiming 25.4% compared to the commercial broadcaster’s 24.8%.
Smaller channels BBC2 and Channel 5 both registered modest rises in their share of viewing, while non-terrestrial channels passed the 20% share mark with a year on year increase of more than 3 percentage points.
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Aug-2001 | 25.4 | 11.8 | 24.8 | 9.9 | 6.2 | 21.9 |
| Aug-2000 | 25.9 | 10.9 | 26.9 | 11.9 | 5.9 | 18.5 |
| % Point Change | -0.5 | 0.9 | -2.1 | -2.0 | 0.3 | 3.4 |
In terms of share by ITV franchise area, BBC2 had a good month, with year on year increases in all areas except Border. The most notable increase was in the South West, where a gain of 1.8 percentage points was recorded.
ITV, in contrast, saw falls across the board. The worst area was Ulster, where the year on year change was -4 percentage points.
| Franchise Area | BBC1 | YoY Point Ch | BBC2 | YoY Point Ch | ITV | YoY Point Ch | C4/S4C | YoY Point Ch | Channel 5 | YoY Point Ch | Others | YoY Point Ch |
| London (Wkdy & Wknd) | 26.7 | 0.6 | 12.3 | 1.0 | 22.7 | -1.0 | 10.2 | -2.2 | 6.4 | -0.2 | 21.6 | 1.7 |
| Midlands (Central) | 24.1 | -1.0 | 10.6 | 0.2 | 23.9 | -2.3 | 10.2 | -2.1 | 8.2 | 0.5 | 22.9 | 4.5 |
| North West (Granada) | 24.8 | 1.0 | 10.9 | 0.7 | 24.3 | -3.4 | 9.2 | -2.1 | 6.8 | 0.7 | 24.0 | 3.0 |
| Yorkshire | 24.8 | -0.1 | 11.2 | 0.5 | 26.2 | -3.3 | 10.4 | -3.3 | 5.9 | -0.9 | 21.5 | 7.2 |
| Central/North Scotland | 24.2 | 0.8 | 11.9 | 0.7 | 24.5 | -1.4 | 8.5 | -1.8 | 7.4 | -0.3 | 23.5 | 2.0 |
| Wales & West (HTV) | 28.3 | 0.2 | 11.0 | 0.2 | 23.9 | -2.1 | 8.3 | -3.0 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 4.6 |
| South & South East & Channel Islands | 26.6 | 0.4 | 13.1 | 1.0 | 25.8 | -1.8 | 10.8 | -1.9 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 21.4 | 1.6 |
| North East (Tyne Tees) | 24.3 | -0.1 | 11.9 | 1.4 | 25.2 | -1.4 | 10.1 | -0.7 | 7.5 | 0.4 | 21.0 | 0.3 |
| East (Anglia TV) | 25.8 | -1.5 | 11.1 | 1.1 | 24.5 | -3.4 | 9.2 | -2.9 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 25.4 | 6.0 |
| South West (West Country) | 31.0 | -1.2 | 13.9 | 1.8 | 26.6 | -0.5 | 11.5 | -2.9 | 3.0 | 0.1 | 14.0 | 2.7 |
| Ulster (UTV) | 24.0 | 0.2 | 9.3 | 0.4 | 25.3 | -4.0 | 7.0 | -4.0 | 3.6 | -0.5 | 30.7 | 7.8 |
| Border | 23.7 | 0.6 | 11.4 | -0.8 | 33.5 | -0.7 | 8.3 | -1.9 | 3.8 | 1.0 | 19.3 | 1.6 |
Ratings
In a poor month overall for ratings compared to last year, BBC2 once again provided the exception, with modest increases in all individuals, adults, men,women and housewives.
Channel 4 saw some of the worst falls year on year with drops of 1.5 in both the housewives and the ABC1 Adults categories. ITV’s heaviest fall, of 1.3, was in housewives.
| Station | Day | Individuals | YoY Ch | Adults | YoY Ch | Men | YoY Ch | Women | YoY Ch | Hwives | YoY Ch | Hswvs/Ch | YoY Ch | ABC1 Adults | YoY Ch |
| BBC1 | Mon-Sun | 9.0 | -0.4 | 9.9 | -0.4 | 8.9 | -0.2 | 10.9 | -0.6 | 11.5 | -0.5 | 10.6 | -0.3 | 9.7 | -0.3 |
| BBC2 | Mon-Sun | 3.7 | 0.3 | 4.2 | 0.4 | 4.6 | 0.6 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 4.7 | 0.6 | 2.7 | -0.3 | 4.6 | -0.3 |
| ITV | Mon-Sun | 10.2 | -1.1 | 11.5 | -1.1 | 9.6 | -1.1 | 13.3 | -1.1 | 13.8 | -1.3 | 10.0 | -0.4 | 9.6 | -0.4 |
| Channel 4 | Mon-Sun | 3.5 | -0.8 | 3.9 | -0.8 | 3.7 | -0.5 | 4.0 | -1.1 | 4.4 | -0.8 | 4.1 | -1.5 | 4.1 | -1.5 |
| Channel 5 | Mon-Sun | 2.6 | 0.1 | 2.9 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 0.0 | 2.4 | 0.0 |
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