TV Viewing Round Up – December 2001
Programmes After a fairly lack-lustre start Pop Idol is beginning to gain momentum, with audiences regularly topping the 7 million mark. As the field gets whittled down the final victor, and Gareth edges closer to unjustly beating the more talented Will or Darius, the programme’s highest viewing figure during December was 7.91 million.
The return after a three year absence of comedy favourite Only Fools & Horses proved a hit with the viewing public, if not necessarily with the television critics. The Christmas Day show attracted a very healthly audience of 21.34 million, over 6 million more than nearest rival EastEnders, shown earlier that day.
Ratings winners for this month included: the film premieres of The Mask of Zorro (9.6 million viewers) and Rush Hour (8.88 million viewers); Big Match: Man United v Boavista, which was watched by 7.52 million; Red Cap which had 8.41 million viewers; the final episode in the current series of Cold Feet, which was watched 8.95 million people and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Couples, which had a highest audience of 10.92 million viewers.
Viewing Traditionally in December BBC1 outperforms ITV1 for the Christmas week battle, with ITV winning the overall monthly war. BBC1 has attained a higher hours and minutes total than ITV only three times in the past ten years, in 1996, 1998 and 1999. Now 2001 can be added to that list, after BBC1’s 2.3% year on year drop to a 7 hours 34 minutes average was overshadowed by ITV1’s 16.9% drop to 6 hours 47 minutes.
The gap between viewing share for the main terrestrial channels was significant in December, with BBC1 taking an average 28% share compared to ITV1’s 25.1%, down 3.7 percentage points on last year. The most significant headway in share, year on year, was made by non-terrestrial channels, which rose 2.4 points to a 20.4% share. Meanwhile BBC2 and Channels 4 and 5 saw small changes in one direction or the other, but stayed close to their usual averages of 11%, 10% and 5% respectively.
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Dec-2001 | 7:34 | 3:07 | 6:47 | 2:33 | 1:29 | 5:31 |
| Dec-2000 | 7:45 | 3:02 | 8:10 | 2:52 | 1:27 | 5:05 |
| % Change | -2.3 | 2.7 | -16.9 | -11.0 | 2.3 | 8.5 |
| Viewing Share | ||||||
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Dec-2001 | 28.0 | 11.6 | 25.1 | 9.4 | 5.5 | 20.4 |
| Dec-2000 | 27.3 | 10.7 | 28.8 | 10.1 | 5.1 | 18.0 |
| % Point Change | 0.7 | 0.9 | -3.7 | -0.7 | 0.4 | 2.4 |
Falls in share by ITV Franchise Area were, for ITV1, most evident in Yorkshire, where a drop of 5.6 percentage points was seen. Central/North Scotland and Anglia regions both recorded a drop of 4.8.
Channel 4 also saw some fall in share in all areas, notably the Anglia region, where a year on year change of -2 was witnessed. The other terrestrial and non-terrestrial channels saw small upward point changes, with a handful of exceptions.
| 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) | 28.8 | 0.9 | 12.2 | 0.8 | 22.3 | -2.5 | 10.0 | 0.1 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 20.4 | 0.0 |
| Midlands (Central) | 27.1 | -0.1 | 11.4 | 1.0 | 25.1 | -4.2 | 8.6 | -1.2 | 7.2 | 0.5 | 20.6 | 4.1 |
| North West (Granada) | 26.0 | -0.8 | 11.3 | 1.6 | 25.8 | -3.4 | 8.9 | -0.4 | 5.3 | 0.2 | 22.7 | 2.8 |
| Yorkshire | 27.8 | 1.3 | 11.5 | 1.3 | 26.3 | -5.6 | 9.5 | -1.8 | 5.4 | -0.5 | 19.6 | 5.5 |
| Central/North Scotland | 25.5 | -0.2 | 10.6 | 0.6 | 23.7 | -4.8 | 9.7 | -1.0 | 6.5 | 0.3 | 23.9 | 5.0 |
| Wales & West (HTV) | 30.4 | 0.5 | 11.2 | 0.2 | 23.7 | -3.9 | 7.3 | -1.1 | 4.0 | 0.2 | 23.5 | 4.1 |
| South & South East & Channel Islands | 31.5 | 2.8 | 12.7 | 0.2 | 25.5 | -3.6 | 10.0 | -0.5 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 18.4 | 0.6 |
| North East (Tyne Tees) | 26.2 | 1.5 | 10.9 | 0.9 | 27.0 | -3.5 | 9.4 | -0.2 | 7.1 | 1.6 | 19.4 | -0.3 |
| East (Anglia TV) | 28.5 | 0.1 | 11.6 | 1.2 | 24.6 | -4.8 | 8.6 | -2.0 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 22.8 | 4.5 |
| South West (West Country) | 33.5 | 2.5 | 13.7 | 1.2 | 26.6 | -4.2 | 10.9 | -0.8 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 12.5 | 0.9 |
| Ulster (UTV) | 23.8 | -0.6 | 9.2 | -0.1 | 26.5 | -5.1 | 8.1 | -1.1 | 3.5 | 0.4 | 28.9 | 6.4 |
| Border | 24.0 | -1.3 | 11.9 | 1.2 | 33.7 | -0.1 | 8.9 | -1.3 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 18.6 | 1.4 |
Ratings
ITV1, as in November, saw its ratings for Housewives with Children and ABC1 Adults slip. Both moved downwards by 4.4 to 12.3 and 11.4 respectively. Women fell by the same amount, to 14.7.
Neither of the other commercial channels fared much better. Channel 4 also saw losses across the board, although Channel 5 managed to hold the same rating as last year for the categories Men, Women, Adults and All Individuals.
| 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 | 12.2 | 0.7 | 13.3 | 0.7 | 12.0 | 0.2 | 14.5 | 1.0 | 15.1 | 0.9 | 14.1 | 1.0 | 13.1 | 1.0 |
| BBC2 | Mon-Sun | 3.9 | 0.0 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 4.4 | -0.4 | 4.3 | 0.2 | 4.9 | 0.1 | 3.5 | 0.1 | 4.8 | 0.1 |
| ITV | Mon-Sun | 11.8 | -2.7 | 13.2 | -2.8 | 11.7 | -1.9 | 14.7 | -3.6 | 15.3 | -3.4 | 12.3 | -3.6 | 11.4 | -3.6 |
| Channel 4 | Mon-Sun | 3.4 | -0.3 | 3.8 | -0.2 | 3.9 | 0.0 | 3.7 | -0.5 | 4.2 | -0.3 | 3.6 | -0.6 | 3.9 | -0.6 |
| Channel 5 | Mon-Sun | 2.2 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 2.8 | 0.1 | 1.9 | -0.2 | 1.9 | -0.2 |
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