TV Viewing Round-Up – January 2001
Programmes
The first week of 2001 saw BBC1 beat rival ITV to the top programme spot, as EastEnders’ Tuesday edition gained 16.34m viewers. For the rest of the month it was business as usual in the soap wars, with Coronation Street closely tailed at the top by the Albert Square crew.
ITV’s other popular offerings included the inevitable Who Wants To Be A Millionaire which remained in the top ten most viewed programmes for most of the month. Then on the 9 January the much hyped Popstars had their first outing and made it into the Top 30 (of programme viewing during that week) with 7.75m viewers. The following week they dropped out of the charts, but by the last week of January the momentum was growing and in the new Saturday slot the would-be songsters gained 8.81m.
On Channel 4 the 1940’s House proved popular, with around 3.5m viewers tuning in each week to watch the family digging for England. Physical beat factual in the second week of January however, as Perfect Breasts provided a handful more viewers than the wartime docusoap.
Viewing
January saw gains in the average hours and minutes totals for BBC2, which increased 5.5% year on year to reach an average of 3hrs 10min. Channel 5 also saw a year on year increase, of 4.5% to a 1hr 33min average. ‘Other’ channels also saw another increase, of 18.9% year on year, to reach 4hrs 56min.
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Jan-2001 | 7:23 | 3:10 | 8:24 | 2:53 | 1:33 | 4:56 |
| Jan-2000 | 8:17 | 3:00 | 8:37 | 3:01 | 1:29 | 4:09 |
| % Change | -10.9 | 5.5 | -2.5 | -4.4 | 4.5 | 18.9 |
The larger terrestrial channels fared less well as BBC1 dropped 10.9% year on year to an average 7hrs 23min and ITV fell 2.5% to 8hrs 24min. Channel Four viewing also suffered, dropping 4.4% to 2hrs 53mins.
| Month | BBC1 | BBC2 | ITV | C4/S4C | Channel 5 | Others |
| Jan-2001 | 26.1 | 11.2 | 29.7 | 10.2 | 5.5 | 17.4 |
| Jan-2000 | 29.0 | 10.5 | 30.2 | 10.6 | 5.2 | 14.5 |
| % Point Change | -2.9 | 0.7 | -0.5 | -0.4 | 0.3 | 2.9 |
Once again BBC1 saw falls in viewing share across all franchise areas. Worst hit was the West Country, which dropped 5.2% year on year. ‘Others’ increased across the board, in particular in the West Country and Border franchise areas.
| 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) | 27.1 | -1.9 | 11.6 | 0.7 | 26.4 | 0.4 | 10.3 | -0.4 | 6.2 | 0.1 | 18.4 | 1.1 |
| Midlands (Central) | 25.3 | -2.1 | 11.0 | 0.8 | 29.6 | 0.4 | 9.6 | -0.3 | 7.2 | 0.1 | 17.3 | 1.1 |
| North West (Granada) | 24.3 | -3.7 | 10.6 | 0.9 | 30.5 | -0.5 | 9.4 | -0.6 | 5.2 | -0.3 | 20.0 | 4.2 |
| Yorkshire | 24.8 | -3.5 | 10.8 | 0.4 | 32.6 | 0.1 | 11.1 | 0.5 | 5.8 | -0.8 | 14.9 | 3.3 |
| Central/North Scotland | 24.4 | -1.2 | 10.2 | 0.6 | 28.5 | -0.1 | 10.8 | -0.4 | 6.6 | -0.2 | 19.6 | 1.4 |
| Wales & West (HTV) | 29.6 | -1.7 | 11.7 | 0.5 | 28.2 | -2.7 | 8.2 | -1.9 | 4.0 | 0.4 | 18.2 | 5.4 |
| South & South East & Channel Islands | 26.9 | -3.2 | 12.8 | 0.9 | 29.7 | -2.8 | 11.5 | -0.4 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 17.5 | 5.1 |
| North East (Tyne Tees) | 23.8 | -3.4 | 10.3 | 0.7 | 30.8 | -0.2 | 10.0 | 0.1 | 6.1 | 0.0 | 18.9 | 2.7 |
| East (Anglia TV) | 25.6 | -4.0 | 11.0 | -0.6 | 30.0 | 0.3 | 10.2 | -0.2 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 19.3 | 3.8 |
| South West (West Country) | 29.3 | -5.2 | 13.4 | 0.1 | 31.8 | 0.6 | 11.1 | -1.3 | 2.8 | 0.1 | 11.7 | 5.8 |
| Ulster (UTV) | 22.2 | -1.7 | 8.2 | -1.4 | 33.6 | 0.5 | 8.9 | -1.2 | 3.9 | -0.1 | 23.1 | 3.8 |
| Border | 23.7 | -3.6 | 10.6 | -0.1 | 33.5 | -0.5 | 10.1 | -1.9 | 2.8 | 0.1 | 19.2 | 5.9 |
Ratings
BBC1’s bad news continued in terms of ratings, with falls across the board which were worst in the housewives and men categories. ITV managed small increases in all categories, with the higest percentage increase in the Women’s category.
BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5 also managed ratings increases in all categories, but most were around 0.5% or less.
Network Ratings – Mon-Sun 8pm-11pm
| 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 | 10.8 | -2.3 | 11.9 | -2.6 | 10.6 | -2.7 | 13.2 | -2.5 | 13.6 | -2.7 | 12.9 | -2.6 | 12.2 | -2.6 |
| BBC2 | Mon-Sun | 4.2 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 0.4 | 4.6 | -0.1 | 5.3 | 0.0 | 3.9 | -0.1 | 5.5 | -0.1 |
| ITV | Mon-Sun | 15.7 | 0.5 | 17.5 | 0.6 | 15.1 | 0.5 | 19.7 | 0.7 | 20.3 | 0.6 | 16.9 | 0.1 | 15.0 | 0.1 |
| Channel 4 | Mon-Sun | 4.0 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 0.1 | 4.3 | -0.1 | 4.7 | 0.3 | 5.1 | 0.3 | 5.0 | 0.5 | 4.9 | 0.5 |
| Channel 5 | Mon-Sun | 2.8 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 0.3 |
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