Feature: UK Film Channel Market

Last week saw the launch of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the second film channel from the Turner Broadcasting stable. With a target audience of 16-34 year olds, the old and classic movies channel brings the number of film-dedicated services available in the UK up to seven. TCM is the second new film channel to launch in Britain in the past year, after FilmFour arrived with its cult, art and independent selection of films last November.

Turner Classic Movies enters the market as the development of video-on-demand technology begins to offer viewers a more direct and convenient option for watching films. However, where video-on-demand channels will act mainly as ‘libraries’ of films and are unlikely to carry a great deal of advertising, individual movie channels can offer a branded, themed service which targets a specific audience and offers advertisers the opportunity to reach that audience.

So what is the target audience? Currently, each film channel caters for a different audience profile. Sky Premier is the premium entertainment channel for BSkyB and shows blockbuster movies with a broad appeal. Sky MovieMax takes more of a kitsch look at film with themed nights and action, thriller and comedy movies with an independent bent; 27% of MovieMax are in the 25-34 age category. Sky Cinema shows films from any decade except the ’90s. Its profile reflects this with 29% of its audience comprised of the slightly older 45-54 age group. TNT, from the Turner group, has an audience well-distributed across all age groups, while 41% of the audience share for FilmFour is in the 35-44 category.

What is common to the audiences of all these channels, however, is a male bias in audience composition. Sky MovieMax has the most even distribution of viewers across the genders with male viewers making up 51% of its audience. Sky Premier’s audience is 54% men and Sky Cinema is watched by an audience that is 58% male. TNT has the largest male bias – 61% of its viewers are men – while Film Four’s average audience is 56% male. There are currently no figures available for digital channel Carlton Cinema.

*All figures are for period Jan-Aug 1999 except Film Four which is Jan-Oct 1999

These profiles broadly reflect the overall gender shares for cinema admissions, 51% of which are from men, according to CAVIAR data. However, in art cinemas, which have content similar to that of FilmFour, the male bias is a slightly higher 54%.

According to Peter Berkeley, business manager of commercial sales at Sky, this male bias for film channels reflects multi-channel viewers overall. Most subscribers are initially attracted to multi-channel platforms by sport, which, in turn, predominantly attracts men. Films are usually the second reason for subscription.

The film channels mentioned here currently take a share of viewing of around 4% in multi-channel homes. With the advent of full video-on-demand, however, dedicated film channels may struggle to keep up with the changing times. Cable companies NTL and Telewest are both currently trialling their video-on-demand services.

Dan Brooke, head of marketing and development at FilmFour, believes the film channel market in Britain is now “maxed out” but believes the sector will remain robust when full video-on-demand is introduced: “It won’t kill film channels. It is more likely to affect video sales than subscriber figures. Video-on-demand necessitates an active choice while film channels allow viewers to watch films in the more traditional way.”