15 Jan 2004 |

Television Market Round-Up – November 2003

ITV saw revenue increase by a solid 1.4% year on year during November to more than £175 million, with its coverage of the Rugby World Cup attracting a significant amount of attention from advertisers.

The latest industry estimates show that the high-profile sporting event provided a welcome pre-Christmas boost to the channel, which secured foreign exchange company Travelex as the multimillion sponsor of its rugby coverage (see Granada Secures Travelex For ITV Rugby Sponsorship).

A peak of 14.5 million viewers tuned in to ITV1 to watch England make history by defeating Australia to be crowned world champions and its is understood that advertisers paid up to £300,000 for a 30-second slot during half-time of the game.

Merril Lynch predicts that 2004 will be a positive year for the broadcaster, which is hoping to boost its programming budget by 7% to £849 million following the completion of Carlton and Granada’s long awaited merger (see ITV Merger Leads To Increase In Programme Budget).

The network is working to improve its relationship with advertisers and recently poached RAB managing director, Justin Sampson, to take up a new role designed to ensure that the customer is put at the heart of all aspects of the ITV Sales operation, from the client facing sales team and business-to-business arm to the trade marketing division (see ITV Poaches RAB’s Sampson To Boost Advertiser Relations).

Meanwhile, things were less positive for Channel 4, which saw its revenue by 2.3% year on year during November to below the £65 million mark. The channel had a rough ride during 2003 with its share of viewing dropping below the 10% mark for the first time in more than a decade (see Channel 4 Sees Audience Share Dip During 2003).

Five’s ongoing effort to reposition itself as a more upmarket channel helped boost revenue by 6.5% to almost 27 million and satellite channels recorded a combined 10.4% increase amid news that more than half of the population now receives digital television (see Digital TV Now In More Than Half Of UK Households).

Total Television Revenue – October 2003
Total Revenue	Nov 02	Nov 03	% Change
ITV1	173,550,000	175,980,000	1.4
C4	66,270,000	64,770,000	-2.3
Five	25,100,000	26,730,000	6.5
GMTV	7,000,000	6,800,000	-2.9
Total Terrestrial (inc. GMTV)	271,920,000	274,280,000	0.9
Total Satellite	48,600,000	53,670,000	10.4
*Source: Agency Estimates*

ITV Franchises

Carlton experienced the most upward movement with its share of ITV’s overall revenue increasing by 1.01% points during November. Central also performed well and increased its slice of the pie by 0.50% points year on year during the same period. However, LWT proved less fortunate with a 0.74% dip and Scotland saw its share of revenue fall by 0.53%

November ITV Franchise Revenue Share Comparison
Station	Oct 02	Oct 03	% Point Change
Scotland	6.75	6.22	-0.53
Anglia TV	7.53	7.75	0.22
Carlton	13.26	14.27	1.01
LWT	11.46	10.72	-0.74
Central	17.00	17.50	0.50
North West/Border	10.31	10.60	0.29
Meridian	12.20	11.74	-0.46
West Country	2.01	2.07	0.06
Ulster (UTV)	2.32	2.29	-0.03
HTV	6.28	6.00	-0.28
Yorkshire/North East	10.87	10.84	-0.03

Cost Per Thousand

Cost per thousands fell across the board for all broadcasters during November with the exception of Channel 4 and Five, which experienced a respective 6.1% and 4% year on year increase in the Housewives With Children category. The most significant downward movement was experienced by ITV1, which saw its ABC1 Adults category fall by 8.5% during the same period.

CPTs
	ITV1	% Ch YoY	Channel 4	% Ch YoY	Five	% Ch YoY
Adults	8.43	-6	8.12	-4.8	4.88	-3.1
Men	20	-7.7	19	-5.2	11	-4.6
Women	14	-4.7	14	-4.4	8.62	-2
Hwvs	13	-5.7	13	-4	7.62	-1.4
Hwvs/Ch	54	-4.9	56	6.1	32	4
ABC1 Adults	22	-8.5	18	-7.6	15	-1

Commercial Impacts

Terrestrial and satellite broadcasters saw commercial impacts rise across all categories during November with the exception of a 7.9% year on year drop for Channel 4 in the Housewives With Children category. ITV experienced a notable 10.8% increase in the ABC1 Adults category, but this was overshadowed by a 21.9% rise for satellite channels in the same category.

Commercial Impacts
	ITV1 Impacts	% Ch YoY	C4 Impacts	% Ch YoY	C5 Impacts	% Ch YoY	Satellite Impacts	% Ch YoY
Adults	25,292	7.8	9,669	2.6	6,639	9.9	15,974	19
Men	10,436	9.9	4,237	3.1	2,882	11.7	7,958	21
Women	14,857	6.4	5,433	2.3	3,757	8.7	8,016	17.2
Hwvs	15,939	7.5	5,992	1.8	4,253	8	8,627	19.4
Hwvs/Ch	3,976	6.6	1,402	-7.9	1,025	2.4	3,337	12.8
ABC1 Adults	9,662	10.8	4,359	5.8	2,214	7.6	6,704	21.9