TV Market Round-Up – November 2005

After October’s stability for ITV, November saw the channel’s revenues drop by 4.8% on last year’s levels, leaving the channel with revenue of £159.1 million for the month.

Channel 4 also saw a reduction in revenue in November, dropping to £68.5 million – £3.5 million lower than the previous month and 2.9% down year on year. Channel 4 became the first terrestrial channel to offer mobile TV services, offering 3G subscribers to the Orange and Vodafone networks programming from some of its most popular shows (see Channel 4 First Terrestrial Station To Offer Mobile TV).

Five was the only terrestrial channel to see growth in revenue, with a 0.5% increase on last year.

GMTV’s fortunes did not improve after October’s fall in revenue. November saw the channel continue to see declining revenue, with figures falling 12.3% year on year.

Satellite broadcasters continued to perform well and saw an increase of 18.2% year on year, leaving their combined revenue to be £79.1 million.

ITV Franchises

Central received the largest increase in revenue across the ITV franchise areas in November, adding 1% point onto last year’s share, contributing 16.7% of ITV’s revenue.

The North West/Border region saw the largest downturn in revenue share, losing 0.5% points year on year to contribute 9.8%, while the West Country remained as the smallest contributor at just 1.95%, a drop of 0.1% points.

Costs Per Thousand

ITV saw costs per thousand decrease across the board in November, with all but one of the key audiences dropping between 4% and 6% year on year. Housewives with Children fared best with a drop of 1.5%.

By comparison, Channel 4 saw CPT increases across all featured audiences, with ABC1 Adults up 11.9%.

Five also saw CPT rises, with Housewives with Children increasing by 10.6%. However, ABC1 Adult CPT fell 3.8% on last year.

Commercial Impacts

ITV had a mixed month, with impacts increasing for Adults, Women and Housewives, but falling across Men, Housewives with Children and ABC1 Adults. The greatest drop was felt by Housewives with Children at -3.4%. November saw ITV’s key programmes I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (see Dramatic Start Boosts I’m A Celebrity) and the continuation of X Factor (see ITV Trades Blows With BBC In Saturday Showdown) dominate viewing.

Channel 4 had a bad month, with impacts down across all the featured audiences, and ABC1 Adults down a substantial 13.2%.

Five also saw a downturn in its impacts, with only ABC1 Adults being up on last year’s levels. Worst hit was Housewives with Children, which fell 9.1% year on year.

Satellite impacts were all up on last year’s levels, with increases of between 10% and 12% per audience. Although these increases were higher than across all the terrestrial channels, they were not as substantial as last month’s figures, which saw increases of at least 15% per audience.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk