TV Market Round-Up – October 2005

ITV had a steady performance this October and saw its revenue increase 1% on last year’s values, pushing the total to £176.3 million for the month. ITV launched their male-orientated digital channel ITV4 at the end of the month, with the opening night showcasing Champions League football, a re-make of Kojak and the classic film “Carlito’s Way” (see ITV Signs Sports For ITV4 Launch).

C4 saw the highest revenue increase of the month, with a 4.1% increase on last October. More4 was launched on 10th October and began with the critically acclaimed premiere of political drama “A Very Social Secretary”, charting the build up to the resignation of David Blunkett early in the year (see Blunkett Drama Shines In Terrestrial Screening).

After last month’s revenue increase, GMTV had a poor October and saw its revenue fall over 10% year on year to £6.8million, in comparison to over £7.5 million the previous year.

The overall terrestrial marketplace saw a slight increase on last year, with revenues up 0.7%

Satellite broadcasters continued to perform well and saw their revenues increase 17.5% year on year, leaving their combined revenue to be £78.8 million.

ITV Franchises

Central received the largest increase in revenue across the ITV franchise areas in October, adding 1% point onto last year’s share, contributing 16.5% of ITV’s revenue. It replaces Carlton as the largest contributing franchise area, whose large share of 16.5% last month was reduced to 14.9% in October.

Scotland had the largest drop in share, losing 0.4% points year on year, leaving them contributing 6.35%, while West Country remained as the smallest contributor at just 1.85%, a drop of 0.3% points.

Costs Per Thousand

ITV saw their cost per thousands increase across the board on the featured audiences, with housewives with children showing the greatest rise, up 7.1% to £64.10.

By comparison, five saw a dramatic downturn in their CPTs, with all featured audience prices lower than last year. Men and ABC1 Adults displayed the greatest drops of 11.5% and 13.3% respectively.

Channel 4 had price rises across each audience of around 8%, except for housewives with children which had a drop year on year of 1.9%.

Commercial Impacts

ITV had a bad month in October, with its impacts down year-on-year across all audiences below. Housewives with children displayed the greatest drop of 5.7%, with men faring best with a downturn year on year of 1.9%.

C4’s impacts were also down on last year, with reductions of around 4% across the main audiences. The only exception was housewives with children, which showed an increase of 6.1%.

Satellite impacts were all up over 15% on last year’s levels as more viewers took advantage of the increased choice available on digital TV. Housewives showed the greatest increase with impacts up an impressive 17.2%.

BARB: www.barb.co.uk