06 Nov 2003 |

TV Market Round-Up – September 2003

The growth of Satellite revenues slowed in September, rising 12.5% year on year as the continued fragmentation of the market continues to place pressure on prices. The satellite market’s leading brand, BSkyB surprised the market in September with the announcement that Tony Ball would step down as chief executive.

Channel’s 4 and Five put in a strong performance, with total television revenues increasing substantially at both groups despite the traditional weakness of the summer season.

Channel 4, which has recently been under fire for the sexual exploits of the teen’s in its Big Brother house experienced the biggest increase in total revenues in the sector, which rose 6.8% year on year.

Channel Five experienced the second biggest rise in the sector, with revenues increasing by 5.6% year on year. The fledgling channel has benefited from a renewed commitment to factual documentaries and big budget films.

September also saw the continuation of the musical chairs amongst senior television executives at the channels, kick-started by Kevin Lygo’s defecting to Channel 4. Five appointed head of factual, Dan Chambers, as its new director of programmes to replace him.

Meanwhile things were less positive at ITV1 which continued to slide and its ad revenues fell 0.6% year on year. It remains to be seen whether the cost savings from the much awaited merger of Carlton and Granada will boost ad revenues at the broadcaster, which some analysts have described as in a state of “terminal decline.”

Total Television Revenue – September 2003
Total Revenue	Sep 02	Sep 03	% Change
ITV1	146,340,000	145,470,000	-0.6
C4	56,170,000	60,000,000	6.8
Five	21,770,000	23,000,000	5.6
GMTV	5,550,000	5,450,000	-1.8
Total Terrestrial (inc. GMTV)	229,830,000	233,920,000	1.8
Total Satellite	47,420,000	53,350,000	12.5
*Source: Agency Estimates*

ITV Franchises

September brought mixed results to the ITV Franchises. The biggest riser was the lucrative Carlton region, which saw revenues rise by 2.24 percentage points year on year. At the other end of the scale the Central region saw revenues decline by 0.58 percentage points year on year.

September ITV Franchise Revenue Share Comparison
Station	Sep 02	Sep 03	% Point Change
Scotland	6.77	6.51	-0.26
Anglia TV	7.64	7.16	-0.48
Carlton	15.10	17.34	2.24
LWT	10.97	10.70	-0.27
Central	15.99	15.41	-0.58
North West/Border	9.91	10.09	0.18
Meridian	12.01	11.81	-0.20
West Country	2.18	2.13	-0.05
Ulster (UTV)	2.44	2.54	0.10
HTV	6.09	5.87	-0.22
Yorkshire/North East	10.89	10.43	-0.46

Costs Per Thousand

Costs per thousand declined across the board in September reflecting the weakened state of the television ad market. Despite beefing up its daytime schedule, most notably with Today With Des and Mel ITV1 continued to experience declines in cost per thousands among Housewives, which fell 9.6% year on year and Housewives with Children,which declined 0.8% year on year. Channel Five also suffered notable declines in the Housewives category which fell 6.9% year on year.

CPTs
	ITV1	% Ch YoY	Channel 4	% Ch YoY	Five	% Ch YoY
Adults	7.85	-7.7	9.28	-4.4	4.82	-6.9
Men	20	-6.6	21	-2.6	11	-4.4
Women	13	-8.5	17	-5.9	8.39	-8.7
Hwvs	12	-9.6	15	-5	7.37	-6.9
Hwvs/Ch	50	-0.8	63	-4.2	29	-10.9
ABC1 Adults	21	-7.4	21	-6.2	14	-5.5

Commercial Impacts

One bright spot in Septembers somewhat deflated TV ad revenue market was provided by commercial impacts which rose across the board at all channels. The biggest increases continued to occur for satellite broadcasters, with impacts amongst ABC1 adults up 17.9% year on year.

Commercial Impacts
	ITV1 Impacts	% Ch YoY	C4 Impacts	% Ch YoY	C5 Impacts	% Ch YoY	Satellite Impacts	% Ch YoY
Adults	22,444	7.7	7,833	11.8	5,785	13.5	13,629	12.4
Men	8,819	6.4	3,534	9.7	2,464	10.6	6,745	14.8
Women	13,625	8.6	4,299	13.6	3,320	15.8	6,884	10.2
Hwvs	14,532	10.0	4,834	12.4	3,781	13.5	7,327	12.3
Hwvs/Ch	3,520	0.2	1,156	11.5	964	18.7	2,934	8.7
ABC1 Adults	8,286	7.4	3,505	13.9	1,958	11.9	5,838	17.9