it is true soaps are an excellent example of econmies of scale, they get cheaper the more you produce, and the auidence seems happy to watch 5 episode, a succesful soap is worth the weight of its viewers in gold to a TV channel.
Low risk high reward, ITV would be crazy to pass that up.
No one is suggesting ITV give up Coronation St and Emmerdale as these make money for them and are consistent, but it's the rest of the programmes that aren't really doing anything for them. Take away the Cowell shows( and there is evidence these have peaked) and I'm A Celebrity ( which will run out of steam soon) and there isn't much else that gets a high audience.
It clearly shows why Crozier believes why ITV has gone in the wrong direction, by not focussing on ITV1 or embracing pay TV.
A miilion viewers on ITV1 is worth a lot more than a million on ITV2.
What you've not considered when looking at what 50 grand buys is the fact that programming is much cheaper on ITV2, 3 and 4.
Far from going 'in the wrong direction' I'd say ITVs lack of direction has been it's problem.
Since digital tv came along ITV (and Carlton/Granada before it) have had a haphazard approach to digital. First off they were in bed with Sky for OnDigital. Until Sky had to withdraw for regulatory reasons. Then they took on Sky (as opposed to worked productively with Sky), keeping ITV channels off the Sky platform and competing whilst totally out their depth in sports rights.
Their commitment to Freeview has been questionable, and they've appeared slower to embrace it than Channel 4.
They were slower than the BBC to commit to free to air satellite broadcasting, despite the clear obvious saving on NDS encryption. And when they finally launched ITV HD it was freesat exclusive - missing out a huge potential viewer base on the Virgin Media and Sky platforms!
Comments
No one is suggesting ITV give up Coronation St and Emmerdale as these make money for them and are consistent, but it's the rest of the programmes that aren't really doing anything for them. Take away the Cowell shows( and there is evidence these have peaked) and I'm A Celebrity ( which will run out of steam soon) and there isn't much else that gets a high audience.
What you've not considered when looking at what 50 grand buys is the fact that programming is much cheaper on ITV2, 3 and 4.
Far from going 'in the wrong direction' I'd say ITVs lack of direction has been it's problem.
Since digital tv came along ITV (and Carlton/Granada before it) have had a haphazard approach to digital. First off they were in bed with Sky for OnDigital. Until Sky had to withdraw for regulatory reasons. Then they took on Sky (as opposed to worked productively with Sky), keeping ITV channels off the Sky platform and competing whilst totally out their depth in sports rights.
Their commitment to Freeview has been questionable, and they've appeared slower to embrace it than Channel 4.
They were slower than the BBC to commit to free to air satellite broadcasting, despite the clear obvious saving on NDS encryption. And when they finally launched ITV HD it was freesat exclusive - missing out a huge potential viewer base on the Virgin Media and Sky platforms!