Originally Posted by
mlt11:
“Don't know if anyone has access to the rest of the article but looks like a pretty important summary of performance.
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/”
Here's the article:
Quote:
“This year’s ratings reveal some major headaches for the commercial PSBs: Channel 4 is on course to miss its 7% share target, Channel 5’s gamble on Big Brother has not paid off and ITV1’s 2010 ratings renaissance is over.
Broadcast has measured overnight audience data from 1 January to 30 November in 2011 and over the equivalent period for the past five years, and the three broadcasters all face questions about their performance going into next year.
Big Brother’s absence from the C4 schedule has inevitably contributed to a drop in viewers. Including C4+1, the channel has averaged an audience of 609,400 (6.7% share) at all times from 1 January to 30 November, compared with 633,400 (7%) over the same period in 2010. This indicates that C4 is likely to miss chief executive David Abraham’s challenging 2011 target of maintaining its 7% audience share for 2011 without the Endemol show.
The 11-month performance was C4’s worst in the past five years and the year-on-year decline is also borne out in primetime (defined by C4 as 5.30pm to 12am), where audiences dropped from 1.5 million (7.6%) in 2010 to 1.4 million (7.2%) this year. A C4 spokeswoman pointed out that only C4 and ITV had increased share of viewing across their family of channels this year.
Channel 5
Meanwhile, C5’s gamble on Big Brother has not delivered a significant increase in viewers. The channel suffered its biggest decline in peak viewing (which C5 considers to be 6pm to 10.30pm) in at least five years, falling from 995,700 (4.5%) in 2010 to 935,500 (4.3%) this year. C5’s total number of all-hours viewers also dropped from 412,100 (4.5%) last year to 399,800 (4.4%) in 2011.
Celebrity Big Brother’s launch attracted C5’s third-biggest audience ever in August with 5.2 million (22.1%), but the regular Big Brother sunk to a series average of 1.4 million (6.9%). The show also failed to make any substantial impact on C5’s share of its key commercial demographic of 16 to 34 year-olds, which across peaktime viewing was 4.2% – exactly the same as last year.
Sources have suggested that C5’s investment in the reality show meant that other areas of the schedule suffered. A C5 spokesman said: “The Big Brother franchise [CBB and BB] on C5 this summer averaged 2.1 million (9.2%). The show successfully connected with its core 16-34 audience.
“Across the 9-11pm slot while CBB and BB were on air, the channel increased its share among this audience by 83% year-on-year. The show has had an impact across the whole C5 family, where we have increased our share of 16-34s by 5% year-on-year.”
ITV1
Elsewhere, the brighter future promised by ITV1’s 2010 performance has clouded over. Last year, its total number of all-hours viewers increased to 1.6 million (17%) from 1.5 million (18%) in 2009, while peaktime (7pm to 10.30pm) jumped from 5.2 million (23.9%) to 5.4 million (23.5%). Those increases came after years of steady decline – but the revival appears to be over.
From 1 January to 30 November 2011, ITV1 and ITV1 HD were watched by an average of 1.5 million (16.3%) viewers across all hours, and in primetime the average fell back to 5 million (22.4%). Even factoring in the new time-shifted ITV1+1, the channel’s ratings were only bolstered back up to 2009 levels, when ITV1 suffered one of the worst periods in its 56-year history.
Industry sources pointed to ITV1’s barren summer, the absence of a major football tournament and faltering entertainment shows such as Born To Shine, Popstar To Operastar and The Marriage Ref. Others noted The X Factor’s relative underperformance this year, with last Saturday’s episode more than 3.5 million viewers down on the equivalent instalment in 2010.
An ITV spokesman said: “ITV1 has had a successful 2011 in which it has maintained its position as the UK’s leading peaktime channel. The network has broadcast four out of the top five programmes this year, including the top two entertainment shows, the most successful drama series on television in more than 10 years and eight out of the top 10 new drama launches.”
BBC1/BBC2
In contrast, BBC1 is the most stable of the terrestrial channels. It posted a drop in peak viewing (6pm to 10.30pm) from 5 million (22.9%) in 2010 to 4.9 million (22.5%) this year, but this was still higher than in 2009.
Across all hours, BBC1’s average was 1.9 million (20.8%) – exactly the same as in 2010 and higher than in 2009. BBC2 fell slightly in all hours from 626,500 (6.9%) to 599,900 (6.6%), but its peak average was exactly the same as last year at 1.7 million (7.8%).
PEAKTIME RATINGS AT A GLANCE
ITV1 (incl HD and +1)
2011: 5.1m (23%)
2010: 5.4m (23.5%)
Channel 4 (incl HD and +1)
2011: 1.4m (7.2%)
2010: 1.5m (7.6%)
Channel 5
2011: 935,500 (4.3%)
2010: 995,700 (4.5%)”
