Virgin 1 channel line-up faces major improvements

by Fiona Ramsay, Media Week 20-Nov-07, 10:00

LONDON - Virgin Media is set to make improvements to the Virgin 1 channel line-up in the wake of early viewing figures, but is celebrating a trebling of Dave’s audience after it replaced the UKTV G2 channel and launched on Freeview.

Jonathan Webb, managing director of Virgin Media TV, has highlighted several areas in which improvement is needed on Virgin 1. “It takes time for programmes to come through, even in Freeview where there is a tiny slice of the channels available,” he said.

The Sunday night comedy zone has been highlighted as an early problem area for the channel. Webb said That ’70s Show followed by Seinfeld had “not done the numbers we expected”. “It is hard to get traction with comedy audiences. Comedy is a pillar of the channel, but we need to move it and rejig Sunday nights completely.”

Webb added that “huge investment” in Star Trek was an indication of the channel’s aims for Freeview: “Freeview viewers are not as exploratory as your average digital viewer. Star Trek had no exposure on Freeview before.”
He added that the Tuesday night movie strand could also be improved with bigger films next year.
Despite having a male skew, Virgin 1 intends to keep its male audience base to under 60% of its total viewers.
UKTV has hailed Dave the number one channel of choice among 16-44 men, beaten only by the UK terrestrial channels. Attracting three million viewers every day in its first month, it has delivered a 1.32% share of total multichannel homes and 3.2% of the target audience of 16-34 males.
In pay-TV homes, the channel has attracted 1.8 million new viewers, increasing its viewership by 35%. Dave took a 1.9% share of multichannel adult viewers on Sunday, helped by Car of the Year, which gave the channel its best weekly share of 1.4%.
UKTV executive director of business and operations Julia Jordan said: “In the four weeks post-Dave launch, Gold’s share was up 11% versus the previous month before Dave’s launch.
“There are great opportunities for cross-promotion.”