TV viewing is on a high as commercial impacts jump

by Fiona Ramsay, Media Week 28-May-08, 07:30

LONDON - TV viewing during the first quarter of 2008 was at its highest level since 2004, averaging 3.97 hours per individual per day, according to the latest TV trends report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

However, terrestrial channels' share of TV viewing fell from 65.4% in the first quarter of 2007 to 61.9% in the first quarter of 2008, with declines in share of viewing for all the terrestrial channels.

Non-terrestrial channels increased their combined share of viewing from 34.6% to 38.1% for the first quarter of 2008. Channel 4 and Five improved their share of viewing since the final quarter of 2007, while the BBC and ITV lost share.

The IPA survey was released as new Barb figures for April show that commercial impacts in April were up 13.5% year on year, with ABC1 impacts up 16.2%. According to the Barb data, UK viewers watched an average of 2.35 hours of commercial TV a day in April, the highest figure on record for April in five years.

According to the IPA data for the week ending 30 March, among all terrestrial channels, BBC1 captured the most ABC1 and 16 to 34-year-old individuals, while ITV (plus GMTV) was the channel most watched by children.

Between the first quarter of 2007 and 2008 the portfolio of channels operated by UKTV, ITV and Five increased their combined audience shares slightly - in the case of UKTV from 3.1% to 3.5% - while Sky's audience share across its channels fell.

However ITV1, Channel 4's six TV channels and Sky Media's channels all secured a lower share of commercial impacts during Q1 2008 than the same period a year earlier. ITV's digital channels, Five and IDS, meanwhile, lifted their share of impacts.