Advanced Television

UKTV ratings high

January 9, 2014

daveUKTV boosted audience share to deliver record ratings in 2013, official end-of-year BARB data reports.

The media company, an independent joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Network Interactive, achieved an average share of 4.67 per cent across the year, up 5 per cent on 2012’s numbers, and saw its SOCI (share of commercial impacts) also grow, delivering a share of over 8.2 per cent, building on 2012’s record figure.

Viewing numbers for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day also broke all previous ratings records and viewing increased by 86 per cent (year-on –year) across all of UKTV’s VoD platforms.

UKTV Chief Executive, Darren Childs says “UKTV has enjoyed three successive years of viewership growth and achieving over 8.2 per cent of all commercial impacts in the UK last year puts our business at terrestrial levels of viewership, reaching 42 million viewers every month.  Audiences are rewarding UKTV’s compelling and creative programmes and brands with record ratings. This is fantastic news for our platform partners and for advertisers.”

The festive period was particularly successful for the broadcaster with Christmas Day achieving its highest ever share of total viewing at 5.49 per cent, up 21 per cent year-on-year, with a mix of original commissions, bold acquisitions and treasure trove of BBC content. Boxing Day was up 2 per cent year-on-year, New Year’s Eve up 17 per cent and New Year’s Day up 42 per cent. As a result, December became UKTV’s most watched month on record, averaging 5.35 per cent viewing share, up 14 per cent on December 2012 and week 52 was UKTV’s highest rating week ever, attracting 5.8 per cent share, up 12 per cent on the same week in 2012. The bumper month contributed to a huge increase in SOCI with the network predicted to achieve a record breaking commercial impact share of 9.6 per cent.

Individual channels outperforming previous years bolstered UKTV’s stellar performance.

Popular entertainment channel Dave has now confirmed its place as the number one non-PSB channel with viewing up one-fifth and a viewing share of 1.32 per cent. It also celebrated its best Christmas on record with Christmas Day (up 26 per cent year-on-year), Boxing Day (up 25 per cent year-on-year), New Year’s Eve (up 25 per cent year-on-year) and New Year’s Day (up 100 per cent year-on-year) all growing versus previous years.

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