ITV’s viewing share falls to all-time low

ITV’s share of total viewing figures has fallen to an all-time low and now lags behind BBC1, according to the latest Trend in Television Report published by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

The report covers the third quarter of 2001 and shows that ITV’s share of total viewing was 25.2 per cent compared with BBC1’s 26.8 per cent. ITV maintains its lead in the important peak period, but the channel failed to achieve its 6.4 per cent target lead over BBC1. Instead, ITV recorded a 5.6 per cent lead, and its share of viewers in the 16 to 54 age group fell.

Non-terrestrial channels continue to increase their penetration and hold over 20 per cent share of total TV viewing, and over a third of commercial viewing, for the first time.

Last year ITV’s “profile monitor” showed 23.3 per cent of its peak-time viewers were in the 16 to 34 age group, almost three per cent short of its target of 26 per cent for the year 2000. This quarter 22.1 per cent of the channel’s peak-time viewers fell into this age group, down from 23.2 per cent in the previous quarter.