The rebranding of UKTV’s entertainment portfolio has been rewarded with its highest audience reach since the group’s formation 11 years ago.
In December UKTV’s portfolio of 10 channels were watched by 36.5 million viewers translating to a share of 4.23% in multichannel homes. This represents an increase in reach of 6% year on year.
“Christmas is historically a time of year when people love watching the best TV with their families,” said UKTV’s Controller Matthew Littleford. “This unprecedented growth proves that, despite an increasingly fragmented market, it is still possible to appeal to viewers and increase share by investing in strong brands, creative scheduling and the highest quality content.”
Last October, UKTV replaced UKTV Gold with two entertainment channels, the comedy led GOLD, and more generalist Watch. UKTV Drama became Alibi as the group used the single names that contributed to the success of the male skewing Dave.
On Christmas Eve (December 24), GOLD was the seventh most watched channel in multichannel households with a 2.22% share, Dave was ninth with 1.44% and Watch was 10th with 1.41%. On Christmas Day GOLD even surpassed one of the Big Five channels displacing Five to take fifth place, thanks to an episode of the comedy classic Only Fools and Horses.
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