UKTV chief executive Darren Childs says the channel group is “Bucking the market” after announcing it had grown its share of the UK advertising market to 9%.
This represents an increase of 0.8 percentage points on 2013.
The BBC Worldwide-Scripps Network Interactive network achieved its highest ever full-year audience share, an increase of 8.5% vs 2013 according to BARB data UKTV celebrated its most successful Christmas on record, beating Channel 5’s full portfolio, with viewing up 3% year-on-year.
UKTV Chief Executive, Darren Childs says “UKTV is bucking the market, growing its share of the UK commercial TV market to 9%, making our portfolio of channels vital for advertisers. This is the first time in the history of British television that a non-PSB channels business has played so big a role in the ratings charts and our investment will continue in 2015.”
Gold was the most watched basic-pay channel across all platforms on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and UKTV’s new video on demand service, UKTV Play, posted a 169% increase in downloads over the Christmas period versus the previous two weeks, registering a 42% increase in views. The festive period was also particularly successful for Good Food (up by 106%), Really (up by 21%), Drama (up by 15%), Yesterday (up by 13%), Alibi (up by 9%) and Dave (up by 1%) which all enjoyed increased viewer numbers year on year.
Across the full year, UKTV also grew its average total viewing share by 8.5% on 2013’s numbers when compared to the total broadcast market, making 2014 a fourth consecutive year of growth for the network. UKTV achieved a record-breaking total viewing share of 7% on 20 April, the highest ever recorded in the network’s 22 year history.
The month of April also marked UKTV’s best ever month with a 5.37% share.
