UKTV says its seen a 55% volume increase in 16-34s since lockdown.
Alongside the linear viewing, UKTV’s on demand service, UKTV Play, has seen a 16% volume increase in 16-34s using the platform and a 27% increase in views to the service overall. Younger viewers are watching more vintage and factual shows on UKTV Play with Birds of a Feather and early episodes of Casualty, Classic EastEnders and The Bill all seeing upticks in 16-34 volume, alongside UKTV Originals such as Expedition with Steve Backshall and Borderforce: America’s Gatekeepers.
UKTV CEO Marcus Arthur commented: “Television can bring great comfort in these troubled times. We’re staying at home and the news is bleak, but escapist, entertaining and comforting TV can bring great joy. Shared viewing has increased by a quarter as families sit down together to watch TV and the boost in 16-34-year-olds visiting UKTV’s channels has contributed to the network’s strong growth in share of commercial impacts.
The UKTV network is reaching a higher volume of young people more frequently with weekly reach up 22% and daily reach up 37.8%. UKTV’s entertainment channels have also seen big SOCI gains in recent weeks with Dave now the biggest non-PSB owned channel for 16-34s.
Dave and Gold have each increased their 16-34 profiles by 3 percentage points (to 19% and 16% respectively). Overall, the network has added 0.70 of a SOCI point during the lockdown period with its share of commercial impacts rising to 8.25% (an increase of 9%).