UKTV grew both channel viewing and share of commercial impacts in 2021.
The seven channels within the seven-channel network grew their viewing share by 3.2% last year to 4.63%, reaching over 18 million viewers a week, according to BARB data released by the broadcaster.
Drama grew its share among adults by 9.6% year-on-year, while Alibi added 7.1% and Dave 3%. UKTV Play’s direct to consumer service saw a 42% increase in views and ended the year with 4.45 million registered users.
UKTV Play is available on 21 platforms and across pay and free it is on target to achieve 243m views, which will be an increase of 17% on 2019’s total. Its most popular shows include Red Dwarf: The Promised Land, The Bill: The Early Years, Meet The Richardsons (pictured), EastEnders and Hypothetical.
UKTV CEO Marcus Arthur said he was incredibly proud of how the team came together in the first full year of BBC ownership. “While the pandemic temporarily paused production, UKTV was uniquely positioned with an incredibly rich archive of content which has been a much-appreciated source of joy for our viewers. This, alongside our strong pipeline of Originals, helped to deliver growth across all metrics in 2020.”
The network also grew its social presence, launching Dave on TikTok and reaching over 21 million views for its video content across social platforms, it also relaunched its YouTube channel.
