UKTV has reported that that its share of the ad market grew by 4% in 2019 with original programming and its vod service fuelling growth.
Flagship comedy channel, Dave was ranked number one non-PSB channel for 16-34s.
UKTV reported that its original commissions saw their best year ever accounting for seven out of the top 10 programmes across the network. UKTV Originals also accounted for eight out of the 10 top shows for younger audiences (16-34s) as well as ABC1 audiences across the network. Drama and Yesterday both saw gains in 2019 and finished the year as two of the top 10 non-PSB channels. Drama achieved its best year ever since its launch in 2013.
Top performing UKTV Originals include Taskmaster, Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes (Gold), The Cockfields (Gold), Dial M for Middlesbrough (Gold), Emma Willis: Delivering Babies (W), Traces (Alibi), Hypothetical (Dave) and Expedition with Steve Backshall, co-commissioned with BBC Two (Dave) among others.
On demand service UKTV Play became the fastest growing brand for the broadcaster year-on-year with views up 43%, ending the year with more than three million registered users.
Acquisitions and BBC archive content included Harrow and Waco on Alibi, The Brokenwood Mysteries on Drama, Masterchef Australia on W, Would I lie To You on Dave and Train Truckers on Yesterday.
Seven out of 10 BBC archive shows delivered the highest percentage of ratings across the year. Strong performing shows included; Last of the Summer Wine, New Tricks, Top Gear, Death in Paradise, Only Fools and Horses, Father Brown and QI XL. Death in Paradise and Call the Midwife attracted the fifth and eighth biggest audiences across the network with 618k viewers and 528k on top performing episodes respectively.
Marcus Arthur, President of BBC Studios UK & Ireland and CEO of UKTV said: “We are a significant investor in British creativity and committed to working with new and established on and off-screen talent and producers, which has been demonstrated by our strong slate and success in 2019. We’ve more than doubled our development budget in the last 12 months and worked with nine new production partners.”
“Our vibrant channel brands foster loyalty in an increasingly complex landscape and offer advertisers targeted reach and a safe environment for their ad campaigns. Looking ahead we are set for growth with ambitious plans for our original commissioning and innovation across video-on-demand. We are looking to operate on a worldwide scale, creating bold, ambitious shows building on our 2019 UKTV Original successes including Traces, Expedition with Steve Backshall, and new for 2020, We Hunt Together.”
Staff Reporter
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