Channel 4 portfolio scores best ever performance in peak time

30 December 2008

End-of-year figures released today confirm that Channel 4's portfolio of channels has had its best ever year in peak time, achieving a 12.8% share.

2008 has delivered Channel 4's second highest ever portfolio share across all hours, 11.9%, on par with last year's performance.  Over the past five years, Channel 4 has grown its portfolio share by 14%, in contrast to all the other channels, who have experienced decline, with the BBC's portfolio down 12%, ITV's portfolio down 6%, and Five down 6% on 2003. Channel 4's peak time portfolio share has also grown each year and in 2008 is up 25% compared with 2003.

All hours share for Channel 4 (total) has come in at 8.2%, which is 7% down compared to 2007. Channel 4's (total) share of peak time viewing fared much better, at 8.7%, only 4% down on last year. 2008 marks the fourth successive year that Channel 4 has achieved a higher share than BBC2.

Figures for 2008 show that E4 (total) is the second most watched digital channel in the UK, with a share of 1.8% in multichannel homes. It is the number one rating channel among 16-34s (4.17% in multichannel homes), even growing share amongst this important demographic by 9% in 2008.  

More4 (total) continues to perform strongly, growing its share 29% year on year to 1.03% in multi-channel homes. More4 is up 33% amongst 16-34s and up 23% amongst Adult ABC1s for 2008. More4 is double the size of BBC4 in terms of the share of individuals viewing (More4 total 1.03% vs. BBC4 0.49%) and similarly ahead of BBC4 for share of ABC1 viewers (More4 total 1.14% vs. BBC4 0.69%).

Film4 (total) is the UK's most popular film channel, achieving a 1.01% share of multi-channel viewing, up 9% on last year.

 

Notes to editors:

• The Channel 4 portfolio is made up of C4, C4+1, S4C, E4, E4+1, More4, More4+1, Film4, Film4+1, 4Music
• Channel 4 shares based on all hours (unless peak 1730-2400) and include +1 channel.
• Figures cover the period 1 January 2008 to 28 December 2008.