Published: Wed 12 Dec 2018ITV main channel is having its highest share of viewing in nearly a decade, consolidated data reveals
Consolidated figures for ITVs main channel (for January-November 2018) released this week show that ITV is having its highest year to date share of viewing in nearly a decade, in what is its third consecutive year of audience share growth.
ITV is the only PSB main channel and family of channels to have grown share year on year in 2018.
Kevin Lygo, ITVs Director of Television said:
2018 has been a fantastic year for us - England's World Cup clashes on ITV and Love Island were the most talked about TV of the summer, and this autumn, I'm a Celebrity has broken records in what is its 18th series. All three have brought in huge audiences, including amongst younger viewers, who have been watching these shows in their millions. ITV's trend busting performance in 2018 is also a story about every aspect of our schedule working harder, and the amazing teams who work on our soaps, our entertainment shows, our daily daytime programmes and quizzes - who continue to deliver talked about TV that stands out in the schedule. And in this world of hundreds of content choices, we have also launched new shows and in 2018 we've grown our share of viewing to become the most watched channel for 16-34s, and the most watched channel in peak time for the first time since 2013 .
The share of viewing increase has been driven by strong performances across the schedule.
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! had its highest ever launch in 2018, in the programme's 18th series, with 13.7 million viewers based on consolidated data. I'm A Celebrity has built on the success of other ratings hits for ITV's family of channels in 2018, including Saturday Night Takeaway, and Vera, which also averaged their highest ratings ever this year. ITV's World Cup coverage, which included Englands semi-final against Croatia, became the most watched football match on a single channel ever with an average audience of 24.3million viewers from kick off until final whistle, and This Morning achieved its most watched episode since records go back, with its coverage of HRH Princess Eugenie's Wedding consolidating at 3.2million viewers.
The Voice returned in 2018 with a new coach, Olly Murs, joining Tom Jones, Will i am and Jennifer Hudson, and was up year on year by 300k viewers and 3.5 share points. A fantastic week of Britain's Got Talent live shows were rounded off by 10 million viewers watching Lost Voice Guy become the first comedian to win Britain's Got Talent.
Entertainment shows Dancing on Ice and Who Wants to be a Millionaire delivered slot boosting performances and factual hits included The Queen's Green Planet averaging 6.4 million viewers and a 25.3% share, making it ITVs highest audience for a factual programme this year, and new series Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip which pulled in 5.1million viewers and a 22.5% share, achieved the highest volume for any factual series on ITV since Long Lost Family in the summer of 2013.
ITV's News at Ten bulletin has delivered its highest average share since 2011; the only news bulletin to grow in this slot, and ITV's Early Evening News programme is the only early evening news programme to achieve volume growth, year on year.
ITV had stand out success with stripped drama series, including Trauma starring Adrian Lester and John Simm, and Innocent starring Lee Ingleby and Hermione Norris, which are two out of the three highest rating new drama series on TV this year, based on seven day consolidated data.
Event driven scheduling has also boosted ITV's share year on year, with highlights including The British Soap Awards live, Soccer Aid for Unicef, The Grand National, and of course The World Cup, ITV showed the two most watched games of the whole tournament. England v Colombia averaged 20.1million viewers across the match with 24.4million at its peak as Eric Dier scored the winning penalty. Englands semi-final against Croatia became the most watched football match on a single channel ever, and during extra-time, the match had a peak of 26.6million viewers. This rises to 27.5million if you include non-TV viewing making it the most watched TV event since 1997. ITV main channel had the highest average match audience (7.3million viewers) of the two broadcasters, and this average was up on ITVs matches in 2014 by 1.2million viewers.
In 2018 ITV was the home of the two most watched soaps for the first time since records go back, with Coronation Street on top, and Emmerdale moving up into second place. Highlights included Emmerdale enjoying its highest weekly share since Camerons siege in the Woolpack back in 2013, for the week this May that included Charity's flashback episode, which averaged a 38% share across its five episodes. For Coronation Street highlights include Good Fridays 8:30pm episode scoring the highest rating in this slot in more than 4 years when 9.4million viewers tuned in to see Phelan confess his string of crimes to Eileen at the lighthouse. Across that week, Coronation Street delivered an impressive 40% share among 16-34s, the soap's highest share for this demographic since just before the tram crash in 2010. On top of this, Aidan's suicide storyline bought in our highest share among Men 16-34 since 2004 (53%) and we also recorded our strongest share for this 9pm stripped week since 2013.
Good Morning Britain continues to grow in share and so far in 2018 is averaging an 18.7% share, with eight out of the ten best ever Good Morning Britain shares falling within 2018. Lorraine is averaging an 18.0% share of viewing and Loose Women 13.9%, for both the best share performance since 2013.
The Chase has had its best year ever in both share and volume. Weekday teatime episodes
