Despite record ratings for its Britain's Got Talent series, ITV1 posted an 8% fall year on year in its adult share of impacts last month, to 29.4%. This was mirrored by Channel 4 and its time-shifted channel, which posted an 8% drop in its share of adult impacts, to 11.5%.
Five was the strongest performer in relative terms among all adults, with its share of adult impacts down 4% year on year, to 8%. Jason Talley, controller of sales at Five, said the broadcaster was in a "good place", with new controller Richard Woolfe leading a revitalised team.
He added Five was the only terrestrial broadcaster to increase its volume of adult sales year on year and noted the channel was delivering "a large amount of peak compared to its average", particularly in the Thursday to Saturday period, a prime time for retail advertisers.
But both Five and ITV will be concerned by the continued fall of share of impacts among 16 to 34-year -olds, both slipping by 13% year on year over the first five months of 2009.
ITV has been keen to stress such drops are offset by growth elsewhere, and last month reported its average adult share of commercial impacts for the "ITV Family" including its digital channels, remained stable in Q1 at 40.2%, compared to 41.4% in 2008.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 and its +1 offering maintained a better grip of its core 16 to 34-year-old share, down 7% year on year in May.
Mike Parker, head of strategic sales at Channel 4, noted the broadcaster's withdrawal of programming investment in daytime and US commissions had been partially offset by successful UK commissions such as Come Dine With Me.
.jpg)
.jpg)