The figures published today by the IPA are a much-needed shot in the arm for ITV1, which saw its total share of viewing drop below 20% for the first time in the second quarter.
However, ITV1's share of impact -- the figure which measures how much of the television audience sees advertisers' output, broken down by sales house -- dropped from 31.7% in Q2 to 29.2% in Q3.
ITV1 was hit by the poor performance of shows such as 'Love Island' in the summer when it returned for its second run. On the back of that weak showing, ITV scrapped the show last month.
In its place, ITV is hoping to win viewers back by commissioning more drama, including a number of episodes of the one-off detective drama 'Lewis', a spin-off from its massive hit 'Morse', as well as the return of 'Northern Lights', a ratings success of last year, which will come back as 'City Lights' featuring Robson Green and Mark Benton.
Channel 4 also took a hit over the last quarter. Its audience share tumbled from 11.5% in July to 8.8% in October, due in part to the seasonal post-'Big Brother' ratings slump. The broadcaster's share of the lucrative 16- to 34-year-old audience fell sharply after 'Big Brother' came off air, declining almost 40% in the seven days after the reality show ended in August.
Non-terrestrial channels, meanwhile, continued their ascent, building their total audience share from 31.6% to 35.4% since beginning of the year. Terrestrial channels, by contrast, dipped from 68.4% to 64.6% over the same period.
The IPA's Trends in Television Viewing report also revealed that television viewing is still declining in UK households. Overall viewing fell for the seventh consecutive quarter, with people only spending an average of 3.31 hours in front of the TV every day compared with 3.91 at the beginning of 2005.
In addition, IPA figures confirmed the steady penetration of digital television viewing -- 70% of all UK homes can now receive digital television and 65% of the population now watch digital channels in an average week.
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