More advertising pressure on ITV
Summary
A number of media agencies have said that the decline of ITV1's dominance over 16- to 34-year-old viewers is set to hit a "tipping point" this year, where it runs the real risk of losing key advertisers.
However, because of ITV's traditional market share advantage, the broadcaster has always been a "must buy" for brands, and so ads on the channel are significantly more expensive than other broadcasters.
"ITV1 has reached a tipping point where it is not just losing money from [contract rights renewal] but it could genuinely lose advertisers targeting 16- to 34-year-olds forever," said a director at one leading media agency.
"It is about the right environment and the right programmes, and ITV1 is expensive and doesn't have enough of the right content. Planners are for the first time discussing if ITV1 is worth almost twice the price when you can spread coverage to the likes of Channel 4 and multichannel."
Brands in areas such as sport, fashion, music, beer and film and entertainment are said to be likely candidates to question their traditional advertising spend on the 16-34 demographic with ITV1.
One TV director at a media planning and buying agency concurred that ITV1 is in crisis over the youth demographic, but argued that certain shows such as The X Factor, football, and stars such as Ant and Dec are still big draws.
My views
I think that ITV is a strong channel but it is losing its audience to the likes of Channel 4 who broadcast many shows aimed at the youth which are interesting, whereas ITV does more reality shows. Also ITV and many other channels are losing audience to the internet. People are becoming more computer friendly and prefer it to TV.
A number of media agencies have said that the decline of ITV1's dominance over 16- to 34-year-old viewers is set to hit a "tipping point" this year, where it runs the real risk of losing key advertisers.
However, because of ITV's traditional market share advantage, the broadcaster has always been a "must buy" for brands, and so ads on the channel are significantly more expensive than other broadcasters.
"ITV1 has reached a tipping point where it is not just losing money from [contract rights renewal] but it could genuinely lose advertisers targeting 16- to 34-year-olds forever," said a director at one leading media agency.
"It is about the right environment and the right programmes, and ITV1 is expensive and doesn't have enough of the right content. Planners are for the first time discussing if ITV1 is worth almost twice the price when you can spread coverage to the likes of Channel 4 and multichannel."
Brands in areas such as sport, fashion, music, beer and film and entertainment are said to be likely candidates to question their traditional advertising spend on the 16-34 demographic with ITV1.
One TV director at a media planning and buying agency concurred that ITV1 is in crisis over the youth demographic, but argued that certain shows such as The X Factor, football, and stars such as Ant and Dec are still big draws.
My views
I think that ITV is a strong channel but it is losing its audience to the likes of Channel 4 who broadcast many shows aimed at the youth which are interesting, whereas ITV does more reality shows. Also ITV and many other channels are losing audience to the internet. People are becoming more computer friendly and prefer it to TV.
