BARB News

Television viewing varies seasonally across the year. The highest levels of viewing tend to be seen in the winter months; viewing usually then falls during the spring and reaches its lowest level in the summer before climbing again throughout autumn and returning to its winter peak.

The first chart, which plots average daily viewing for Individuals 4+ by calendar month, shows this pattern for 2006 and 2007. Within this seasonal pattern there are other factors that may affect viewing levels, the weather for example. Unsurprisingly viewing tends to rise if the weather is poor and fall if the weather is fine.

It is evident from this chart that in 2008 viewing levels in March were similar to those seen in January and February. This contrasts with the seasonal pattern in previous years, where viewing in March tends to be noticeably lower than January and February. Weather may be at least partly responsible for this; March 2008 was reported to be the wettest March in recent years. Another factor in 2008 may be the relatively early date for Easter - Good Friday fell on 21 March. Viewing levels were particularly high over this weekend; again, wintry weather may have contributed.

Chart 1: Average Daily Viewing, Individuals 4+

The second chart plots average viewing levels seen over every Easter weekend since 2003. Easter 2008 viewing levels were 13% higher than the next highest viewing Easter weekends in 2003 and 2005.

Non-regular broadcast events may also influence viewing levels over and above the normal seasonal pattern. Two possible examples this year are the Euro 2008 football tournament and the Olympics.

Chart 2: Easter Weekend Viewing Levels

It is possible that UK interest in Euro 2008 will be lower than for other recent European championships owing to the lack of home nation involvement. Even so, matches that do not involve home nations are still able to attract large audiences. The table shows the ten highest match audiences during Euro 2004, excluding the England matches. Not surprisingly, the more important matches in the later stages of the tournament attracted some of the highest audiences. The final, between Portugal and Greece, was the highest rating single broadcast with 10.8 million viewers and attracted an aggregate average audience of over 14 million across the two channels on which it was shown simultaneously. (Interestingly these two teams also contested the tournament's opening game, which was watched by 6.2 million viewers). Seven other matches attracted audiences of over 7 million individuals.

Chart 3: Top Ten Euro 2004 match audiences excluding England matches