Treading water
BBC audience share slides further
These audience share figures are fairly predictable given the circumstances from which they are taken. ITV1's decline has slowed because what remains of its less discerning core audience loves watching what's left (ie. soaps and reality TV), though the channel has forced itself to be dependent on what's left of its ratings bankers like a junkie hooked on crack cocaine.
Meanwhile BBC One and Two have declined faster than BBC Three and Four's equivalent gain, which is unsurprising since we now have one poorly-funded channel full of repeats (BBC Three) and an excellent but somewhat niche channel (BBC Four). The BBC's digital strategy is in danger of collapsing courtesy of programme budgets being stretched too thinly.
BBC One in particular has recently suffered presumably due to financial considerations; the quantity of cheaply produced peak time reality TV at one point reached what seemed like epidemic proportions (presumably most of BBC One's budget that financial year had been spent on Doctor Who), though they will now have to do without Trinny and Susannah.
Given the BBC's financial chaos, ITV consolidating what's left and Channel Five often getting overlooked in the crossfire between the other terrestrial channels versus Sky ones (though with RTL now in full control of Five that may soon change), it's no surprise to learn that Channel 4 has done relatively well as a result.
