Changing channels... how our TV viewing compares to the past

Ten years later, Barb crunched data from 16 channels and in 2001 the number of channels monitored was 131. By 2011, Barb measured audience numbers from 280 channels – although there are hundreds of other minority interest channels that the company does not include its reports. Thirty years ago, 21.7m watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, but that figure was eclipsed last year by the nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which drew a total average domestic audience of 26m. Despite the fragmentation of the TV audience in the last three decades some things clearly do not change.

With the publication of figures for 2011 and easy access to numbers for three decades (www.barb.co.uk) it’s possible to see how just how our consumption of television has varied. Last year’s Royal Wedding, which was broadcast across 10 channels, trounced the next most popular progamme – ITV1’s The X-Factor Results Show, (13.46m), followed by BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing Final with 13.34m. In 1981, the audience for that other Royal Wedding was exceeded by the blockbuster films Jaws (more than 23m viewers) and Diamonds are Forever (over 22m). Only one TV soap, Coronation Street, featured in the top 10 that year, and The Benny Hill Show featured at number four. Comedy sketch shows, as opposed to sitcoms, featured large in the ratings wars then, but were soon replaced by situation comedies such as Only Fools and Horses and material using out-takes or viewers’ home videos, like You’ve Been Framed. The latter followed the increasing retail affordability of camcorders.

In the 1990s there was greater competition for the fewer hours when we were not working. Computer games, a rejuvenated film industry and more nightlife options vied for our attention, and for those still tuning in the multi-channel offerings of satellite TV meant audiences fragmented. Today audiences for top 10 shows today are generally much lower than in 1981. However, 2010 was a record year in that viewers broke the four-hours-per-day barrier for the first time.

Whatever changes are reflected in the data, consistently huge audiences are attracted by grand royal occasions and top sporting events. In 1994, Panorama’s interview with Diana, Princess of Wales topped the charts with 22.78m and in 1997 her funeral was watched by 19.29m on BBC One alone. The England v Portugal Euro 2004 match was number one with 20.66m viewers, and data analysed by the British Film Institute, the highest rated programme ever was England’s World Cup victory in 1966, with 32.3m.

Barb’s needs to track the effect of new technologies, says Bjarne Thelin, chief executive of Barb. “Around two per cent of viewing is currently via devices like PCs, laptops and tablets, and by the end of the year we’ll issue figures incorporating this. Currently, around 10 per cent of programmes are not watched in “real time”. Keeping up with all this is what makes our job so fascinating.”