Earlier this year, Dave regularly pulled in daily audiences of 3.3 million, a total audience share of 1.3%. But during the week ending 27 April, the channel had an average daily reach of 2.5 million, an audience share of just 0.8%. Throughout May, audiences remained at the 2.5 million mark. Dave's share of total viewing dipped from 1% in April to 0.9% in May.
Simon Bevan, head of broadcast at Vizeum, said: "Channels get lots of marketing support at launch and then they settle down a bit. With Dave, viewers will be seeing that it is just a well repackaged UKTV G2. There is only so much you can catch up on with programmes like Top Gear before consumers go looking for something else."
Julia Jordan, UKTV executive director business and operations, said: "Dave's performance shot up more quickly than we expected in the first few months, then tapered off in May. We were concerned, but with some adjustments to the schedule, we are back on track again."
New programming in June included Louis Theroux: Gambling in Las Vegas and The Most Hated Family in America, while the 7pm slot has pulled in good audience numbers from Fifth Gear and Ray Mears. In July, The League of Gentleman has been performing well for Dave alongside quizzes Mock the Week and QI. For the first week of July, daily reach was up to 2.9 million, a share of 1%.
Jordan said Dave would not be forgotten amid the rebranding of the rest of the UKTV portfolio - including the rebrand of UKTV Gold+1 to Watch and the change of UKTV Drama to Alibi. Dave is planning three acquisitions and four new commissioned series in the quiz and comedy genres.
Bevan added: "The real sign of growth will be in October, when a real like-for-like comparison is possible."
Be the first to comment