Dave fails to grow share in 2023, but more viewers are tuning into UKTV’s other networks. Streaming service UKTV Play continues to see sharp growth, following rollout of version 3.0 of its app.
- Drama, W, Yesterday, Gold, Alibi and Eden grew their audience share.
- 7,000 hours of content now available on UKTV Play app.
- Warning of a difficult year to come.
Commercial broadcaster UKTV announced today it achieved record growth in 2023 for the network and its free streaming service UKTV Play. UKTV’s SOCI (Share of Commercial Impacts) reached 8.81%, the highest ever for the seven channel network. The broadcaster also grew share by 5% to a record 4.92%, up from 4.70% last year, and it supercharged growth of UKTV Play with direct-to-consumer views increasing by 56% year-on-year, dwarfing the 27% growth the service enjoyed in 2022.
The Play catalogue now boasts over 7,000 hours of content. Drama has been a key driver of growth for the service with shows such as Signora Volpe, Mrs Sidhu Investigates, Sister Boniface Mysteries, Berlin Station, Atlantic Crossing, Annika, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Madam Secretary and Smother all featuring in the top 20 highest rating episodes on the service.
UKTV also launched four UKTV Play branded FAST channels in 2023 – UKTV Play Heroes, UKTV Play Laughs, UKTV Play Full Throttle and UKTV Play Uncovered – on Samsung TV, Amazon Freevee and Pluto TV.
The broadcaster has confirmed its previously announced aim to launch these streaming channels directly on UKTV Play – rebranding this summer as “U” – in the coming year. By doing so, they’ll join Channel 4, the forthcoming combined My5/Pluto TV and ITVX in offering free ad-supported streaming channels.
3.0 app attracts Amazon Fire users
The new UKTV Play 3.0 app was rolled out across numerous platforms and devices including Google TV, Apple iOS, Android, Amazon Fire and Freeview and all platforms witnessed year-on-year growth, most notably Amazon Fire which was up 71%.
Linear successes
Drama, W, Yesterday, Alibi, Gold and Eden all grew share in 2023 with a rich mix of original and acquired content helping to bolster growth. But Dave failed to grow on linear TV, despite winning ‘Channel of the Year’ award at the Broadcast Digital Awards. However, Dave’s YouTube channel grew views in 2023, doubling down on YouTube Shorts.
Later this year, UKTV will begin to rebrand its channels. As announced in November, UKTV Play will become ‘U’ and its Freeview channels will be renamed U&Dave, U&Drama, U&W and U&Yesterday.
Corporate comment
Richard Watsham, UKTV’s Chief Creative Officer and Global Director of Acquisitions BBC Studios/UKTV highlighted ongoing issues that are affecting all commercial broadcasters. Commenting on UKTV’s latest performance stats, he said:
The prolonged advertising downturn has increased pressure on budgets and our response has been to remain agile across the content supply, mixing impactful originations and high value acquired boxsets alongside much-loved BBC classics.
2024 will be another tough year for commercial broadcasters with the advertising recession continuing to bite, but I’m confident that UKTV will remain on its growth trajectory and I’m looking forward to uniting UKTV’s free TV and digital portfolio under new masterbrand U.