UKTV supercharged growth of free streaming service UKTV Play in 2023 and achieved record Share of Commercial Impacts

Play
  • UKTV grew views to free streaming service UKTV Play by 56% last year
  • The network achieved record SOCI (Share of Commercial Impacts) of 8.81%, up from 8.70% in 2022
  • UKTV also increased its network share by 5% to 4.92%, up from 4.70% last year
  • Dave won Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards
  • Drama, W, Yesterday, Gold, Alibi and Eden all increased share
  • The second series of Annika (Alibi) was UKTV's highest rating show, watched by 1.29million viewers

Tuesday 16 January 2023 - 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.

UKTV's CEO, Marcus Arthur, said,

It's been an extremely challenging year for the TV advertising market and the downward spiral has been much longer and deeper than many predicted. However, UKTV is weathering this storm well, achieving record SOCI and streaming growth last year as we continue to transform the business into a digital first and audience-led company.

UKTV has grown its network share by 5% and UKTV Play has increased views by 56%, fuelled by over 1000 hours of new content joining the service. Views, active users and views per active user have all been up year-on-year across every month in 2023, with titles such as Signora Volpe, Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, Sister Boniface Mysteries and Annika helping to drive growth. Six out of our seven linear channels have enjoyed share growth and UKTV Originals continue to go from strength to strength, with 10 out of the top 20 shows on the network being originations. We've also celebrated awards success with Dave winning Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards.

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. Launching in the summer, UKTV Play will transition to U and our free-to-air linear channels will become U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W and U&YESTERDAY, better enabling us to leverage the brands within UKTV's real estate as we make ourselves fit for a digital future.

UKTV Play

UKTV Play enjoyed growth across all metrics last year, with direct-to-consumer views growing by 56% and monetisable views by 48%. 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%.

The Play catalogue now boasts over 7000 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, and aims to launch FAST channels directly on UKTV Play in the coming year.

Channels and Content

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.

Richard Watsham, UKTV's Chief Creative Officer and Global Director of Acquisitions BBC Studios/UKTV 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.

Hit show Annika returned to Alibi for a second series and became the highest rating programme on the channel and across the UKTV network last year, watched by 1.29m. It helped propel Alibi to 16% share growth in 2023, aided by a strong slate of content including UK premiere CSI: Vegas and UKTV Original The Diplomat.

Yesterday benefitted from increased content investment with UKTV Originals accounting for nine out of 10 of the channel's top shows (Secrets of the London Underground, Bangers & Cash, Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, Hornby: A Model World, Classic Car Garage, The Architecture the Railways Built, Retro Electro Workshop, Abandoned Engineering, Tony Robinson's Marvellous Machines), resulting in 8% share growth for the channel.

Dave added to its silverware, winning Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards. Judges called Dave "a brilliant jewel in the UKTV crown" and noted the channel's commitment to paving the way with new comedy talent and diversity and inclusion. Meet the Richardsons was the highest rating show on the channel in 2023, with World's Most Dangerous Roads, QI XL, David Mitchell's Outsiders and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled rounding out the top five. Dave also enjoyed BAFTA recognition with nominations for Big Zuu's Big Eats and Meet the Richardsons.

Drama enjoyed another stellar year averaging a 1.63% share (up 3% year-on-year) and Mrs Sidhu Investigates and Sister Boniface Mysteries were the stand-out shows on the channel, both watched by over 1.2m viewers.

Gold (+13%), W (+16%) and Eden (+31%) also achieved share growth last year. Blackadder: The Lost Pilot was Gold's most successful show watched by 659k viewers, closely followed by Blood Actually: A Murder They Hope Mystery, Alison & Larry: Billericay to Barry, Hancock's Half Hour in Colour and Only Fools and Horses. W achieved its best ever share of 0.55% with UKTV Original Gemma and Gorka: Life Behind the Lens featuring in the top five shows on the channel.

Watsham added,

Getting further upstream on creative partnerships is more important than ever and I'm pleased to see the likes of Sister Boniface Mysteries, Mrs Sidhu Investigates and Signora Volpe achieving big numbers for UKTV Play and Drama. Annika's spectacular performance on pay channel Alibi, the success of Yesterday's originations and Dave's Channel of the Year win have all helped fuel UKTV's growth too. Seeing the brilliant talent elevated through Rosie Jones's Disability Comedy Extravaganza break through onto other mainstream shows has been a particular highlight.

As we enter 2024, I'm looking forward to working alongside our exceptional indie partners on exciting new content, including our first male-skewing drama for UKTV Play and Dave and the comedy/ reality hybrid Battle in the Box, hosted by a very much in-form Jimmy Carr.

Social Media Activity

Owing to a strategic focus on video content, followers to UKTV's social channels were up 29% year-on-year with views to video content more than doubling to hit an average of 28m monthly views. Monthly engagements were up 157% to almost 2m and monthly impressions up 56% at 39m.

UKTV Play launched on TikTok in March and quickly attracted a loyal following, surpassing 114k followers and 9.6m page likes in less than a year. Yesterday followed suit, debuting on TikTok in August in conjunction with Bangers & Cash Live and achieved over 200k views in its first month thanks to exclusive video content from the event.

Dave's YouTube channel grew views by 149% year-on-year to hit 30m by doubling down on YouTube shorts. David Mitchell's Outsiders drove highest performance on the platform, helped by companion series Outsiders: Gone Wild, achieving 2.2M views overall.

Coming Up

Viewers have a whole host of shows to look forward to across UKTV's channels in 2024/25. Brand new UKTV Originals include new comedy reality hybrid Battle in the Box (Dave), W's first true crime commission Red Flag (with more to follow), documentary series Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance, factual format Classic Car Hunters w/t (Yesterday), Drama's first original scripted commission The Marlow Murder Club and Alibi's new crime drama The Red King.

-END-

Data Source and Timeframe

All SOCI Data is BARB Adults 16+ 1, Jan - 31 Dec 2023.

Channel Info: All Homes, 16+, 7 day consolidated. Programme info: All Homes, 4+, TV & Online Pre-Broadcast and 1-28 day sorted by top performing episode. Correct as of 8th Jan 2024.

Social stats: Jan-Dec2023 (vs same period 2022). Views: page-level. Engagements and impressions: post-level. Followers: Dec 2022 vs Dec 2023 YouTube: Jan-Dec 2023 (vs same period 2022). Outsiders: Gone Wild views as of Dec 23.

For more information please contact:

Kerry Goode - Director of Communications, UKTV

Rebecca Ferris - Corporate Communications Manager, UKTV

About UKTV

UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 30 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers.

UKTV is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.

UKTV Twitter: https://twitter.com/UKTV

UKTV Corporate Website: https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/