BBC Studios-Owned UKTV Posts Record Viewing Share As Drama Pivot Reaps Rewards

deadline.com:

BBC Studios-owned channel group UKTV achieved its record share of TV viewing last year, increasing by almost 5% as dramas such as Annika and Ragdoll generated big audiences.According to UKTV, total share rose by 4% to 4.8% across all hours, with drama channels Alibi and Drama performing particularly well.

Share of Commercial Impacts, a measure used by advertisers, rose by 5.7% to a record 8.5%.UKTV identified originals such as Nicola Walker-starring Annika, whose top episode has been watched by more than 1.3M people and is Alibi’s most-watched show of all time, along with Sid Gentle Films’ Ragdoll, as key to its success.The channel group has pivoted towards a scripted strategy over the past couple of years, also ordering the likes of BBC Studios’ We Hunt Together and Red Production Company’s Traces.Non-scripted titles to perform well included Dave formats Meet the Richardsons and Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, the latter of which is seen as one of the successor shows to Taskmaster, which now airs on Channel 4.Of the top-10 most-viewed shows, six were UKTV originals.CEO Marcus Arthur, who was previously connected with the BBC Studios CEO job that was recently taken up by Tom Fussell, described the news as an “incredible achievement.”“As we look forward to 2022, we will continue UKTV’s growth trajectory by working closely with domestic and international production partners, investing smartly in content, and expanding the footprint of our much-loved brands,” he added.New and returning series on broadcast, cable and streamingSeries that made it or didn’t make it in 2020-21Broadcast networks’ fall lineups and schedules