BBC ALBA Performance Update
April 2014 Stuart Martin & Malcolm Benzie stuart.martin@bbc.co.uk [email protected] tel: 0141 422 6063 Headlines
Average weekly reach for BBC ALBA among the Gaelic community for Q1 2014 was 73.9%, a slight drop from 74.6% the previous quarter. Scotland-wide reach for Q1 2014 was 17.0%, compared to 18.3% in Q4 2014.
The /ALBA website has seen a significant growth in UK unique browsers over the past two quarters, with Q1 2014 seeing the highest number of weekly unique browsers to date – an average of 100,036. Total iPlayer requests has also seen a sharp increase, with Q1 2014 seeing the highest number of requests received in one week to date – 206,563 requests in Week 8.
Football remains the most watched genre amongst the Scotland-wide audience, although half of the top twenty most watched programmes were factual. Awareness: Scotland-wide
Awareness average for BBC ALBA remained at 86% for the first quarter of 2014, with this figure now having remained stable for three consecutive quarters. This is an improvement on the corresponding quarter last year, which averaged 81% awareness.
Claimed Awareness %
Source: TNS SOS Base: All Respondents Reach: Gaelic community
Average reach for BBC ALBA among the Gaelic community during Q1 2014 was 74.1% - down slightly from 74.7% in the previous quarter, and also from Q1 2013 (74.6%).
Claimed Weekly Reach %
Source: Leirsinn Following the Freeview/Cable launch in June 2011, reporting of BBC ALBA moved to reporting against the whole Leirsinn panel, previously reach was reported amongst only those with DSat at home. BBC Two / RnG base: All diary returners BBC ALBA (DSat) base: All diary returners with DSat Reach: Scotland-wide The 15+ minute reach for BBC ALBA averaged 17.0% in Q1 2014, or 744,442 people. This is down from 18.3% the previous quarter. This is the lowest quarterly reach since Q2 2013 (16.6%), although it is equal to the reach for Q1 2013. Note population figures are now converted from percentages into individuals using the newly released data from the 2011 census, in which the 16+ population was recorded as 4,379,072. Previously figures were calculated using the comparable population figure from the 2001 census of 4,089,946.
Claimed Weekly Reach %
Freeview/Cable launch Jun-11
5 Source: TNS SOS Base: All respondents Demographics: Gaelic community
Among the Gaelic community, those aged 45+ remain the most likely to watch BBC ALBA, with Q1 2014 seeing a very slight dip in those aged 16-44 watching the channel from the previous quarter (down from 62.5% to 59.6%). Q1 2014 has seen an increase in the number people from the Gaelic community outside of the Highlands & Islands watching the channel, up from 71.4% the previous quarter to 73%.
Reach %
Source: Leirsinn 6 Base: BBC ALBA viewers Demographics: Scotland-wide
The chart below shows demographics for the most recent six months (Oct13-Mar14) and the four previous rolling six month averages. As in previous months, the current weekly Reach is much higher among particular demographic groups, with BBC ALBA continuing to reach twice as many men as women (23.9% compared to 12.0%). People aged 45+ are most likely to watch BBC ALBA, although the number of viewers aged 35-44 continues to increase, up from 16.3% in July13–Dec13 to 17.1% in Oct13–Mar14. Gaelic Valuers (25.2%) and those living in the Highlands and Islands (31.9%) are still the most likely to watch the channel.
Reach Penetration %
Average Oct13-Mar14 = 17.7%
Source: TNS SOS 7 Base: BBC ALBA 15+ min reach profile Approval: Gaelic community
Among the Gaelic community, approval of BBC ALBA remained at 8.2 for the whole of Q1 2014, matching the average approval rate for the previous quarter. This is up slightly from the average approval rate for Q1 2013 (8.1).
Score out of 10
Source: Leirsinn Base: Respondents who viewed BBC ALBA Approval: Scotland-wide
The average approval for BBC ALBA in the first quarter of 2014 was 7.10, up slightly from the previous quarter’s score of 6.98 and an improvement on Q1 2013 (6.92). An average of 41% of respondents in Q1 2014 gave the channel a score of 8 or more out of ten – equal to the average for the whole of 2013.
% rating high agreement Score out of 10
9 Source: TNS SOS, High agreement is 8,9 or 10 / 10 Base: All who watched 15+ minutes of BBC ALBA Approval: Gaelic community There remains very high agreement with attitude statements amongst the Gaelic community. Q1 2014 has seen a very slight rise in average score for the statement “BBC ALBA is a worthwhile thing for the BBC to be spending the licence fee on”, with scores remaining stable for the other statements.
Mean agreement out of ten
10 Source: Leirsinn Base: All diary returners Approval: Scotland-wide The first three months of 2014 saw a slight drop in favourability towards the importance of Gaelic, due largely to low average scores in January (6.27) and February (6.26), with the March average score showing some improvement (6.56). An average of 38% of respondents rated the importance of Gaelic highly, slightly lower than the total 2013 average, but equal to the average for Q1 2013. Gaelic is an important part of Scottish life and cultural heritage Apr-07 (PVT) = 6.21, 37% Agreeing % rating high agreement Score out of 10 100% 8 90% 6,91 6,85 6,81 6,86 6.80 6,65 6,89 6,66 6,52 6,52 6,37 7 80% 6 70% 60% 5 46,2% 45,7% 50% 45,2% 44,0% 42,5% 44,3% 4 39,0% 38,7% 40,8% 38,0% 38,0% 40% 3 30% 2 20% 10% 1 0% 0
11 Source: TNS SOS, High agreement is 8,9 or 10 / 10 Base: All aware of BBC ALBA Genres: Gaelic community
News remains the most watched BBC ALBA genre, with a slightly increased proportion of viewing from the previous quarter. Sport has dropped from 6.8% in Q4 2013 to 4.7% in Q1 2014. Average ratings for most genre’s have remained consistent from Q4 2013 to Q1 2014, although the rating for Entertainment has dropped from 8.2 to 7.4. The genre’s proportion of weekly viewing also slipped, down from 12.7% in Q4 2013 to 6.7% in Q1 2014.
Most watched genres of programmes on Appreciation of genres of programmes on BBC ALBA amongst the Gaelic community BBC ALBA amongst the Gaelic community
Average Weekly Viewing (%) by Genre Average Rating by Genre
Previous 52-week Previous 52-week Genre Q1 2014 Genre Q1 2014 Average Average
News 21.4 20.9 News 8.5 8.5
Current Affairs 13.7 13.9 Current Affairs 8.5 8.5
Factual 9.8 9.1 Music 8.2 8.0
Learning 9.1 9.5 Factual 8.1 8.2
Drama 7.6 8.3 Learning 7.9 8.0
Music 7.1 8.1 Drama 7.8 8.1
Entertainment 6.7 11.2 Sport 7.6 7.9
Sport 4.7 6.3 Entertainment 7.4 7.7
12 Source: Leirsinn Base: BBC ALBA viewers Genres: Scotland-wide
Once again, Football was the most watched genre on BBC ALBA in Q1 2014, reaching around half of all viewers. The placings of other genres remain largely unchanged from the previous quarter, with Traditional Music attracting slightly more viewers than Factual/Documentary.
Most watched (claimed viewing) genres of programmes on BBC ALBA amongst the adult population of Scotland
Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Football 55% 44% 55% 58% 57% 48% Traditional Music 28% 26% 21% 27% 25% 22% Factual / documentary 22% 25% 20% 22% 17% 21% Rugby 14% 14% 13% 10% 9% 16% Other music 8% 11% 11% 7% 4% 12% News 4% 10% 8% 9% 5% 7%
Gaelic learning 3% 2% 2% 1% 2% 5% Children’s* 3% 6% 2% 2% 2% 4% Current affairs n/a 7% n/a 7% 7% 4%
Entertainment & comedy 2% 6% 9% 7% 5% 4%
Other sports 8% n/a n/a 3% 1% 2% Other programme 1% 1% 1% 0% 1% 1%
Don’t know 1% 1% 1% 0% 1% n/a Base size (unweighted) 229 201 197 190 192 193
13 Source: TNS SOS Base: All who have watched BBC ALBA on television in the last 7 days. Hours per viewer: Gaelic community The average number of hours Gaelic viewers spent watching BBC ALBA dropped slightly in Q1 2014 to 4.5 hours per week from 4.7 hours per week in the previous quarter, although this is in line with the overall average figure for 2013. This follows the trend seen over the past four years, with Q4 consistently seeing the highest average hours per week for the whole year.
Hours per viewer (per week)
14 Source: Leirsinn Base: BBC ALBA viewers Strategy Statements: Gaelic community The average agreement rates for all statements in Q1 2014 were higher than or equal to those seen across 2013, which themselves had been the highest score to date. The largest increase from 2013 to Q1 2014 average was with the statement BBC ALBA is innovative and has lots of fresh ideas, while the highest scoring statement remains Gaelic language and culture are well reflected by BBC ALBA.
Mean agreement out of ten
15 Source: Leirsinn Base: BBC ALBA viewers Online: Performance of /alba Week 8 of 2014 (24/2 – 2/3) attracted the highest number of UK Unique Browsers to date: 124,876 UK Unique Browsers. The Q1 2014 average for bbc.co.uk/alba was 100,036 UK Unique Browsers per week, the highest quarterly average to date. This is 72% higher than the previous record which was 58,075 UK Unique Browsers per week in Q4 2013. Q1 2014’s high figures were driven by increases in Radio & Music, and TV & iPlayer - which increased from 49,802 UK Unique Browsers in Q4 2013 to 73,760 in Q1 2014. Another contributing factor was that problems with the measurement of CBEEBIES data have now been resolved, resulting in a higher overall number of UK Unique Browsers.
UK Unique Browsers
cbeebies/alba launches
2011 2012 2013 2014
Source: iStats Digital Analytix / BBC server logs 16 Online: iPlayer
In Q1 2014, the highest number of iPlayer requests for BBC ALBA programming came in week eight (17/02/14 – 23/02/14), with 206,563 iPlayer requests – the highest figure to date. Much of this traffic was driven by requests for ‘Archibald Hall - An Uaislean (The Perfect Gentleman)’, with the drama receiving 18,817 requests in this week alone. Overall, Q1 2014 attracted an average of 179,952 iPlayer requests per week. All but two of the weeks in Q1 2014 attracted more iPlayer requests than the previous record week (23/12/13 – 29/12/13), which averaged 165,116 requests.
UK Requests to View
2011 2012 2013 2014
Week 17 Source: iStats AV Online: iPlayer Jan to Mar 2014 The table below shows the top 20 most requested BBC ALBA titles on iPlayer during 2014 to date. The first episode of series 6 of Air An Rathad is the most requested BBC ALBA programme on iPlayer so far this year, attracting 63,285 requests – almost twice as many as for the next title, a repeat of episode one of Archibald Hall - An Uaislean. Half of the top 20 most requested programmes so far this year have been factual.
Rank Programme Genre Total requests 1 Air An Rathad Series 6 (Episode 1) Factual 63,285 Archibald Hall - An Uaislean (The Perfect Gentleman) (Episode 1, 2 26/01/2011) Drama 33,309 3 Air An Rathad Series 6 (Episode 2) Factual 32,543 4 A'Fuine le... (Episode 1) Factual 27,298 5 DIY le Donnie (Episode 1) Factual 22,506 6 Peppa Series 2 (Am Bèibidh Muc/The Baby Piggy Episode 38) Children's 22,422 Ceitidh Morag/Katie Morag (Katie Morag and the Two 7 Grandmothers Episode 2) Children's 22,385 8 Ceitidh Morag/Katie Morag (Episode 1) Children's 22,277 9 Air An Rathad Series 6 (Episode 3) Factual 20,949 10 Highland Midwives: Mnathan-Glùine Series 1 (Episode 1) Factual 15,417 11 Abadas Series 1 (Map Episode 26) Children's 15,323 12 Live Rugby 2013-2014 (Blues v Glasgow Episode 16) Sport 14,757 Ceitidh Morag/Katie Morag (Katie Morag and The Old Teacher 13 Episode 3) Children's 14,285 14 Live Rugby 2013-2014 (Leinster v Glasgow Episode 18) Sport 13,057 15 Buskers (Episode 2) Factual 12,997 16 Siubhlachan (24/12/2009) Drama 12,509 17 Live Rugby 2013-2014 (Glasgow v Scarlets Episode 19) Sport 11,168 18 Buskers (Episode 1) Factual 10,952 19 Buskers (Episode 3) Factual 10,053 20 Gothenburg '83 (09/05/2013) Factual 9,858
Source: BBC iStats 1st Jan – 31st Mar 2014 18 Requests will not include those made prior to 1st Jan 2014. Only the highest occurrence of Childrens cartoons, such as Peppa and Abadas, are shown. BBC ALBA Performance Update: Financial Year April 2012 – March 2013 vs April 2013 – March 2014
The table below compares top line figures for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 financial years. Among the Gaelic community, BBC ALBA has remained largely stable on most measures, seeing a very slight dip in reach year on year. However, Scotland-wide, BBC ALBA has performed well between April 2012 and March 2014, with year on year increases on every measure.
April 2012 – March 2013 Average April 2013 – March 2014 Average
Awareness: Scotland-wide 79% 86%
Reach: Gaelic Community 75% 72%
Reach: Scotland-wide 15.6% 17.6%
Approval: Gaelic Community 8.1 8.1
Approval: Scotland-wide 6.9 7.0
Time spent per viewer: Gaelic Community 4.4hrs 4.5hrs
Time spent per viewer: Scotland-wide 1.87hrs 1.92hrs