TORONTO – Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting said today that its specialty networks led the television industry in audience growth for the first three months of 2005.
Its thirteen networks grew a combined 17% among adults 25 to 54 – almost three-times greater than the specialty industry average of 6%. Alliance Atlantis grew more than every other major specialty television network ownership group, it said.
In addition, HGTV and Food Network Canada had their largest audiences since their launch during the first three months of 2005.
The three-month growth for Alliance Atlantis’ established specialty networks for adults 25 to 54 was as follows: HGTV up 17%; Food Network Canada up 17%; Life Network up 9%; Showcase up 8%; and History Television up 5% (Source: Nielsen Media Research – Winter 2005 vs. Winter 2004 (Ad 25-54 Mo-Su 6a-6a AMA) wk 19-31 2005 vs. wk 19-31 2004)
All of its digital channels grew 44% in the same demo in winter 2005 as compared to the same period in 2004, with Alliance Atlantis’ new specialty channels growing at a rate of 53% with adults 25-54 in winter 2005.( Source: NMR .(Ad 25-54 Mo-Su 6a-6a AMA) wk 19-31 2005 vs. wk 19-31 2004)
A large part of Winter 2005’s growth in new specialty was as a result of 31 Days of Great TV, an industry-wide new specialty free preview for the month of January. During this period, Alliance Atlantis’ growth outpaced the industry average, says the company’s release.
In addition, in winter 2005, HGTV attained the highest Monday through Sunday, 6a-6a adult 25-54 AMA of any season since its launch in October of 1997 (Source: NMR Mo-Su 6a-6a AMA Ad 25-54 10/97-04/05) and Food Network Canada attained its highest Monday through Sunday, 6a-6a adult 25-54 AMA of any season since its launch in October of 2000 (Source: NMR Mo-Su 6a-6a AMA Ad 25-54 10/00-04/05).
“With the overwhelming growth that we have experienced with each of our channels we are outpacing the specialty industry overall and further validating the programming and marketing strategies for all of our channels,” says Norm Bolen, executive vice-president, programming and operations. “In the past quarter we have seen consistent growth for all of our channels, including our new specialty channels which are tracking ahead of the industry.”
Alliance Atlantis English language channels include:
BBC Canada
BBC Kids
Discovery Health
Fine Living
Food Network Canada
HGTV
History Television’
Independent Film Channel Canada
Life Network
National Geographic Channel
Showcase
Showcase Diva
Showcase Action
The company also owns interests in One: Body, Mind & Sprit, Historia, Scream and Series+.
In addition, research recently released at the company’s Spotlight on Specialty event on April 20, 2005 found that Canadian television viewers have a high affinity for Alliance Atlantis specialty channels. The national consumer research survey showed that Alliance Atlantis networks consistently ranked number one with HGTV on top for ‘this channel is one of my favorites’; ‘this channel is among the group I regularly visit to see what is on’; ‘the programming on this channel is relevant to me and my interests’; ‘this channel provides information about quality products and services’; ‘the advertising on this channel is relevant to me’; ‘I am more inclined to buy products and services advertised on this channel compared to the others’. National Geographic Channel ranked number one in the category ‘the programming on this channel is generally of high quality’ and Food Network Canada for the ‘programming on this network sometimes inspires me to do new things’.
The source for this one was a study commissioned by Alliance Atlantis and conducted by The Strategic Counsel in association with ComQuest Research.
Results in the report are based on 2,578 telephone interviews with Canadian television viewers 18-54 years of age utilizing both a national ‘Return to Sample’ and random telephone methodology. A total of 150 respondents were surveyed for each of 44 channels. The interviews were completed between January 14 and February 5, 2005. Results from a sample of this size can be considered accurate to within +/-8.05, 19 times out of 20. Data was statistically weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data. Station rankings based on index to the average of all networks based on scores of 5-7 on a 7 point scale.
