Best Entertainment Channel Shortlisted
E! Entertainment The US entertainment brand continued to gain traction in 2011, with events such as Live from The Red Carpet and reality series including Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Ice Loves Coco. The content, all produced in-house by E! in the US, was also bolstered by E! News – up 19% in viewer numbers year on year.
FX FX has upped its tentpole series from just one or two key shows a year to six, coinciding with its move up the EPG from channel 164 to 124. The debut of alien-invasion drama Falling Skies drew the channel’s highest audience to date, with 1.39 million viewers, while zombie drama The Walking Dead continued to perform well in its second season. FX also launched its first app on iTunes for the return of The Walking Dead, which was downloaded 30,000 times in a week.
MTV T
he past year has been trans- formative for MTV, with an EPG move, headline-grabbing com-
missions and a boost in audiences all making the entertainment channel stand out in a crowded market. MTV’s ratings have rocketed by 54%
for 16-34s across the day and 106% among the same demographic in prime- time since moving from channel 350 to 126 on the Sky EPG, placing it firmly in the entertainment section. But it is the content that has kept
viewers coming back – top-rating obser- vational documentaries from the US such as Teen Mom, I Used To Be Fat and Bullied. Each of these takes a sensitive or informative approach to tough issues experienced by young people today. Above all, it is an original commission
that has made real waves. Geordie Shore (pictured), a Newcastle-based adaptation of hit MTV format Jersey Shore, provides an authentic and comedic representation of real life for a group of 18 to 24 year-olds. The first series was launched in May 2011 and became MTV’s highest-rating
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show in the history of its UK network. The second continued this momentum, with the fifth episode drawing 608,000. As with all of its new programmes,
MTV employed a 360-degree digital strategy, including social media such as Facebook and Twitter, gathering more
‘It is the content that has kept viewers coming back – top-rating observational docs from the US’
than 1 million followers for the cast. A mobile app allowed fans to track tweets related to conversations around the show, while
MTV.co.uk recorded 7.4 million Geordie Shore video views. The year ended with the 2011 MTV
European Music Awards, which received the highest EMA audience ratings for the UK since Edinburgh in 2003. MTV UK has doubled its investment
in UK commissions for both global and regional use on its branded channels, putting it on a firm footing going forward.
22 June 2012 | Broadcast Digital Awards | 5
ITV2 Last year’s winner in this category continued to build on the success of established hits The Only Way is Essex and Celebrity Juice, with a share of 2.7% in 2011 (up 7% year on year). The seventh series of Celebrity Juice debuted with 3.1 million viewers, beating all but BBC1 at the time. It also houses successful spin- offs to ITV1’s biggest entertainment brands, including The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and I’m a Celebrity….
Syfy Two years after rebranding from SciFi, the chan- nel is cementing its position as being about more than just science fiction. A mix of fantasy, mystery, action and sci-fi has helped boost the audience by 9% year on year, with first-run acquisitions such as V, Lost Girl, The Almighty Johnsons and Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil.
Watch In 2011, UKTV’s Watch secured its best daily, weekly and monthly share to date, achieving 3% growth in audience share with a strategy of original commissions and first-run acquisi- tions. These included Dynamo: Magician Impossible – which proved the most-watched non-terrestrial show during its four-week run – a first run of sci-fi series Primeval, and US dramas Alcatraz and Grimm.
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