One in six tune into X Factor juggernaut on TV3

MORE than 700,000 people – one in every six of the population – tuned into TV3 on Sunday to decide on the fate of Aiden Grimshaw and Katie Waissel vying for glory.

Admittedly the presence of Mary Byrne, 50, a supermarket employee from Ballyfermot, has boosted the show’s overall attraction for Irish TV viewers, but by any standards such audience figures are hugely impressive.

The TV juggernaut that is X Factor is driving the highest rating figures for any programme in recent TV history. Its Saturday edition gets five times as many viewers as its competition on RTÉ 1.

Last month X-Factor helped the independent station to overtake RTÉ 1 for the first time since it went on air in September 1998 for audiences in the key (and beloved of advertisers) 15-44 age group.

It is a key milestone for TV3 which had cemented its position as the country’s second favourite TV channel as it now attracts almost twice the young adult audience of the national broadcaster’s more youth-oriented station, RTÉ 2.

Over the space of the past three years, TV3’s home-produced content has risen from 20% to 40% with the development of shows like The Apprentice, Xposé and Tonight with Vincent Browne.

“It’s taken two-and-a-half years to reach this position. All these programmes are performing phenomenally in terms of delivering audiences, while new home-produced shows this season like 24 Hours to Kill, Take Me Out and Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum have far exceeded our own expectations,” said TV3’s director of programming, Ben Frow.

The station has further targets to see domestic programming levels increase to 50% by 2012, courtesy of a €15m investment by its private equity firm owner, Doughty Hanson which includes the opening of a new studio complex with HD capacity within the next few months.

While critics might point out that the TV3 schedule is top-heavy with reality TV shows, soaps and “cheap and cheerful” documentaries mixing archive footage with commentary, it is a formula that is clearly working. Audience figures are up 5% so far this year and advertising revenue by 7%. The station still managed to post a profit of €2 million last year in spite of the recession, although it was a long way off its peak of €22m.

“Advertisers are without doubt spending more of their TV budget on TV3 than before because of the strong impact which many of their programmes are delivering,” said Suzanne Mellon, TV media buyer at Carat.

The channel is also likely to benefit from the recent decision of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to allow independent stations to increase the maximum limit for advertising to 12 minutes per hour.

The scale of TV3’s ambition was evident at the launch of its autumn schedule in August with an expensive, glitzy production worthy of a programme itself with Frow proudly proclaiming that the station had “more highlights than Audrey Roberts’ hairdressing salon”.

However, his mission is simplicity itself as Frow remarks: “My sole focus is giving the viewers what they want.”

In the current season, TV3 will produce more than 150 hours of domestic peak-time shows on a budget of €20.5m.

Evidence of how seriously RTÉ take the threat posed by its rival was the recent decision to alter its schedule to switch an episode of its Ireland’s Greatest series with The Frontline so that it wouldn’t have to go head-to-head with The Apprentice which regularly pulls in 40% of adult viewers.

The enduring success of TV3’s breakfast show, Ireland AM, has ensured that RTÉ has scrapped plans to launch a rival show, and TV3 has continued its dominance in the mid-morning schedule with magazine-style programmes like The Morning Show with Sybil [Mulcahy] and Martin [King] and Midday.

In contrast to its younger competitor, RTÉ posted a loss of €16.5m last year with its television division accounting for the vast majority of the deficit, while commercial revenue was down over 27% to €174.7m.

RTÉ has discernibly also moved towards programming which is relatively cheap to make and which falls roughly into the “reality TV” category, such as the All-Ireland Talent Show, Celebrity Bainisteoir and Fade Street (RTÉ’s answer to The Hills) which aired for the first time this week.