A BROADCASTING mix on STV comprising 95 per cent UK-wide, networked programmes and the remainder ‘home-grown’ has delivered a third successive year of higher than average figures during peak viewing times.
Says STV’s financial results, announced this morning, its “peak time share is in excess of the network for third year running”.
And says chief executive, Rob Woodward, in an interview with allmediascotland.com: “We continue to put content right at the heart of the business, particularly news and current affairs, which perform very positively for us. We have made several changes to the schedule in recent months and the audience reaction has been extremely positive, so, year-on-year, our audience for news has gone up seven per cent.
“We now have established Scotland Tonight [news and current affairs programme, broadcast from 10.30pm], which is now part the current affairs stable for Scotland. It has acheived an audience on average of about double that of Newsnight Scotland [broadcast on BBC2, from 11pm].”
He added: “We believe the blend that we have – running approximately 95 per cent of the peak time schedule of the network combined with our own programming – is a strong, potent and relevant mix for Scotland. Not everybody agrees with every decision, but if you look at the year-on-year performance, then we continue to track above the network average.”
Woodward also added that the hope is that, by the end of 2015, a third of STV Group’s earnings will be from non-broadcast sources: predominantly from its TV production arm and its digital offerings, including its network of local news websites, operating under the STV Local brand. Currently, non-broadcast earnings account for 11 per cent of the total.
