TV as a medium, now as much as ever is still delivering Carl Frampton-esque knockouts in the form of huge audiences for advertisers. 

UTV – The most popular channel for TV viewing

Commercial TV, and notably UTV, remains the most popular choice of channel for TV viewing and this is made all the more clear by UTV’s release of the NI top 10 viewed programmes in October. 

As expected, heavy weight programs such as X Factor and Downton Abbey, which have both been running for several years still draw huge audiences of over 270,000 in Northern Ireland. 

Although ITV as a network had heavily invested the Rugby World Cup, it was unable to dislodge Downtown Abbey from the top spot – perhaps this may have been a different story of Ireland had beaten the Pumas? 

Away from sport, perhaps surprisingly or perhaps not, the 2 main daily soaps – Emmerdale and Coronation street, both running for decades, are still proving hugely popular with each nearly bringing in 300,000 viewers each evening. 

Local programming too continues to shine, with Daniel and Majella and The Troubles I’ve seen featuring in the Top 10 programmes in October. 

NI TV market is hugely buoyant

You can view the full top 10 list in the below graphic, but beyond this, Channel 4 also featured some programmes in the top 25, such as Grand Designs (20) and Gogglebox (24) respectively. 

Ultimately, the NI TV market is hugely buoyant, and where other mediums may prove more effective for tactical approaches, TV will always be the heavyweight champion, through its ability to deliver commercial messages to the mass market.

UTV Top 1o

UTV Performance 2015