The BBC Scotland HQ at Pacific Quay on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow (Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty)
The standalone Scotland channel has been struggling to attract viewers, with a mere 0.12% of British TV viewers tuning in during October. The average viewer reportedly spent just 10 seconds watching before switching channels, in the latest humiliation to the public broadcaster.
Despite costing licence fee payers £45million last year, the channel only broadcasts from 7pm until midnight on most days. Many of its shows are repeats, including popular sitcom Still Game.
Scotland’s 0.12% monthly share puts it well behind (0.84% audience share) and Sky News (0.96%). It even trails behind channels such as True Crime (0.53%) and Challenge TV (0.44%).
Paid-for channels like Sky Sports Cricket secured three times as much audience share (0.36%). Other channels including Sky Arts (0.26%), Comedy Central (0.24%) and Discovery (0.2%) also outperformed Scotland.
Among its in-house rivals, only Parliament (0.03%) had a lower share. Alba is not included in the Barb monthly figures, according to .
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Just 0.12% of Brits tune in to BBC Scotland in the latest humiliation for the broadcaster (Image: Getty)
BBC1 retained its position at the top with a 19.77% audience share, ahead of ITV1 (13.4%), BBC2 (5.39%), Channel 4 (5.22%) and Channel 5 (4.04%). The most popular channel outside the ‘big five’ was E4, with a 2.45% audience share, followed by ITV3 (2.16%) and ITV2 (1.77%).
In terms of viewing time, the average household spends 46 minutes, 45 seconds watching channels, 29 minutes, 15 seconds watching ITV channels, 16 minutes and 31 seconds watching Channel 4 channels, and 14 minutes 10 seconds watching Sky channels.
Scottish Conservative shadow culture secretary Murdo Fraser commented on the plummeting views of Scotland, expressing serious concern. He said: “These low viewing figures will rightly concern many Scots who continue to hold the in high regard and wish to see it survive despite changing viewing habits.”
He added: “The must ensure it is delivering value for our taxpayers by spending its money on programmes that will attract and retain more viewers.”
Despite initial impressions, Scotland’s ‘reach’ of 3.57 million viewers, equating to only 5.59% of the total television audience, trails significantly behind rivals like 5STAR, Quest, Sky News, and even the paid-for Sky Sports as well as GREAT! movies and Food Network, according to recent Barb statistics.
Furthermore, TV industry experts suggest that while Scotland’s ‘reach’ figure may appear substantial, it could be inflated due to the network’s prominence at the top of the channel list for Scottish households.
The has been approached for comment by the Daily Express.