‘Unrivalled with its social impact’
ITV1 stood out in 2024 for its mix of hard-hitting drama, shiny floor entertainment hits and current affairs acumen. Its biggest win also happened to be arguably TV’s biggest drama of the year - Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
One judge said the channel was “unrivaled with its social impact”, pointing to the way in which the Horizon scandal drama captured the public imagination, sparked national outcry at the miscarriage of justice and directly expedited a change in legislation. The uproar saw subpostmasters’ convictions overturned and the establishment of victim compensation.
Its spectacular ratings performance, with the overnight audience rising from 4m to a staggering 14m average per episode, proved that even in the era of global streaming, distinctly British PSB shows with a linear TX can still bring audiences together and hold the nation’s attention.
ITV Entertainment continues to be the envy of rivals, especially on Saturday nights where judges praised shiny floor hits like The 1% Club, which continued its ascent – hitting a high of 6.3m viewers last year – and the long-running Saturday Night Takeaway which bowed out forever with a whopping 6.8m.
At the other end of the broad spectrum of output, the channel also secured the highest-rating TV event of the general election with the first debate between Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak, made hard-hitting current affairs films including Ukraine War: The Other side and Israel & Gaza: Into the Abyss and housed the highest-rating current affairs series on TV at the moment, The Martin Lewis Money Show.
SHORTLISTED
BBC1
Engaging 35m each week, the channel has seen an increase in time spent with young and diverse audiences. Viewers have tuned into key coverage from the Paris Olympics, the Euros, the General Election and Glastonbury – as well as entertainment titles including Strictly, The Apprentice and The Traitors, which grew 3m on the first series.
BBC3
The youth-skewing channel helped launch fresh talent through hit shows including I Kissed A Girl, the UK’s first gay female dating show, and comedies including the Bafta-winning Such Brave Girls, Things You Should Have Done and Daddy Issues.
Channel 4
After a challenging 2023, Channel 4 bounced back strongly to register the highest streaming growth of any of the big platforms (+25%). Highlights included the biggest unscripted format since 2014 (The Jury: Murder Trial), and C4 News collecting the rare trio of Emmy, Bafta and RTS awards.
Channel 5
Priding itself on championing smaller indies, Channel 5 has solidified its reputation in history and specialist factual with Bafta-nominated Endurance Race to the Pole, and drama with shows including Coma, The Night Caller and All Creatures Great and Small.
Sky Sports Main Event
Sky Sports’ 12 channels enjoyed record viewing with over 9,200 hours of live sport, with Main Event showing the best of that content each day. Two of those channels were new, while the “super studio” welcomed NFL, Boxing, Golf, and F1 for the first-time.
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