David Farnor | On 18, Apr 2020

ITV Hub has seen viewing surge, as a growing number of people turn to streaming services for entertaining while the country is on lockdown.

ITV’s catch-up platform has seen year-on-year consumption hours rise 82 per cent, according to its report for the first quarter of 2020. Monthly reach on the platform has risen by 40 per cent, while ITV Hub plus, ITV’s ad free service, has also grown 80 per cent since the same period last year.

Figures for March 2020, in particular, reveal how the Hub has witnessed a 49 per cent increase year-on-year in live online viewing, which it attributes to a strong schedule across programme genres. Additionally, viewing across Connected TV devices has risen by 35 per cent.

The 10 most viewed shows across the ITV Hub in the week from 23rd to 29th March were Liar, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Belgravia, Sam & Billie: The Mummy Diaries, Ibiza Weekender, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, The Trouble with Maggie Cole, Family Guy and The Good Karma Hospital.

Both drama and news and current affairs content have helped to boost the service’s catch up and simulcast audience figures in the past month, with catch-up across drama up 26 per cent year-on-year, following the debut of Liar’s second season.

Simulcast viewing between the hours of 6am and 9am has notably increased by 55 per cent, driven by Good Morning Britain’s ongoing news coverage around the Coronavirus.

ITV is already responding to the lockdown with new commissions, including a new Britain’s Got Talent spin-off, Britain’s Got Talent: Unseen, made exclusively for ITV Hub. To supplement a Summer without the Euros, the Hub will also be showing every match from the legendary Euro 96 football tournament this May. ITV has also commissioned a four-part series of dramas from Jeff Pope about life in lockdown.

Steve Forde, Director of Digital Products, ITV, says: “The recent uplift in the first quarter for the ITV Hub and Hub plus in both reach and consumption is hugely encouraging, as we continue to evolve the platforms and look at new ways to enhance our content.”

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