Australian cricket legend Shane Warne notched up yet another record last night as his exclusive interview with Michael Parkinson on Foxtel’s UKTV became the highest rating program on subscription television to date.
The 90-minute special, where he talked about sex, cricket and his affairs broke the subscription television record in averaging an audience of more than 400,000 viewers across the 7.30pm UKTV premiere slot and the 9.30pm telecast on UKTV +2. The program reached in excess of 733,000 viewers.
(Source: OzTam National STV Homes, 08/01/2007, 1930-2103 EST, ETOM Adjusted.)
The strong average audience number exceeded previous subscription television records across sports, movies and general entertainment programming and helped UKTV record its highest ever Primetime share result of 7.1 per cent.
The outstanding results for the world premiere special, PARKINSON: THE SHANE WARNE INTERVIEW, helped the subscription television platform achieve a solid 64.5 per cent share of viewing (2.00am- 2.00am) in Subscription Television homes yesterday. In Metro All Homes Total People, STV was the number one network, out-rating the Free-To-Airs, not only on a Five-Cap City metro basis with a 23.5 per cent share but also in the key markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
FOXTEL Executive Director of Television and Marketing Brian Walsh said: “By any measure this is an incredible result by UKTV, but even more so when you consider the huge universe of channels and program selection available on subscription television. FOXTEL’s strategy of creating and commissioning unique, distinctive Australian television programming is a hit with our subscribers. What a way to launch our 2007 TV line up!”
UKTV Chief Executive Officer Tony Iffland said: “This is an amazing result for UKTV. Michael Parkinson demonstrated why he is one of the world’s greatest interviewers, giving our audience a captivating and insightful conversation with Shane Warne. The audience figures are a great reward and a testament to the care, dedication and professionalism of all involved in the program.”
Last night’s critically acclaimed one-on-one interview between Parkinson, the world’s foremost television interviewer, and Warne was filmed at FOXTEL before a live studio audience on Sunday.
A number of special encore screenings of PARKINSON: THE SHANE WARNE INTERVIEW will be telecast on UKTV, including Wednesday, January 10 (8.30pm), Saturday, January 13 (6.00pm) and Sunday, January 14 (7.30pm).
All times are EST and viewers should check local guides for further telecast times.
