‘Innovative, clear and distinctive’
A defining year for Dan Snow’s History Hit saw the online channel undertake challenges that made international headlines, including the discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance, the excavation of a major Anglo Saxon cemetery, and the discovery of skeletons from the Battle of Waterloo.
With two original docs per week as well as regular podcasts, YouTube and TikTok films, as well as articles, book clubs and events, the channel uncovered a huge range of historical stories with input from academics, researchers, and archaeologists.
Some of the channel’s highlights last year included landing its debut commission for Channel 5 – a three-part archaeology doc series fronted by Dan Snow, and the far-reaching coverage of the successful 35-day expedition to find Shackleton’s shipwreck. As well as blowing up on news outlets around the world, its daily social media coverage of the trip helped generate interest in its three-part doc Shackleton: The Story Of Endurance.
On judge described the channel’s approach as “innovative, clear and distinctive”, supported by “compelling shows.”
In the past two years, History Hit grew its subscriber base by 125%, drawing 3m channel views last year and 8m monthly podcast listens.
“To have started the service as an independent SVoD offering and grown it to where it is today – via a sale to Little Dot Studios – is a huge achievement,” said one impressed judge.
“The fact it is being judged alongside very established channels is a measure of that achievement.”
Another judge praised the “seamless 360 degree” approach to covering content across platforms, saying “they are onto something and know what they stand for”.
SHORTLISTED
With crime dramas including World Productions’ The Diplomat and Black Camel Pictures’ Annika, the channel has pushed hard on British stories with strong female leads. It enjoyed growth throughout each month in 2022, reaching an average of 3.9m adults, and has delivered a 0.46% share amongst adults in 2022, the channel’s best yearly share in 10 years.
CBeebies has reached a third of 0 to 6-year-olds per week over the past year, attracting a whopping 1.6bn requests on iPlayer. With its combination of educational and entertaining British content, highlights of the year included a Bedtime Stories appearance by the Princess of Wales for Children’s Mental Health Week, the launch of Hello Halo’s new title Dog Squad, and a new CBeebies Prom: Ocean Adventure.
Crime+Investigation did much to attract younger audiences last year, including its TikTok launch which attracted 200,000 followers in its first few months. It held strategic scheduling events such as serial killer week, and partnered with charity Refuge reinforced its efforts to tackle abuse against women - a theme of many of its programmes.
In 2022, Sky News’ TV channel was watched by a monthly average audience of more than 10m - up 24% on 2018. It was the first UK TV broadcaster to interview President Zelenskyy, and the first to interview Putin’s frontman – Dmitry Peskov. The channel also drew an apology from Boris Johnson over the Partygate affair, broke the news that Liz Truss was about to resign, and was the first broadcaster to report the death of the Queen.
Talking Pictures TV
The UK’s largest independent television channel, which caters to the underserved over-55s with classic films and TV series, has grown its audience by over 10% since June 2022. This is largely thanks to its focus on accessibility; no other independent channel offers an on-demand service direct from the red button on Freeview. While Netflix users spend 17.8 minutes searching for content, TPTV Encore users spend just 4.5 minutes.
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