Andrew Dickens looks at how five very different European broadcasters are approaching scheduling in the increasingly competitive and important daytime space.

There’s a saying in the television industry: ‘Daytime is for dough and peaktime is for show.’ But that old aphorism is now dead and buried, according to Steve North, general manager of UKTV channels Dave, Gold and Watch, who says TV’s daytime hours are now of “utmost importance” to both specialist and mainstream broadcasters.

“It’s essential to drive viewership wherever we can,” North says. “We’re seeing more quality going into daytime. We can’t ignore that 07.00 to 19.00 is a huge part of our day and we have to work hard to pick that up.

“The BBC has clearly changed its daytime strategy recently, so that’s opened up more opportunities for UK broadcasters to gain that audience.”

It’s a sign that emerging specialist, digital and satellite channels have revolutionised daytime schedules and are looking to make more noise and challenge mainstream networks for their audiences in this period.

Re-runs of big-hitting primetime shows on Dave, such as T-Group Productions’ Storage Hunters (soon to be adapted in the UK) and the BBC’s Top Gear, consistently clock up huge audiences in daytime.

“We get in excess of one million viewers for new episodes of Storage Hunters and we are delighted to have that sort of audience,” adds North. “We premiere the show at 20.00 but we also show it through our daytime schedule and we stack the weekend because it’s so popular. When you play five episodes in a row you are gluing viewers to their sofas, and that’s daytime TV at its best – driving huge value to our channel.”

However, mainstream terrestrial broadcasters are fighting back with primetime-style quizshows during the day. UK broadcaster ITV, for instance, recently ordered daytime quizshow 1000 Heartbeats (30×60’) from fledgling indie Hungry Bear.

And there’s plenty of movement between peaktime and daytime slots. One example is BBC quiz format The Weakest Link, which ran from 2000 to 2012, shifting to peaktime on BBC1 after starting out during the day on sister channel BBC2.

So as the lines between daytime and primetime blur and off-peak becomes increasingly important to ratings, are more channels experimenting with genres in daytime?

Czech commercial broadcaster TV Barrandov is using the day to try out crime, action and romantic series in an attempt to pull in viewers before peaktime shows kick in. The network is targeting the older-female demo (50-plus), a positioning that sets it apart from its larger commercial rivals, CME-owned TV Nova and Prima TV, both of which cater for younger audiences.

“In the past, TV Barrandov has focused on re-runs of shows that either had to be aired because of licence date expiration or simply because they were extremely popular with audiences,” says acquisitions manager Lukáš Soukup.

“But with autumn coming, we have produced our own shows as well as bringing back popular series Murder Call and Tropical Heat to go into daytime. Our main channel is now pretty settled with romantic series and movies targeted at older women.”

Soukup now believes viewers’ appetites for more thematic channels and instant programming has made daytime more competitive than ever. “The demand has definitely changed what we are doing,” he says. “Daytime is very important to us and we’ve been experimenting this past year with different series.”

Keeping one step ahead of rivals in daytime is essential for Ukrainian broadcaster 1+1 too, says Lena Vasilyeva, the channel’s head of TV series and films. While re-runs are an important part of 1+1’s daytime offering, she doesn’t want the channel to just fill this period with repeats.

“It’s a competitive slot and we are up against re-runs of primetime shows,” she says. “We are trying to compete with expensive product, but we don’t want to just stack it with re-runs. We also want to offer our own scripted dramas and scripted reality, which really work for us.

“A lot of networks have a big overspill from primetime to daytime but we are trying to avoid that. We bring in a lot of our daytime drama from Turkey and Greece, and it’s not all about the primetime shows.”

But even if generalist channels ramp up investment in daytime, recent budget cuts and less advertising revenue mean some channels will inevitably prioritise primetime.

Most of Mediaset-owned Italian network Canale 5 (C5)’s budget understandably goes on primetime, but Federico Di Chio, Mediaset’s deputy director general of content, insists: “Our daytime has become a formidable war machine.”

C5’s stable mornings, leading up to lunchtime news TG5 at 13.30, started to take off with dating talkshow Uomini e Donne and “exploded” with Spanish telenovela Il Segreto (aka El Secreto de Puente Viejo). The acquired drama has created a positive ‘halo effect’ for everything that follows, as well as its lead-ins, says Di Chio.

Il Segreto, which first aired on Spanish net Antena 3, sent C5’s afternoon viewing figures soaring, earning it a primetime slot and a decent 15-16% share, first on Sundays and then on Wednesdays.

C5’s popular gameshow Avanti un Altro!, hosted by Paolo Bonolis, and talkshow Pomeriggio Cinque, fronted by Barbara d’Urso, have also drawn in huge audiences, Di Chio adds.

But the network is still focusing on women during the day and children in the early afternoon, as they come home from school. “For this reason, the main TV genres are soaps, chatshows, talkshows and reruns of series,” he says. “Our free mainstream TV networks still have the same daytime structure.

“We are also seeing growth in demand for foreign shows and new genres in daytime, as the number of channel launches has been increasing. On the other hand, we’re not seeing a dramatic drop in investment in big primetime scheduling.”

At thematic cabsat broadcaster Scripps Networks there is less room to explore drama or gameshows, but nevertheless things are changing in daytime. “For us, it’s less about new genres and more about reviving and revitalising old ones and finding great ways to add layers of entertainment to subjects we know and love,” says Nick Thorogood, senior VP of content and marketing at Scripps Networks UK and EMEA, who oversees content for Food Network, Travel Channel and Fine Living in the region.

“For example, we are seeing a lot of food programming in every part of the schedule, daytime and shoulder peak. It’s all about finding new and exciting ways to create a show,” he says.

“Look at how a company like ITV has gone back to the strategy of introducing new formats alongside well-known bankers. On some of the new channels in the UK there has been real traction with older shows and formats finding both new and returning audiences – Judge Judy, Little House on the Prairie and Kojak have all drawn daytime audiences.”

Thorogood believes it’s now essential to hold on to viewers in daytime slots right the way through to primetime and Scripps is “strongly” stacking its schedules to achieve this.

“We are constantly pushing to get our viewers to spend more time with the channels through careful continuity, strong stacked scheduling and clear navigation,” he says. “We are seeing our channels hold on to viewers for longer and therefore are seeing a share lift across all networks.”

While broadcasters continue to focus on the traditional female demo in daytime, Thorogood believes this trend is begining to change, with more channels – both specialist and mainstream – starting to target men. “We are pleased to appeal to both men and women through the mix of channels we offer,” he says. “There has also been an increase in targeting audiences over 50.

“This is an audience that consumes a lot of TV. However, it’s a demo that has little channel loyalty and happily switches to new channels if they have the right sort of content. At the end of the day, we need to get volume. So young or old, male or female, we are equally happy, so long as they watch.”

So with broadcasters working harder to attract eyeballs during the day, the message is clear: ignore daytime at your peril.