For the second year running Horse & Country TV has been shortlisted in the Best Specialist Channel category for the prestigious Broadcast Digital Awards.  In the same week the latest audience data from BARB showed that over one million viewers tuned into H&C TV during the first quarter of 2011.

Celebrate the best in TV

The Broadcast Digital Awards are held every year to celebrate the best in digital television. They are run by Broadcast magazine, the leading publication for the UK television industry. For the Best Specialist Channel category entrants are required to demonstrate innovation, creative programming and scheduling, as well as a clear appeal to the specialist audience. H&C’s entry also focussed on the success of advertising initiatives such as the recent Stud Break (dedicated ad breaks for stallion owners and stud farms) and the online strategy where 57,000 Facebook friends regularly interact with H&C. The other channels shortlisted in the category are Food Network UK and the Horror Channel. The winner will be announced on 15 June 2011.

'We're delighted'

Commenting on the nomination, Jonathan Rippon, Head of Programming at H&C TV said: “We’re delighted to be nominated again for Best Specialist Channel. Our mix of world class sport, instructional “how to” formats, and behind the scenes lifestyle programming such as our recent “At Home with Carl Hester” series is resonating with Britain’s 2m plus horse riders. It’s great to receive further recognition of this from our peers and to be in contention with channels run by one of the world’s largest media companies.”

Reach increased by 20.5%

In the same week that the shortlist was announced The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) released their Quarterly Channel Reach report for the first quarter of 2011. This showed that H&C’s average monthly reach (defined as the total number of unique individuals who watched the Channel during the period) was 588,000 whilst, across the quarter as a whole, 1,149,000 people tuned into Horse & Country TV, a 20.5%  increase on Q4 2010.

To cap a great week for H&C BARB figures were released for w/c 25 April, the period covering the Channel’s extended coverage of this year’s Badminton. These showed that 257,000 people tuned in to H&C, the highest weekly reach so far this year.

Serving an underserved audience

Heather Killen, H&C’s Chairman said: “The BARB data and our nomination for Best Specialist Channel are great news for H&C and reflect the momentum we’re building as we develop a media property for a highly valuable audience that historically has been underserved by television.”