Glenn A, in your expert opinion, what can be done to turn this sinking ship of a channel? From your knowledge of 1970s and 80s ratings, could something from the past be implemented to the current Itv to make it better? Otherwise smaller channels like Channel4 and Channel5 will continue to beat Itv1 on more occassions.
It's a victim of how ITV has developed. The main channel has seeped viewers away to its niche channels, that seem to do quite well, and seems stuck. ITV1 really isn't much without its two big soaps, its four reality/ talent big hitters and DA, and we've seen ratings falls for TXF and DOI. However, these few big shows are so engrained in the ITV1 schedule, replacements might struggle when these shows reach the end( though the big two soaps are eternal) as recent LE/ reality offerings have failed.
I'm still of the opinion of ITV1 should aim high and leave the trashy shows to ITV2. Granada and Thames proved ITV could provide quality shows that had excellent demos and I'm sure they could do it again, esp as Channel 4 has mostly abandoned its more upmarket fare. Ratings might not be massive for a PSB type ITV1, but at least the demos would be better than they have now and advertisers would return. It's really time one of the ITV networks had the balls to take on the BBC again.
Are there not just 3 eps of the Walking Dead left, bit strange to change its time now.
Agreed. Fifty Shades: The True Story is the topical documentary sliding in to take the 10pm slot on July 30. Interesting to see if this rates much better than The Walking Dead, perhaps it will with all the buzz about the book.
Agreed. Fifty Shades: The True Story is the topical documentary sliding in to take the 10pm slot on July 30. Interesting to see if this rates much better than The Walking Dead, perhaps it will with all the buzz about the book.
A book with lots of sex is inevitably going to trump dead people walking,, suprise C4 didn't get in first though they are obsessed with sex over there, or cooking.
Just read on buzzerblog that Itv are trialling Catch Phrase. But they've made a huge mistake... They've got Stephen Mulhern presenting instead of Roy Walker. Roy was the main reason to watch the old Catch Phrase and he made the show. This revival is doomed to fail
It was never the same when that Nick guy did it. Having said that I do welcome its return as it is at least a good format, and excellent compared to the terrible gameshow formats we have to suffer nowadays.
Just read on buzzerblog that Itv are trialling Catch Phrase. But they've made a huge mistake... They've got Stephen Mulhern presenting instead of Roy Walker. Roy was the main reason to watch the old Catch Phrase and he made the show. This revival is doomed to fail
Is that why Chris Moyles has suddenly dropped Car park Catchphrase?
Just read that the hit History miniseries Hatfields and McCoys has been picked up by Channel 5 and will air in the Autumn as a 5 part series. Interesting pickup considering that Westerns do okay for Channel 5 but I'm not sure it'll be a ratings hit.
I think it aired as three two-hour shows in the US so I'm guessing they'll split it into hour long slots with either the premiere or finale being a double bill. Interesting pick up though - it had amazing ratings in the US but it's a story I doubt most Brits are familiar with and I did think it would be more BBC2 or Sky Atlantic fare really, but good luck to them. C5 is undoubtedly the home of free to air US imports now - but shows not in the CSI mould are much riskier for them.
I think it aired as three two-hour shows in the US so I'm guessing they'll split it into hour long slots with either the premiere or finale being a double bill. Interesting pick up though - it had amazing ratings in the US but it's a story I doubt most Brits are familiar with and I did think it would be more BBC2 or Sky Atlantic fare really, but good luck to them. C5 is undoubtedly the home of free to air US imports now - but shows not in the CSI mould are much riskier for them.
The premiere will be a double according to Broadcast:
The series aired in the US on the History Channel in May to huge viewing figures, and will run on C5 as a 120-minute opener followed by 4 x 60-minute episodes.
C5 head of acquisitions Katie Keenan said the series would “further cement Channel 5 as the most-watched channel for US drama in the UK”.
Does anybody have the ratings of the following for the Ratings Prediction Game, please?
RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2012 (Wed 19.30 BBC Two)
World's Fastest Train (Wed 20.00 Channel 5)
The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family (Wed 22.00 Channel 4)
Not suprised the Big Brother ratings are starting to slip a bit,
I haven't watched since last friday, and it's the first time I habe EVER given up on a big brother series....
Shame about The Walking Dead....I see no chance of it coming back on Channel 5.
As for the mini-series.....I've watched it online, and while the acting is brilliant, it's not very good....
considering it's been split into 5 episodes, one or two of those will be tremendously boring.
Also its a shame Kitchen Wars has been a MAJOR flop.
____________________________________________
At least Channel 5 are trying, they've got something right anyway, with OUAT (Which deserves much better ratings)
All these brilliant decisions by highly paid executives... and yet TV viewing spreads ever thinner.
Outside of the world of TV it's unusual for tiny "corner shop" traders to get a significant % of the big players business. Imagine a small trader getting 30% of the business of Tesco, it's unheard of.
And yet we have channels with almost no spending power competing with the likes of ITV1 in primetime.
That's not really the case. How often does a digital channel beat ITV1 in primetime? And it is thanks to their digital portfolio that ITV actually grew their overall audience share in
the last quarter.
If the US market tells us anything, then we can safely say that in the not too distant future the digital channels will be real rivals to current market leaders as their resources grow. But that's business. It happens all the time in every market.
For the record, the fastest growing businesses in the UK grocery market are Lidl, Aldi and Waitrose. Smaller firms which are growing quickly by serving a market niche and taking away share from established market leaders. Sound familiar? The good thing for ITV is that they own the equivalents in the TV business!
They'll probably be quite pleased with this. Can't say I was ever aware of the channel until they started advertising Hart of Dixie quite a bit. Quite a few of the UKTV channels seem to be doing well out of new US hits.
Superstar is doing so badly, beaten by Channel4 yesterday. This is very embarrasssing for Itv network and their controller Peter Fincham who is incapable of having a new hit entertainment show, both in his time on BBC and Itv. What a terrible controller, paid millions of pounds and still cannot get an entertainment show rating 5million. The shareholders must be furious, they really should have invested in another company.
Believe it or not, shareholders aren't sitting around, biting their nails as they await figures for ITV's latest summer series.
Peter Fincham is not paid millions of pounds. He's paid well. But not that well. (Not that he needs it, he made his millions many years ago). Granted he needs to look at the entertainment department but his tenure hasn't been bad, given the circumstances. Unless he goes back into the production sector, my guess is he'll wait it out at ITV until a Chief Executive job comes up.
Over the past month ITV shares are up just over 2%, broadly in line with the FTSE 100. Over the past year ITV shares (up 17%) have considerably outpaced the market (down 1%). Shareholders will be pretty happy, I'd imagine.
So only 6 episodes of EastEnders will be moved to BBC2 (As There's No Friday episodes during the Olympics)
I can only assume they will save the Friday episodes up (3 in total) and have Hour-Long Specials/5 days for big storylines
(Heathers Murder reveal/Sharons return)
It seems that it remains in the normal slots (Mon,Tues,Thurs) on BBC2 but the omnibus is on Next Wednesday 23:15
(Thurs in Scotland)
So only 6 episodes of EastEnders will be moved to BBC2 (As There's No Friday episodes during the Olympics)
I can only assume they will save the Friday episodes up (3 in total) and have Hour-Long Specials/5 days for big storylines
(Heathers Murder reveal/Sharons return)
It seems that it remains in the normal slots (Mon,Tues,Thurs) on BBC2 but the omnibus is on Next Wednesday 23:15
(Thurs in Scotland)
I've made my views clear on this before but just wondering Dan as a massive EE fan how do you feel about this. Firstly, are you interested in the Olympics at all and secondly do you feel moving episodes to BBC2 is better than taking a break for the games, even if any episodes dropped were rescheduled as extra episodes or hour-long editions in the weeks before and after?
I just feel that from a ratings point at least the strategy of moving shows to BBC2 just hurts both the Olympic coverage and in this case EastEnders - and also that two weeks off air with an appropriate cliff hanger would do the show more good than harm.
I've made my views clear on this before but just wondering Dan as a massive EE fan how do you feel about this. Firstly, are you interested in the Olympics at all and secondly do you feel moving episodes to BBC2 is better than taking a break for the games, even if any episodes dropped were rescheduled as extra episodes or hour-long editions in the weeks before and after?
I just feel that from a ratings point at least the strategy of moving shows to BBC2 just hurts both the Olympic coverage and in this case EastEnders - and also that two weeks off air with an appropriate cliff hanger would do the show more good than harm.
Im not that interested in the Olympics
I will watch the Opening & Closing and bits of the games but that's it. EastEnders. Im not keen on a BBC2 Move tbh
I think i made that clear a few times in the past.
I think the BBC should have just had 1 episode each week
Tuesdays at 7:30pm and be done with it. They could have easily caught up by having Hour Longs/Doubles or even Sunday to Friday one week (for a big week)
Cliffhangers
Before Wimbledon Doctors had a big Cliffhanger where there was an Explosion and 2 of the regulars were in Hospital
It Ended
3 weeks later we find that Freya died,Had the funeral and the aftermath was poor simpley because it's a soap and in 'real time' we missed out on 3 weeks so i think for EastEnders to end on a cliffhanger and then return 2 weeks later it simple wouldn't work at all.
However having just 1 30min episode a week keeps it on screen but then the BBC are not going to have two weeks worth of episodes rating pretty poorly.
I think they could of introduced an Evening repeat on BBC2 of that 1 episode aswell (Wednesdays at 4:30/5 or something)
A book with lots of sex is inevitably going to trump dead people walking,, suprise C4 didn't get in first though they are obsessed with sex over there, or cooking.
Well, going back to 2001 and 2002, one of their biggest hits was Sex Tips For Girls, which benefitted from a BB lead in, when this show was massive. I'm surprised they've never revived this show as it was big business for them.
Before Wimbledon Doctors had a big Cliffhanger where there was an Explosion and 2 of the regulars were in Hospital
It Ended
3 weeks later we find that Freya died,Had the funeral and the aftermath was poor simpley because it's a soap and in 'real time' we missed out on 3 weeks so i think for EastEnders to end on a cliffhanger and then return 2 weeks later it simple wouldn't work at all.
That's true - I don't think they've had Christmas in Summer Bay or Ramsey Street since 1997 as it just interupts their cliffhangers, while most events in UK soaps will only ever occur on weekdays, unless it is Christmas Day. Creatively there are many options with a cliffhanger - sometimes they do need to pick up where they left off, but other times skipping from the "who's dead?" cliffhanger straight to the funeral actually works really well.
That's true - I don't think they've had Christmas in Summer Bay or Ramsey Street since 1997 as it just interupts their cliffhangers, while most events in UK soaps will only ever occur on weekdays, unless it is Christmas Day. Creatively there are many options with a cliffhanger - sometimes they do need to pick up where they left off, but other times skipping from the "who's dead?" cliffhanger straight to the funeral actually works really well.
Neighbours and Home and Away annoy me with this too (Im not a Regular Neighbours viewer anymore)
Agreed. Fifty Shades: The True Story is the topical documentary sliding in to take the 10pm slot on July 30. Interesting to see if this rates much better than The Walking Dead, perhaps it will with all the buzz about the book.
Sorry to quote myself, but it seems they had a change of heart. The Walking Dead back at 10pm for the penultimate episode of the season and will surely see out the season there now. Right decision. The Fifty Shades doc disappears from the week's schedule.
That's true - I don't think they've had Christmas in Summer Bay or Ramsey Street since 1997 as it just interupts their cliffhangers, while most events in UK soaps will only ever occur on weekdays, unless it is Christmas Day. Creatively there are many options with a cliffhanger - sometimes they do need to pick up where they left off, but other times skipping from the "who's dead?" cliffhanger straight to the funeral actually works really well.
Attentional have been doing very bad with their tape-checking lately. For example: They've got the 20.30 Corrie on Monday (16th July) down as a 20.27 start time and a run time of 27mins taking it to 20.54. Therefore the tape-checked rating was reported from 20.25-20.55 and gave a rating of 7.74m. The episode actually started at 20.29 (2mins later than what attentional are claiming). The full-slot rating for that episode was 7.79m. It's fairly odd when the full-slot rating is higher than the tape-checked rating, but as attentional have messed up here, and it kinda (IMO) makes the rating useless as its wrong. Also the Tuesday (17th July) Emmerdale is down as 19.00 for the start time, but it actually started at 19.01. The 19.30 Corrie on Monday (16th) has a start time of 19.31, but it actually started at 19.33. Not sure what there playing at, at the moment.
On another note, Revenge is performing brilliantly for E4 in the officials. Factoring out the 5th episode (as its not updated on BARB yet) the series seems to be increasing week-on-week and is currently averaging a decent 838k. That figure excludes +1.
Comments
It's a victim of how ITV has developed. The main channel has seeped viewers away to its niche channels, that seem to do quite well, and seems stuck. ITV1 really isn't much without its two big soaps, its four reality/ talent big hitters and DA, and we've seen ratings falls for TXF and DOI. However, these few big shows are so engrained in the ITV1 schedule, replacements might struggle when these shows reach the end( though the big two soaps are eternal) as recent LE/ reality offerings have failed.
I'm still of the opinion of ITV1 should aim high and leave the trashy shows to ITV2. Granada and Thames proved ITV could provide quality shows that had excellent demos and I'm sure they could do it again, esp as Channel 4 has mostly abandoned its more upmarket fare. Ratings might not be massive for a PSB type ITV1, but at least the demos would be better than they have now and advertisers would return. It's really time one of the ITV networks had the balls to take on the BBC again.
A book with lots of sex is inevitably going to trump dead people walking,, suprise C4 didn't get in first though they are obsessed with sex over there, or cooking.
I think it aired as three two-hour shows in the US so I'm guessing they'll split it into hour long slots with either the premiere or finale being a double bill. Interesting pick up though - it had amazing ratings in the US but it's a story I doubt most Brits are familiar with and I did think it would be more BBC2 or Sky Atlantic fare really, but good luck to them. C5 is undoubtedly the home of free to air US imports now - but shows not in the CSI mould are much riskier for them.
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/broadcasters/c5-picks-up-american-civil-war-ratings-winner/5044519.article?blocktitle=LATEST-NEWS&contentID=870
theres a new scandal brewing (race related) no doubt will rebound the numbers ....
RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2012 (Wed 19.30 BBC Two)
World's Fastest Train (Wed 20.00 Channel 5)
The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family (Wed 22.00 Channel 4)
Thanks in advance.
I haven't watched since last friday, and it's the first time I habe EVER given up on a big brother series....
Shame about The Walking Dead....I see no chance of it coming back on Channel 5.
As for the mini-series.....I've watched it online, and while the acting is brilliant, it's not very good....
considering it's been split into 5 episodes, one or two of those will be tremendously boring.
Also its a shame Kitchen Wars has been a MAJOR flop.
____________________________________________
At least Channel 5 are trying, they've got something right anyway, with OUAT (Which deserves much better ratings)
That's not really the case. How often does a digital channel beat ITV1 in primetime? And it is thanks to their digital portfolio that ITV actually grew their overall audience share in
the last quarter.
If the US market tells us anything, then we can safely say that in the not too distant future the digital channels will be real rivals to current market leaders as their resources grow. But that's business. It happens all the time in every market.
For the record, the fastest growing businesses in the UK grocery market are Lidl, Aldi and Waitrose. Smaller firms which are growing quickly by serving a market niche and taking away share from established market leaders. Sound familiar? The good thing for ITV is that they own the equivalents in the TV business!
They'll probably be quite pleased with this. Can't say I was ever aware of the channel until they started advertising Hart of Dixie quite a bit. Quite a few of the UKTV channels seem to be doing well out of new US hits.
Believe it or not, shareholders aren't sitting around, biting their nails as they await figures for ITV's latest summer series.
Peter Fincham is not paid millions of pounds. He's paid well. But not that well. (Not that he needs it, he made his millions many years ago). Granted he needs to look at the entertainment department but his tenure hasn't been bad, given the circumstances. Unless he goes back into the production sector, my guess is he'll wait it out at ITV until a Chief Executive job comes up.
Over the past month ITV shares are up just over 2%, broadly in line with the FTSE 100. Over the past year ITV shares (up 17%) have considerably outpaced the market (down 1%). Shareholders will be pretty happy, I'd imagine.
I can only assume they will save the Friday episodes up (3 in total) and have Hour-Long Specials/5 days for big storylines
(Heathers Murder reveal/Sharons return)
It seems that it remains in the normal slots (Mon,Tues,Thurs) on BBC2 but the omnibus is on Next Wednesday 23:15
(Thurs in Scotland)
I just feel that from a ratings point at least the strategy of moving shows to BBC2 just hurts both the Olympic coverage and in this case EastEnders - and also that two weeks off air with an appropriate cliff hanger would do the show more good than harm.
I will watch the Opening & Closing and bits of the games but that's it. EastEnders. Im not keen on a BBC2 Move tbh
I think i made that clear a few times in the past.
I think the BBC should have just had 1 episode each week
Tuesdays at 7:30pm and be done with it. They could have easily caught up by having Hour Longs/Doubles or even Sunday to Friday one week (for a big week)
Cliffhangers
Before Wimbledon Doctors had a big Cliffhanger where there was an Explosion and 2 of the regulars were in Hospital
It Ended
3 weeks later we find that Freya died,Had the funeral and the aftermath was poor simpley because it's a soap and in 'real time' we missed out on 3 weeks so i think for EastEnders to end on a cliffhanger and then return 2 weeks later it simple wouldn't work at all.
However having just 1 30min episode a week keeps it on screen but then the BBC are not going to have two weeks worth of episodes rating pretty poorly.
I think they could of introduced an Evening repeat on BBC2 of that 1 episode aswell (Wednesdays at 4:30/5 or something)
You have misread the exam question.
On another note, Revenge is performing brilliantly for E4 in the officials. Factoring out the 5th episode (as its not updated on BARB yet) the series seems to be increasing week-on-week and is currently averaging a decent 838k. That figure excludes +1.
3.8 million viewers and a 0.9 in the demo (Demo rating is a series low)
Also for the past 2 weeks no longer Wednesday's top show....Royal Pains is
The fact is though, its wrong and it annoys me. Who knows how many mistake there actually making!