If I were the BBC I would be getting around the table now(if that is possible) to discuss extending the contract for TVUK. Charter renewal is going to be tough next year and amongst everything else presumably the question of The Voice suitability for the BBC will be an issue for some. Also ITV are floundering so much at this time I wonder whether they will interested themselves, having outbid the BBC at the outset. Success is great but in the weird status of the BBC it just might mean more sharks are circling.
ITV would love The Voice in early 2017, they have nothing big to put in primetime that doesn't involve Ant n Dec or Syco/TXF. ITV need another big show to put on at weekends.
Talpa productions and the creator of The Voice ruled out ITV having The Voice back in 2011 when the BBC won the rights. John De mol (I think that's his name) said having The Voice on ITV would be detrimental to his show because they would be using it only as a possible replacement for TXF or to prevent opposition from obtaining it. He liked the ideas and the commitment the BBC were showing towards it and felt it was better suited to BBC1 even though ITV bid higher for the rights.
The Voice's ratings are so bizarre as there appears to be so little hype or even general interest around it or the acts. The X Factor forum is more active despite being off air. Will be interesting to see if this it manages to do anything come the live shows
I was making a favourable comparison - highest since series 1 is great. (And countering a point that the auditions always do well - perhaps implying that they always do THIS well, which they don't.)
Well comparing y-o-y - it's up 0.3m versus the same episode in 2014.
The series average currently stands at 8.4m versus 8.2m for the same stage last year. So actually hardly any difference whatsoever. The only noticeable difference IMO is that so far every episode has overnighted higher than 8m - which didn't happen last year.
The lack of competition must certainly be a factor too. The fact that ITV has nothing rating well over the whole weekend must be helping.
The Voice's ratings are so bizarre as there appears to be so little hype or even general interest around it or the acts. The X Factor forum is more active despite being off air. Will be interesting to see if this it manages to do anything come the live shows
I think The Voice skews older than X Factor which might be a part of that.
The Voice's ratings are so bizarre as there appears to be so little hype or even general interest around it or the acts. The X Factor forum is more active despite being off air. Will be interesting to see if this it manages to do anything come the live shows
In the run-up to Christmas, The X Factor fights for airtime and page coverage against Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and I'm a Celebrity.
Now, The Voice is fighting against Celebrity Big Brother, and well.... nothing else.
In the run-up to Christmas, The X Factor fights for airtime and page coverage against Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and I'm a Celebrity.
Now, The Voice is fighting against Celebrity Big Brother, and well.... nothing else.
I think the X Factor actively courts the press and hype though on screen hashtags and also in the way its edited/joke acts/controversy- All the ways XF creates hype TVUK ignores (which is what I like about it) I'd compare the Voice to Strictly in that its quite rare you see the rags taking much notice of Strictly (unless there's some form of affair or shock exit) yet its the most popular entertainment show (along with BGT) in the country
The Voice's Consolidated Series average at the moment is 9.25m (likely to increase off the back of two boosted ratings) whereas XF auditions average was 9.35m yet the difference is marked in reaction as XF clearly skews much younger.
The Voice's ratings are so bizarre as there appears to be so little hype or even general interest around it or the acts. The X Factor forum is more active despite being off air. Will be interesting to see if this it manages to do anything come the live shows
It's amazing as TV doesn't get the tabloid exposure like TXF. However, having some dreadful opposition, has helped it as well. I think when SNT arrives, TV will probably drop to 7 million.
Why doesn't ITV stop constantly chasing the lowest common denominator? It's still a profitable broadcaster, but the recent series of flops and falling ratings for established shows will create problems for them. Their programmes seem largely aimed at a low brow middle aged female market and creating channels like ITV Be and ITV Encore has been an expensive failure. It's a shame when you think Granada used to be called the BBC of the North and produced everything from Coronation St to World in Action.
itv does have many problems, but one of them not being profitable. It is doing very nicely. itv is a business and that is all they are concerned with. I doubt they are overly bothered about the ratings and share as long as profits remain high for the share holders. itv is less about making shows now days sadly.
I know years ago when quality or ratings slipped the IBA chirped in with their two penneth. I remember when the IBA intervened with Crossroads, cutting the show down to 3 episodes a week and when TV-AM was not producing high standards of news coverage (the IRA Brighton Bomb) basically Bruce Gyngell told them to bugger off. Ofcom either don't have the power to intervene or don't really give a stuff. As long as itv remain the biggest Commercial station and have healthy profits, nothing will change. Unless a take over is on the cards and a big fat yank buying the network? You think there's nothing to watch now!
itv does have many problems, but one of them not being profitable. It is doing very nicely. itv is a business and that is all they are concerned with. I doubt they are overly bothered about the ratings and share as long as profits remain high for the share holders. itv is less about making shows now days sadly.
I very much doubt that's the case within the company. All departments will have targets - both for commissions and audience share.
ITV Studios are under pressure to deliver hit commissions- which they've spectacularly failed to do in Ent since Dancing on Ice.
ITV Broadcasting will be under pressure to maintain audience share and commission hit shows.
Heads will roll on both sides if that doesn't happen. To imagine that people are just "content" to kep things as they are, because the share price remains high, is rather naive.
I very much doubt that's the case within the company. All departments will have targets - both for commissions and audience share.
ITV Studios are under pressure to deliver hit commissions- which they've spectacularly failed to do in Ent since Dancing on Ice.
ITV Broadcasting will be under pressure to maintain audience share and commission hit shows.
Heads will roll on both sides if that doesn't happen. To imagine that people are just "content" to kep things as they are, because the share price remains high, is rather naive.
Exactly. It would also ultimately dictate how much advertisers were willing to pay to show ads on ITV. If their reach falls to the same levels as other commercial broadcasters, then advertisers would inevitably start questioning why a premium rate is warranted.
A crucial night for Selfridge tonight. If ITV were determined to start it in winter, tonight* was the night to do it: no Tango or any other 9pm drama on BBC One, no Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5, and, I think, a week before Channel 4 starts airing drama in the slot.
*Obviously, airing it against Musketeers on Sundays would have been the best option (the two dramas saved each other from total embarrassment last year), but Musketeers moving to Fridays put a stop to that.
I very much doubt that's the case within the company. All departments will have targets - both for commissions and audience share.
ITV Studios are under pressure to deliver hit commissions- which they've spectacularly failed to do in Ent since Dancing on Ice.
ITV Broadcasting will be under pressure to maintain audience share and commission hit shows.
Heads will roll on both sides if that doesn't happen. To imagine that people are just "content" to kep things as they are, because the share price remains high, is rather naive.
Yes I'm afraid that is one of my failings sadly. ;-)
Why doesn't ITV stop constantly chasing the lowest common denominator? It's still a profitable broadcaster, but the recent series of flops and falling ratings for established shows will create problems for them. Their programmes seem largely aimed at a low brow middle aged female market and creating channels like ITV Be and ITV Encore has been an expensive failure. It's a shame when you think Granada used to be called the BBC of the North and produced everything from Coronation St to World in Action.
We've no idea yet what the financials are on Be or Encore. Be seems to have done OK in share as far as new channel launches go and TOWIE hasn't taken too much of a hit. The problem with their digital channels was that a year before Be and Encore, ITV2 and ITV3 were losing steam.
As for lowest common denominator, an interesting point was made in Broadcast about ITV factual that it wasn't loud and brash enough and that's why the department is struggling. I'd not regard Broadchurch or Foyle's War as lowest common denominator and they're two of ITV's biggest disappointments this year.
I think the X Factor actively courts the press and hype though on screen hashtags and also in the way its edited/joke acts/controversy- All the ways XF creates hype TVUK ignores (which is what I like about it) I'd compare the Voice to Strictly in that its quite rare you see the rags taking much notice of Strictly (unless there's some form of affair or shock exit) yet its the most popular entertainment show (along with BGT) in the country
The Voice's Consolidated Series average at the moment is 9.25m (likely to increase off the back of two boosted ratings) whereas XF auditions average was 9.35m yet the difference is marked in reaction as XF clearly skews much younger.
The Voice certainly gets a lot of coverage on Mail Online, particularly with their stunt casting. It seems like every week there's someone who used to be famous or is a relative of someone famous.
Strictly puts loads of good work into courting the press, particularly The Daily Mail in recent years. They put a lot of thought into the casting to help with that. And it has certainly paid off, they get loads of coverage.
XF dominates Twitter/Facebook due to its younger audience and the connection that is built with the contestants across the run. But the newspaper audience is not young, quite the opposite. For XF, Mail Online is increasingly as important as The Sun's print edition.
Fantastic peak time schedule on Channel 5 last night - three and a half hours of NCIS. It averaged 600,000, which may explain the slight rise in volumes elsewhere.
Well they do have a new NCIS spinoff launching on Friday and a new to Freeview season of NCIS the following week, so it makes sense to repeat old episodes to drum up interest.
That said, I wouldn't be running NCIS repeats in the heart of peak on the main channel too often these days, especially four in a row.
As for lowest common denominator, an interesting point was made in Broadcast about ITV factual that it wasn't loud and brash enough and that's why the department is struggling. I'd not regard Broadchurch or Foyle's War as lowest common denominator and they're two of ITV's biggest disappointments this year.
I wouldn't say Broadchurch is one of their biggest disappointments at all. I'm sure they'd like the overnights to be higher but that's nothing in comparison to Stars in Their Eyes (disaster), Get Your Act Together (disaster), Mr Selfridge (borderline disaster), Bring Back Borstal (disaster and Fincham mentioned that one at Edinburgh as a big hope for the factual department) or even Birds of a Feather which has really tailed off this time.
The Broadchurch overnights are underwhelming but most of the shortfall is being made up for in the consolidated numbers (not much use for ad revenues I know but it shouldn't just be ignored). The first 4 episodes of this series (the ones we have the numbers for so far) have averaged 9.4m officially. For series 1 the first 4 averaged 9.3m. People are still watching, just on a delay. That's irritating for ITV for sure but it's probably the least of their concerns right now.
I'd agree with the point about factual though. A lot of it just feels far too slight for 9pm. Car Crash Britain actually did OK probably because it had a slightly brash title. I know Long Lost Family has done well for them without being loud and brash but that isn't going to work for everything.
Also if they were to do that then Vicious series 2 might pop up at 9.45pm as I've no idea where else that could land (they've just finished filming it so it'll be on fairly soon, personally I'd like it to go at 10.35pm on a weekday or 10pm on Sundays but they'd never put it there).
Any reason you think it won't end up there? Those seem the most likely slots to me
The Broadchurch overnights are underwhelming but most of the shortfall is being made up for in the consolidated numbers (not much use for ad revenues I know but it shouldn't just be ignored). The first 4 episodes of this series (the ones we have the numbers for so far) have averaged 9.4m officially. For series 1 the first 4 averaged 9.3m. People are still watching, just on a delay. That's irritating for ITV for sure but it's probably the least of their concerns right now.
How much of that second series average though is down to an inflated first episode number? I can't find the consolidated number for episode four but from episode one to three the second series has lost 2 million viewers which certainly isn't what ITV would have been hoping for. I'd agree its not been an unmitigated disaster by any means but the performance of Broadchurch will certainly be among ITV's bigger disappointments of Q1 given that it was supposed to be one of their big flagship dramas not just of the quarter but of the year. That its bleeding viewers and the critical and audience response has dramatically cooled compared to series one is not good.
I wouldn't say Broadchurch is one of their biggest disappointments at all. I'm sure they'd like the overnights to be higher but that's nothing in comparison to Stars in Their Eyes (disaster), Get Your Act Together (disaster), Mr Selfridge (borderline disaster), Bring Back Borstal (disaster and Fincham mentioned that one at Edinburgh as a big hope for the factual department) or even Birds of a Feather which has really tailed off this time.
The Broadchurch overnights are underwhelming but most of the shortfall is being made up for in the consolidated numbers (not much use for ad revenues I know but it shouldn't just be ignored). The first 4 episodes of this series (the ones we have the numbers for so far) have averaged 9.4m officially. For series 1 the first 4 averaged 9.3m. People are still watching, just on a delay. That's irritating for ITV for sure but it's probably the least of their concerns right now.
I'd agree with the point about factual though. A lot of it just feels far too slight for 9pm. Car Crash Britain actually did OK probably because it had a slightly brash title. I know Long Lost Family has done well for them without being loud and brash but that isn't going to work for everything.
The thing is, you'd realistically expect a new show to fail. That SITE and GYAT bombed is not exactly a massive surprise. Granted, there may be some surprise at the extent to which they have failed - I think a conservative forecast on SITE would have had it a million higher than it is.
Where I think Broadchurch has been a disappointment is that it's a returning show and flagship commission for ITV drama. Perhaps my expectations were too high but if you'd asked me 2 months ago what ITV have to look forward too in 2015 then I'd have said Broadchurch. And if barely over 5m overnights are going to be a highlight of the year then it's going to be a miserable one for ITV.
Comments
Talpa productions and the creator of The Voice ruled out ITV having The Voice back in 2011 when the BBC won the rights. John De mol (I think that's his name) said having The Voice on ITV would be detrimental to his show because they would be using it only as a possible replacement for TXF or to prevent opposition from obtaining it. He liked the ideas and the commitment the BBC were showing towards it and felt it was better suited to BBC1 even though ITV bid higher for the rights.
Well comparing y-o-y - it's up 0.3m versus the same episode in 2014.
The series average currently stands at 8.4m versus 8.2m for the same stage last year. So actually hardly any difference whatsoever. The only noticeable difference IMO is that so far every episode has overnighted higher than 8m - which didn't happen last year.
The lack of competition must certainly be a factor too. The fact that ITV has nothing rating well over the whole weekend must be helping.
I think The Voice skews older than X Factor which might be a part of that.
In the run-up to Christmas, The X Factor fights for airtime and page coverage against Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and I'm a Celebrity.
Now, The Voice is fighting against Celebrity Big Brother, and well.... nothing else.
I think the X Factor actively courts the press and hype though on screen hashtags and also in the way its edited/joke acts/controversy- All the ways XF creates hype TVUK ignores (which is what I like about it) I'd compare the Voice to Strictly in that its quite rare you see the rags taking much notice of Strictly (unless there's some form of affair or shock exit) yet its the most popular entertainment show (along with BGT) in the country
The Voice's Consolidated Series average at the moment is 9.25m (likely to increase off the back of two boosted ratings) whereas XF auditions average was 9.35m yet the difference is marked in reaction as XF clearly skews much younger.
It's amazing as TV doesn't get the tabloid exposure like TXF. However, having some dreadful opposition, has helped it as well. I think when SNT arrives, TV will probably drop to 7 million.
I think they mean on Ch5 +24 for the final
January - Year-On-Year
Coronation Street
2014 - 9.61m (38.6%)
2015 - 8.86m (36.7%)
EastEnders
2014 - 8.08m (32.8%) + 697k (12.2%) => 8.77m
2015 - 7.98m (32.9%) + 541k (12.0%) => 8.52m
Emmerdale
2014 - 7.72m (33.6%)
2015 - 7.05m (31.5%)
Hollyoaks
2014 - 1.30m (6.2%) + 1.16m (5.2%) => 2.47m
2015 - 1.16m (5.7%) + 1.13m (5.2%) => 2.28m
Emmerdale: down 8.7%
Corrie: down 7.8%
Hollyoaks: down 7.7%
EastEnders: down 2.9%
After a great last half of 2014, Hollyoaks' sudden drop may be an example of how fickle the younger audience is.
itv does have many problems, but one of them not being profitable. It is doing very nicely. itv is a business and that is all they are concerned with. I doubt they are overly bothered about the ratings and share as long as profits remain high for the share holders. itv is less about making shows now days sadly.
I know years ago when quality or ratings slipped the IBA chirped in with their two penneth. I remember when the IBA intervened with Crossroads, cutting the show down to 3 episodes a week and when TV-AM was not producing high standards of news coverage (the IRA Brighton Bomb) basically Bruce Gyngell told them to bugger off. Ofcom either don't have the power to intervene or don't really give a stuff. As long as itv remain the biggest Commercial station and have healthy profits, nothing will change. Unless a take over is on the cards and a big fat yank buying the network? You think there's nothing to watch now!
I very much doubt that's the case within the company. All departments will have targets - both for commissions and audience share.
ITV Studios are under pressure to deliver hit commissions- which they've spectacularly failed to do in Ent since Dancing on Ice.
ITV Broadcasting will be under pressure to maintain audience share and commission hit shows.
Heads will roll on both sides if that doesn't happen. To imagine that people are just "content" to kep things as they are, because the share price remains high, is rather naive.
Are you privy to the financial details of ITV's deal with Sky for Encore?
Where did you get the plus one from for EastEnders?
Exactly. It would also ultimately dictate how much advertisers were willing to pay to show ads on ITV. If their reach falls to the same levels as other commercial broadcasters, then advertisers would inevitably start questioning why a premium rate is warranted.
*Obviously, airing it against Musketeers on Sundays would have been the best option (the two dramas saved each other from total embarrassment last year), but Musketeers moving to Fridays put a stop to that.
BBC3 repeat.
Yes I'm afraid that is one of my failings sadly. ;-)
That's the omnibus.
We've no idea yet what the financials are on Be or Encore. Be seems to have done OK in share as far as new channel launches go and TOWIE hasn't taken too much of a hit. The problem with their digital channels was that a year before Be and Encore, ITV2 and ITV3 were losing steam.
As for lowest common denominator, an interesting point was made in Broadcast about ITV factual that it wasn't loud and brash enough and that's why the department is struggling. I'd not regard Broadchurch or Foyle's War as lowest common denominator and they're two of ITV's biggest disappointments this year.
The Voice certainly gets a lot of coverage on Mail Online, particularly with their stunt casting. It seems like every week there's someone who used to be famous or is a relative of someone famous.
Strictly puts loads of good work into courting the press, particularly The Daily Mail in recent years. They put a lot of thought into the casting to help with that. And it has certainly paid off, they get loads of coverage.
XF dominates Twitter/Facebook due to its younger audience and the connection that is built with the contestants across the run. But the newspaper audience is not young, quite the opposite. For XF, Mail Online is increasingly as important as The Sun's print edition.
That said, I wouldn't be running NCIS repeats in the heart of peak on the main channel too often these days, especially four in a row.
I wouldn't say Broadchurch is one of their biggest disappointments at all. I'm sure they'd like the overnights to be higher but that's nothing in comparison to Stars in Their Eyes (disaster), Get Your Act Together (disaster), Mr Selfridge (borderline disaster), Bring Back Borstal (disaster and Fincham mentioned that one at Edinburgh as a big hope for the factual department) or even Birds of a Feather which has really tailed off this time.
The Broadchurch overnights are underwhelming but most of the shortfall is being made up for in the consolidated numbers (not much use for ad revenues I know but it shouldn't just be ignored). The first 4 episodes of this series (the ones we have the numbers for so far) have averaged 9.4m officially. For series 1 the first 4 averaged 9.3m. People are still watching, just on a delay. That's irritating for ITV for sure but it's probably the least of their concerns right now.
I'd agree with the point about factual though. A lot of it just feels far too slight for 9pm. Car Crash Britain actually did OK probably because it had a slightly brash title. I know Long Lost Family has done well for them without being loud and brash but that isn't going to work for everything.
Any reason you think it won't end up there? Those seem the most likely slots to me
The thing is, you'd realistically expect a new show to fail. That SITE and GYAT bombed is not exactly a massive surprise. Granted, there may be some surprise at the extent to which they have failed - I think a conservative forecast on SITE would have had it a million higher than it is.
Where I think Broadchurch has been a disappointment is that it's a returning show and flagship commission for ITV drama. Perhaps my expectations were too high but if you'd asked me 2 months ago what ITV have to look forward too in 2015 then I'd have said Broadchurch. And if barely over 5m overnights are going to be a highlight of the year then it's going to be a miserable one for ITV.