All around, in general a brilliant night for some shows with the snow boosting them. The news ratings were impressive, especially the lunchtime news, over 40% share! Brilliant day for BBC1.
CBB got a very impressive rating of 2.56m including +1, by far the highest since launch. It is likely to surpass CBB9 now in average and by the 2nd highest rating BB in general out of the 6 series since the move to Channel 5. In general Ch5 did better than usual anyway.
What figures does Channel 5 normally get during daytime?
Here were last Friday's full Channel 5 ratings, as an example:
Friday 11th January 2013
Channel 5
06:00-09:15 - Milkshake: 154k (3.5%), inc +1: 159k (3.6%) * peaked at 08:20 with 381k (5.9%) [inc +1: 388k/6.0%] during Peppa Pig See spoiler for full Milkshake ratings
What arrogance? I don't think they ever acted as if all their comedies deserved big ratings. Sure they made the point that they're getting back into comedy, which they are, so I don't see the problem. What did you expect them to do, have a new comedy starting every night for the next two years? They have to be careful with their comedies because they have to aim for a big audience and therefore have to go with something at least fairly broad to try and make a lot of people laugh. It clearly hasn't worked this time (although those actually watching Great Night Out seem to be enjoying it) but they've got more stuff in the pipeline. I've always thought that The Job Lot had a better chance than Great Night Out and still do, and I believe that is starting relatively soon. Vicious sounds a bit different at least and is airing in April/May time. Comedy is expensive and really difficult to get right but at least they're finally trying.
Elsewhere, daytime ratings seem up a lot across the board. Primetime less so but still a bit of an improvement. Great for the 5pm quizzes and Tipping Point in particular.
I have to agree with this, i mean look at BBC 1, before MBB (which reports suggest they pushed back, and tried to bury initially), and Miranda (which was given time to grow on BBC 2), their only success was My Family for several years. Mass appeal comedy is very hard to achieve. With the financial situation ITV was in it probably was a bit too risky for them.
But ITV havent helped themselves. Barbara got reasonable ratings, so they moved it to friday at 8.30pm, against My Family at its peak, which had an EastEndes lead in. Benidorm grow, so they made it an hour, rather than using it to try and build another comedy.
Though i never expected a non stop comedy slot when they anounced they were getting in to more comedy, especially in the 8.30 thursday slot, i would have at least expected them to put a comedy on there the first week that Cory left the slot, as it sends a message out to people (even if it was a non comedy series on after for a couple of months), and to comedy writers that they were serious.
CBB got a very impressive rating of 2.56m including +1, by far the highest since launch. It is likely to surpass CBB9 now in average and by the 2nd highest rating BB in general out of the 6 series since the move to Channel 5. In general Ch5 did better than usual anyway.
It's been a good series for Celebrity Big Brother so far especially the last week. The CBB11 overnight average is currently 2.36m (inc +1), which is up slightly from the CBB9 average at the same stage last year (2.34m inc +1). It's comfortably ahead (+20%) of CBB10 which had an overnight average of 1.96m (inc +1) by this stage of its series.
What arrogance? I don't think they ever acted as if all their comedies deserved big ratings. Sure they made the point that they're getting back into comedy, which they are, so I don't see the problem. What did you expect them to do, have a new comedy starting every night for the next two years? They have to be careful with their comedies because they have to aim for a big audience and therefore have to go with something at least fairly broad to try and make a lot of people laugh. It clearly hasn't worked this time (although those actually watching Great Night Out seem to be enjoying it) but they've got more stuff in the pipeline. I've always thought that The Job Lot had a better chance than Great Night Out and still do, and I believe that is starting relatively soon. Vicious sounds a bit different at least and is airing in April/May time. Comedy is expensive and really difficult to get right but at least they're finally trying.
I had a feeling Great Night Out would drop even with the current weather condititions. Its audience eroded -18% last week between the first quarter and final quarter, and with the usual 2nd week trends I would've expected a -18% drop for the yesterday's episode which would've left it at 2.8m. The increased number of viewers watching tv last night artificially boosted it slightly to 3.0m. Comedy is a terribly difficult genre to get right - for every hit there generally are 4 or 5 flops. For every Outnumbered, Mrs Brown's Boys and Not Going Out that originated on BBC1 in the last 5 years, they must've had 10-15 sitcoms in that time which didn't do well. C4's hit rate is worse and comedy is one of their most important genres. ITV will have to be patient and go through a lot of comedy flops to find that elusive hit.
And usually finding that hit won't come instantly in the first series anyway. Outside of Christmas period, hardly ever in recent years has a brand-new BBC1/ITV peak time comedy rated well right from the first series. It's mostly been comedies in bad slots which rated quite well (above slot average) in their first series, got a lot of people saying that they were better than expected because expectations were low, repeats and DVD sales got more people into them, and then better slots and promotion in future series helped ratings grow - and obviously being funny helps! ITV will have to play a similar long game to find their successes. And for ITV in particular it'll be even harder because their ratings for new scripted shows nearly always collapses outside of period and crime dramas which isn't the case with BBC1 - the problem ITV have is that pretty much all of their 4/5/6m dramas are mainly due to 55+ year olds making up the bulk of their audiences. Whenever they show any scripted show remotely young-skewing/relationship-based/edgy/quirky/comedic, their normally bulk 55+ year old audience collapses and even though these shows might get more of the younger viewers watching than the traditional crime dramas, they're usually no way near enough to compensate for the drop in older viewers. So in order to get those young viewers watching their comedies in the magnitute ITV needs to compensate for the significantly fewer older viewers and get respectable ratings, either ITV need to have big marketing campaigns for these new comedies pre-launch so that more young people are aware of these shows starting and more likely to tune in but obviously this has a high risk of the comedy rating well initially and then losing viewers each week (i.e. what they did with Moving Wallpaper a few years ago). The long route as described earlier is the alternative, with the hope that lots of young people end up catching repeats of a show or the DVD they may have missed initially when the first series was broadcast and then these extra viewers start tuning into future series. Obviously though that doesn't always work out if the shows aren't strong enough, but that seems to be the way in which most of the current hit comedies have come through.
With Great Night Out, 3m is obviously poor. But if it does stay stable at that mark for the rest of the series (which in all likelihood probably won't be the case but let's say if it does), I don't think ITV should write it off straight away. They should repeat it a few times on ITV2 and in some late night ITV slots just to see if it does pick up decent rerun audiences, many of those viewers could end up being new viewers who didn't catch the series initially. And then make a decision on its future. In all likelihood, the chances are ITV's other two comedies launching this year will not rate well either, such is the low hit rate in the genre. Unless it's obvious something should be cancelled straight away (losing many viewers over the course of the series), they should at least see what kind of repeat audiences they are capable of, before making renewal decisions.
I have to agree with this, i mean look at BBC 1, before MBB (which reports suggest they pushed back, and tried to bury initially), and Miranda (which was given time to grow on BBC 2), their only success was My Family for several years. Mass appeal comedy is very hard to achieve. With the financial situation ITV was in it probably was a bit too risky for them.
But ITV havent helped themselves. Barbara got reasonable ratings, so they moved it to friday at 8.30pm, against My Family at its peak, which had an EastEndes lead in. Benidorm grow, so they made it an hour, rather than using it to try and build another comedy.
Though i never expected a non stop comedy slot when they anounced they were getting in to more comedy, especially in the 8.30 thursday slot, i would have at least expected them to put a comedy on there the first week that Cory left the slot, as it sends a message out to people (even if it was a non comedy series on after for a couple of months), and to comedy writers that they were serious.
I wouldn't call it arrogance but ITV made the decision many years ago to stop bothering with comedies and catering to male viewers and target pretty much only women and families with more reality and lifestyle programming. So winning back a section of viewers that have been alienated by the channel for the best part of a decade is going to be tough.
With Great Night Out, 3m is obviously pretty poor. But if it does stay stable at that mark for the rest of the series (which in all likelihood probably won't be the case but let's say if it does), I don't think ITV should write it off straight away. They should repeat it a few times on ITV2 and in some late night ITV slots just to see if it does pick up decent rerun audiences, many of those viewers could end up being new viewers who didn't catch the series initially. And then make a decision on its future. In all likelihood, the chances are ITV's other two comedies launching this year will not rate well either, such is the low hit rate in the genre. Unless it's obvious something should be cancelled straight away (losing many viewers over the course of the series), they should at least see what kind of repeat audiences they are capable of, before making renewal decisions.
I can't see it Rzt.
We are talking about a snow inflated January 9pm slot with Corrie lead-in. If it can't get 3m now then I can't see it having any future. Even the much heralded 16-34 demograhic dropped at a much higher rate than the overall drop.
We are talking about a snow inflated January 9pm slot with Corrie lead-in. If it can't get 3m now then I can't see it having any future. Even the much heralded 16-34 demograhic dropped at a much higher rate than the overall drop.
Just had a look at the 16-34s, you're right the drop in that demo was very sharp (-29%). Ordinarily I would agree with you totally, 3m for a scripted show is just not anywhere near enough for a second series. But I have a feeling the other two comedies launching in the next few months will also not do well with similar kind of ratings around the 3m mark. As you pointed out in one of your posts, ITV has neglected the comedy audience over the last decade and it'll be tough to get them back - so we'll find out soon if that 3m mark is the kind of "base level" for new ITV comedies. If that turns out to be the case, ITV can't just cancel all three of them, they need to show their faith in one of them, otherwise it'll just be an endless stream of new comedies airing for just a single series. That decision might ultimately come down to how repeats do and other factors. But as you say, the signs aren't good for Great Night Out because in terms of the slot, you can't get much better on ITV than a post-Corrie one and of course there's a big chance ratings for it will continue to fall over the next few weeks.
Friday 18th January 2013 - More Ratings
BBC One
22:40: The Graham Norton Show: 4.03m (26.3%) * guests: Denzel Washington, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Bailey, music: Conor Maynard * aside from New Year's Eve, best rating since 2 November 2012 (guests: Robbie Williams, Paul O'Grady, Darcey Bussell, Felix Baumgartner, music: Candy)
23:25 - FILM: Alien Autopsy (2006): 983k (12.4%) * starring Ant 'n' Dec
* replaced the planned Ben Stiller comedy film Tropic Thunder (2008) due to the topical subject matter (Westerners coming across dangerous gangs in exotic climes)
25:00 - Weatherview: 351k (8.4%)
25:05 - BBC News (to 26:00): 264k (8.4%)
BBC Two Repeats not indicated
06:00 - Homes Under the Hammer: 30k (1.2%)
07:00 - The Sheriffs Are Coming: 77k (1.5%)
07:45 - Cowboy Trap: 31k (0.4%)
08:15 - The Sign Zone: Don't Get Done, Get Dom: 79k (1.1%)
09:00 - The Sign Zone: Antiques Roadshow: 143k (2.1%)
10:00 - The Sign Zone: Question Time: 122.5k (1.7%)
11:00 - BBC News: 252k (3.4%)
11:30 - BBC World News: 236k (3.1%)
12:00-13:00 - Daily Politics: 343k (3.8%)
Interesting to see the BBC trying out the Sign Zone in daytime on BBC Two this week - a good idea I think, and the ratings aren't too bad considering that signed programmes are supposed to be a turn-off to the hearing majority.
I do still think that the rapid repeats before dawn of the previous day's BBC One late-morning programmes is strange, though. Of course they're very cheap but I would put something else there, such as some old Wildlife on Ones and Michael Palin travelogues. I think these could get the share up to a more respectable 3-4%.
Waiting for Paul Millar's laughable slant on the numbers to appear. Since CBB thumped the start of Series 156 (?) of 8 Out of 10 Cats and Ice Road Truckers demolished First Time Farmers, I can't wait to see what negative spin he puts on the C5 numbers today. Lately any result behind C4 in any primetime slot, even if it's just a hundred odd thousand, is some kind of disaster. That has been the incredibly poor standard of his analysis. Of course, any lower than expected ITV rating meanwhile is excused or explained away somehow. I fear he won't take the news well that CBB was only a mere 400k behind ITV's new sitcom. Gave it a bit of a walloping in the demo too to be fair.
I wouldn't call it arrogance but ITV made the decision many years ago to stop bothering with comedies and catering to male viewers and target pretty much only women and families with more reality and lifestyle programming. So winning back a section of viewers that have been alienated by the channel for the best part of a decade is going to be tough.
While ITV abandoning comedy was crazy is there any evidence that chasing male viewers will deliver them the massive hits they badly need? Great Night Out suggests doing so drives millions away. TV's big hits these last few years have all been very female-led: Miranda, Downton, Call the Midwife, X Factor, Strictly, Mrs Browns Boys (well, 'man in women's clothing'-led!).
If they pull the show for a few weeks after episode 10 it means they'll be able to run 14 episodes uninterrupted when it comes back. That would be preferable than running it until they run out of episodes and having to take it off the air and then only having a handful of new episodes to air when it returns.
I think British broadcasters need to re-examine fast tracking US imports. It doesn't seem to have much noticeable impact on ratings and scheduling the stuff from the broadcast networks is a pain. Or at the very least they need to introduce a recognisable scheduling pattern for the shows they fast track so that the audience knows what the hell is going on.
I think most UK broadcasters have settled on broadcasting fast tracked shows in two uninteruoted blocks, usually October - December and March - May, which IMO is the best way to go. It doesn't seem as important as it once did though - maybe broadcasters reaslising they completely overstated the threat from downloading. Superfans will do that, but the majority have the patience to wait - and for many who go to the effort of downloading if they like a show that much they'll probably watch the broadcast as well anyway.
Does anyone know how well Face the Clock is doing?
Badly - about half the figure Countdown was clocking in the slot a few months ago. Really C4 should without delay be putting Countdown back at 3.15pm and Face the Clock at 2.45pm, but they won't.
And it was nowhere near being beaten by the ITV regional news anyway.
You'd expect regional bulletins to soar on snow days and they did.
On BBC1 anyway - 8.63m!
It's ridiculous really - like people need confirmation that they're not imagining the snow which is outside the front door. Even on a regional news level it's rare they give out info which is useful to people locally.
It's a real shame that Great Night Out isn't doing well. I really like it and think it's quite funny. I am a fan of detective dramas, but it makes a change to see something a bit different in the ITV 9pm slot. Last night's figure is poor, I was really expecting it to see an uplift due to the weather. It's a shame it's been underappreciated so far - there are still 4 more episodes to go though, so a miracle could happen and it could become a hit!
Yes, I thought it would go over 4m and it's a shame that yet again when ITV try something other than a detective show on a week night (and Great Night Out is hardly a risky move!) the audience just doesn't seem to be there.
I suspect though like Benidorm that ITV shouldn't be too hasty on Great Night Out and try giving it a repeat run (say after The X Factor auditions) and see how it does there before deciding on a second series.
those ratings are only slightly higher than normal, Ice Road Truckers however benefited from the snow. Wonder if C5 should record a "Snow Driving Tips With the Ice Road Truckers" PSA.
Chris Evans looked a total prat on The One Show in his scarf, and he is easily the worst show on Radio 2, I thank god I got a DAB Radio this Christmas, so I can listen to 6 Music Breakfast Show.
How did the BBC get the rights to an Ant and Dec movie?
I wonder if Chris Evans presenting TOS once a week was part of his Radio 2 deal ? i can't think of any other logical (or illogical) reason he would be allowed on the screen to gurn and try to tell the director how to direct.He really is appalling.
I had a feeling Great Night Out would drop even with the current weather condititions. Its audience eroded -18% last week between the first quarter and final quarter, and with the usual 2nd week trends I would've expected a -18% drop for the yesterday's episode which would've left it at 2.8m. The increased number of viewers watching tv last night artificially boosted it slightly to 3.0m. Comedy is a terribly difficult genre to get right - for every hit there generally are 4 or 5 flops. For every Outnumbered, Mrs Brown's Boys and Not Going Out that originated on BBC1 in the last 5 years, they must've had 10-15 sitcoms in that time which didn't do well. C4's hit rate is worse and comedy is one of their most important genres. ITV will have to be patient and go through a lot of comedy flops to find that elusive hit.
And usually finding that hit won't come instantly in the first series anyway. Outside of Christmas period, hardly ever in recent years has a brand-new BBC1/ITV peak time comedy rated well right from the first series. It's mostly been comedies in bad slots which rated quite well (above slot average) in their first series, got a lot of people saying that they were better than expected because expectations were low, repeats and DVD sales got more people into them, and then better slots and promotion in future series helped ratings grow - and obviously being funny helps! ITV will have to play a similar long game to find their successes. And for ITV in particular it'll be even harder because their ratings for new scripted shows nearly always collapses outside of period and crime dramas which isn't the case with BBC1 - the problem ITV have is that pretty much all of their 4/5/6m dramas are mainly due to 55+ year olds making up the bulk of their audiences. Whenever they show any scripted show remotely young-skewing/relationship-based/edgy/quirky/comedic, their normally bulk 55+ year old audience collapses and even though these shows might get more of the younger viewers watching than the traditional crime dramas, they're usually no way near enough to compensate for the drop in older viewers. So in order to get those young viewers watching their comedies in the magnitute ITV needs to compensate for the significantly fewer older viewers and get respectable ratings, either ITV need to have big marketing campaigns for these new comedies pre-launch so that more young people are aware of these shows starting and more likely to tune in but obviously this has a high risk of the comedy rating well initially and then losing viewers each week (i.e. what they did with Moving Wallpaper a few years ago). The long route as described earlier is the alternative, with the hope that lots of young people end up catching repeats of a show or the DVD they may have missed initially when the first series was broadcast and then these extra viewers start tuning into future series. Obviously though that doesn't always work out if the shows aren't strong enough, but that seems to be the way in which most of the current hit comedies have come through.
With Great Night Out, 3m is obviously poor. But if it does stay stable at that mark for the rest of the series (which in all likelihood probably won't be the case but let's say if it does), I don't think ITV should write it off straight away. They should repeat it a few times on ITV2 and in some late night ITV slots just to see if it does pick up decent rerun audiences, many of those viewers could end up being new viewers who didn't catch the series initially. And then make a decision on its future. In all likelihood, the chances are ITV's other two comedies launching this year will not rate well either, such is the low hit rate in the genre. Unless it's obvious something should be cancelled straight away (losing many viewers over the course of the series), they should at least see what kind of repeat audiences they are capable of, before making renewal decisions.
I definitely agree that it is going to be very tough for them to get back into comedy and they certainly should not be using the same benchmarks that they use for new drama because otherwise nothing will break through. That's a poor rating for Great Night Out and whilst it's a decent enough show I can't see it being something that grows significantly through word of mouth either. Perhaps it could a bit but not massively. It strikes me as something that would do reasonably well on Sky1 but isn't quite there for ITV1. But then as you say if the other two comedies don't do much either then they're going to have to keep one of them at least and I do agree that they should try repeat runs etc especially on ITV2 (perhaps a 9pm repeat run and a 10:45pm post-Celebrity Juice run). Sitcoms tend to grow over time and they need to be patient.
Having said that, I actually think that even if the 3 sitcoms perform at the same level I'd prefer them to renew one of the 30 minute ones instead as they are more straight sitcoms as opposed to comedy dramas. Also 30 minute sitcoms are less of a commitment and so they'll probably have slightly lower benchmarks. I also think The Job Lot and Vicious both sound better than Great Night Out, although as always the proof will be when they air. I do partly agree that they could struggle around the 3m mark like GNO, but then on the other hand I think The Job Lot could possibly appeal to a broader audience than GNO and therefore stand a better chance. It being a straight sitcom rather than a comedy drama could help too as so long as the scripts are good it should be more consistently funny. Meanwhile, Vicious has a stellar cast so probably has the best chance of getting a decent opening episode audience at least, what with it starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Again it's a straight 30 minute sitcom as opposed to a comedy drama and is written by a guy that has written for shows such as Will & Grace and Family Guy so should be funny. It is also a studio sitcom which seem to be back in fashion these days what with Miranda and Mrs Brown's Boys, so I wouldn't write it off. I hope one of them at least does reasonably well and that they stick at it, although I can see why you aren't too optimistic about it.
Series highs for The Chase and Tipping Point? (exc +1)
All time highs for both even excluding +1. Previous high for Tipping Point on officials (including HD) was last series on 3rd July (second episode) with 2.29m. Also an all time high for a regular edition of The Chase - previous high (on overnights) inc +1 was 3.97m which was reached a number of times.
I wonder if Chris Evans presenting TOS once a week was part of his Radio 2 deal ? i can't think of any other logical (or illogical) reason he would be allowed on the screen to gurn and try to tell the director how to direct.He really is appalling.
its certainly possible he wanted some TV time, and really The One Show is not that far off a Radio 2 show.
Interestingly, I note that Great Night Out last week went from 3.51m (15.7%) live to 4.69m (16.1%) in the officials [inc +1] - a good timeshift. Maybe the slot is completely wrong?
And usually finding that hit won't come instantly in the first series anyway. Outside of Christmas period, hardly ever in recent years has a brand-new BBC1/ITV peak time comedy rated well right from the first series. It's mostly been comedies in bad slots which rated quite well (above slot average) in their first series, got a lot of people saying that they were better than expected because expectations were low, repeats and DVD sales got more people into them, and then better slots and promotion in future series helped ratings grow - and obviously being funny helps! ITV will have to play a similar long game to find their successes. And for ITV in particular it'll be even harder because their ratings for new scripted shows nearly always collapses outside of period and crime dramas which isn't the case with BBC1 - the problem ITV have is that pretty much all of their 4/5/6m dramas are mainly due to 55+ year olds making up the bulk of their audiences. Whenever they show any scripted show remotely young-skewing/relationship-based/edgy/quirky/comedic, their normally bulk 55+ year old audience collapses and even though these shows might get more of the younger viewers watching than the traditional crime dramas, they're usually no way near enough to compensate for the drop in older viewers. So in order to get those young viewers watching their comedies in the magnitute ITV needs to compensate for the significantly fewer older viewers and get respectable ratings, either ITV need to have big marketing campaigns for these new comedies pre-launch so that more young people are aware of these shows starting and more likely to tune in but obviously this has a high risk of the comedy rating well initially and then losing viewers each week (i.e. what they did with Moving Wallpaper a few years ago). The long route as described earlier is the alternative, with the hope that lots of young people end up catching repeats of a show or the DVD they may have missed initially when the first series was broadcast and then these extra viewers start tuning into future series. Obviously though that doesn't always work out if the shows aren't strong enough, but that seems to be the way in which most of the current hit comedies have come through.
With Great Night Out, 3m is obviously poor. But if it does stay stable at that mark for the rest of the series (which in all likelihood probably won't be the case but let's say if it does), I don't think ITV should write it off straight away. They should repeat it a few times on ITV2 and in some late night ITV slots just to see if it does pick up decent rerun audiences, many of those viewers could end up being new viewers who didn't catch the series initially. And then make a decision on its future. In all likelihood, the chances are ITV's other two comedies launching this year will not rate well either, such is the low hit rate in the genre. Unless it's obvious something should be cancelled straight away (losing many viewers over the course of the series), they should at least see what kind of repeat audiences they are capable of, before making renewal decisions.
That's some really good analysis and much better than the usual one liners that some people tend to go with.
Indeed, talking about RAJAR's, I wonder if they will ever introduce a BARB style daily rating system.
Imagine if when Daybreak replaced GMTV, if people had to wait about 4 months to know how it was doing, and even then it was some vague one line figure!
Comments
CBB got a very impressive rating of 2.56m including +1, by far the highest since launch. It is likely to surpass CBB9 now in average and by the 2nd highest rating BB in general out of the 6 series since the move to Channel 5. In general Ch5 did better than usual anyway.
Here were last Friday's full Channel 5 ratings, as an example:
Channel 5
06:00-09:15 - Milkshake: 154k (3.5%), inc +1: 159k (3.6%)
* peaked at 08:20 with 381k (5.9%) [inc +1: 388k/6.0%] during Peppa Pig
See spoiler for full Milkshake ratings
06:10 - Igam Ogam: 23k (1.3%), inc +1: 29k (1.6%)
06:20 - Fireman Sam: 35k (1.6%), inc +1: 40k (1.9%)
06:30 - Jelly Jamm: 58k (2.25%), inc +1: 69k (2.7%)
06:45 - Peppa Pig: 92k (3.35%), inc +1: 111k (4.0%)
06:50 - Olive the Ostrich: 100k (3.4%), inc +1: 119k (4.0%)
06:55 - Little Princess: 150.5k (4.4%), inc +1: 164k (4.8%)
07:10 - Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: 216k (5.3%), inc +1: 221k (5.4%)
07:20 - The Mr Men Show: 222k (4.75%), inc +1: 222.5k (4.8%)
07:30 - Milkshake Monkey: 92.5k (1.8%), inc +1: 99k (1.95%)
07:35 - Thomas and Friends: 235k (4.35%), inc +1: 235k (4.35%)
07:45 - Noddy in Toyland: 217k (3.7%), inc +1: 217k (3.7%)
08:00 - Fifi and the Flowertots: 249k (3.9%), inc +1: 249k (3.9%)
08:15 - Peppa Pig: 362k (5.6%), inc +1: 366k (5.7%)
08:25 - Peppa Pig: 313k (5.2%), inc +1: 319k (5.3%)
08:35 - Roary the Racing Car: 159k (3.0%), , inc +1: 166k (3.1%)
08:45 - Milkshake Monkey: 92.5k (1.8%), inc +1: 99k (1.95%)
08:50 - Bananas in Pyjamas: 60k (1.2%), inc +1: 65k (1.3%)
09:00 - Tickety Tock: 201k (3.5%), inc +1: 202k (3.5%)
11:10 - All New Trisha: 133k (2.6%), inc +1: 145k (2.9%)
12:00 - 5 News Lunchtime: 110k (2.1%), inc +1: 110k (2.1%)
12:05 - Looney Tunes: 131k (2.4%), inc +1: 131k (2.4%)
12:15 - Celebrity Big Brother: 200k (3.1%), inc +1: 214k (3.3%)
13:15 - Home and Away: 225k (3.0%), inc +1: 236k (3.2%)
13:45 - Reza, Spice Prince of India: 96k (1.4%), inc +1: 100k (1.4%)
14:15 - CSI: Miami: 223k (3.1%), inc +1: 223k (3.1%)
15:15 - TV MOVIE: Mystery Woman - Sing Me a Murder: 521k (5.2%), inc +1: 551k (5.5%)
17:00 - 5 News: 544k (3.65%), inc +1: 552k (3.7%)
17:30 - Andy Bates' Street Feasts: 356k (2.1%), inc +1: 367k (2.1%)
18:00 - Home and Away: 725k (3.6%), inc +1: 751k (3.8%)
18:30 - 5 News: 201k (0.95%), inc +1: 204k (1.0%)
19:00 - The World's Biggest Bomb: Revealed: 522k (2.3%), inc +1: 554k (2.5%)
19:58 - 5 News: 582k (2.5%), inc +1: 582k (2.5%)
20:00 - Ice Road Truckers: 1.23m (4.98%), inc +1: 1.40m (5.7%)
20:58 - 5 News: 1.37m (5.6%), inc +1: 1.48m (6.1%)
21:00 - Celebrity Big Brother: 2.05m (8.3%), inc +1: 2.29m (9.3%)
22:00 - Celebrity Wedding Planner (CBB special): 798k (4.2%), inc +1: 875k (4.6%)
23:00 - Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side: 671k (5.6%), inc +1: 733k (6.1%)
24:00 - Supercasino (to 26:00): 43k (0.85%) exc +1
I have to agree with this, i mean look at BBC 1, before MBB (which reports suggest they pushed back, and tried to bury initially), and Miranda (which was given time to grow on BBC 2), their only success was My Family for several years. Mass appeal comedy is very hard to achieve. With the financial situation ITV was in it probably was a bit too risky for them.
But ITV havent helped themselves. Barbara got reasonable ratings, so they moved it to friday at 8.30pm, against My Family at its peak, which had an EastEndes lead in. Benidorm grow, so they made it an hour, rather than using it to try and build another comedy.
Though i never expected a non stop comedy slot when they anounced they were getting in to more comedy, especially in the 8.30 thursday slot, i would have at least expected them to put a comedy on there the first week that Cory left the slot, as it sends a message out to people (even if it was a non comedy series on after for a couple of months), and to comedy writers that they were serious.
I had a feeling Great Night Out would drop even with the current weather condititions. Its audience eroded -18% last week between the first quarter and final quarter, and with the usual 2nd week trends I would've expected a -18% drop for the yesterday's episode which would've left it at 2.8m. The increased number of viewers watching tv last night artificially boosted it slightly to 3.0m. Comedy is a terribly difficult genre to get right - for every hit there generally are 4 or 5 flops. For every Outnumbered, Mrs Brown's Boys and Not Going Out that originated on BBC1 in the last 5 years, they must've had 10-15 sitcoms in that time which didn't do well. C4's hit rate is worse and comedy is one of their most important genres. ITV will have to be patient and go through a lot of comedy flops to find that elusive hit.
And usually finding that hit won't come instantly in the first series anyway. Outside of Christmas period, hardly ever in recent years has a brand-new BBC1/ITV peak time comedy rated well right from the first series. It's mostly been comedies in bad slots which rated quite well (above slot average) in their first series, got a lot of people saying that they were better than expected because expectations were low, repeats and DVD sales got more people into them, and then better slots and promotion in future series helped ratings grow - and obviously being funny helps! ITV will have to play a similar long game to find their successes. And for ITV in particular it'll be even harder because their ratings for new scripted shows nearly always collapses outside of period and crime dramas which isn't the case with BBC1 - the problem ITV have is that pretty much all of their 4/5/6m dramas are mainly due to 55+ year olds making up the bulk of their audiences. Whenever they show any scripted show remotely young-skewing/relationship-based/edgy/quirky/comedic, their normally bulk 55+ year old audience collapses and even though these shows might get more of the younger viewers watching than the traditional crime dramas, they're usually no way near enough to compensate for the drop in older viewers. So in order to get those young viewers watching their comedies in the magnitute ITV needs to compensate for the significantly fewer older viewers and get respectable ratings, either ITV need to have big marketing campaigns for these new comedies pre-launch so that more young people are aware of these shows starting and more likely to tune in but obviously this has a high risk of the comedy rating well initially and then losing viewers each week (i.e. what they did with Moving Wallpaper a few years ago). The long route as described earlier is the alternative, with the hope that lots of young people end up catching repeats of a show or the DVD they may have missed initially when the first series was broadcast and then these extra viewers start tuning into future series. Obviously though that doesn't always work out if the shows aren't strong enough, but that seems to be the way in which most of the current hit comedies have come through.
With Great Night Out, 3m is obviously poor. But if it does stay stable at that mark for the rest of the series (which in all likelihood probably won't be the case but let's say if it does), I don't think ITV should write it off straight away. They should repeat it a few times on ITV2 and in some late night ITV slots just to see if it does pick up decent rerun audiences, many of those viewers could end up being new viewers who didn't catch the series initially. And then make a decision on its future. In all likelihood, the chances are ITV's other two comedies launching this year will not rate well either, such is the low hit rate in the genre. Unless it's obvious something should be cancelled straight away (losing many viewers over the course of the series), they should at least see what kind of repeat audiences they are capable of, before making renewal decisions.
The One Show rates lower on a Friday, in my view, because it's a Friday, not because of Chris Evans.
Everyone said the breakfast ratings would slump when Evans took over from Wogan - but they went up!
I too have switched to R2 since they replaced Moyles with the aptly named "Grim"shaw. Which of course is what they wanted me to do.
Can't wait to see "Grimmy"'s RAJARs...
Do we think the mods have forgotten about us?
We are talking about a snow inflated January 9pm slot with Corrie lead-in. If it can't get 3m now then I can't see it having any future. Even the much heralded 16-34 demograhic dropped at a much higher rate than the overall drop.
Series highs for The Chase and Tipping Point? (exc +1)
The soaps did well. Would have been nice to see them a touch higher. GNO saw no uplift at all then. Very disappointing.
Brilliant the BBC news...8.6m.
BBC One
22:40: The Graham Norton Show: 4.03m (26.3%)
* guests: Denzel Washington, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Bailey, music: Conor Maynard
* aside from New Year's Eve, best rating since 2 November 2012 (guests: Robbie Williams, Paul O'Grady, Darcey Bussell, Felix Baumgartner, music: Candy)
23:25 - FILM: Alien Autopsy (2006): 983k (12.4%)
* starring Ant 'n' Dec
* replaced the planned Ben Stiller comedy film Tropic Thunder (2008) due to the topical subject matter (Westerners coming across dangerous gangs in exotic climes)
25:00 - Weatherview: 351k (8.4%)
25:05 - BBC News (to 26:00): 264k (8.4%)
BBC Two
Repeats not indicated
06:00 - Homes Under the Hammer: 30k (1.2%)
07:00 - The Sheriffs Are Coming: 77k (1.5%)
07:45 - Cowboy Trap: 31k (0.4%)
08:15 - The Sign Zone: Don't Get Done, Get Dom: 79k (1.1%)
09:00 - The Sign Zone: Antiques Roadshow: 143k (2.1%)
10:00 - The Sign Zone: Question Time: 122.5k (1.7%)
11:00 - BBC News: 252k (3.4%)
11:30 - BBC World News: 236k (3.1%)
12:00-13:00 - Daily Politics: 343k (3.8%)
Interesting to see the BBC trying out the Sign Zone in daytime on BBC Two this week - a good idea I think, and the ratings aren't too bad considering that signed programmes are supposed to be a turn-off to the hearing majority.
I do still think that the rapid repeats before dawn of the previous day's BBC One late-morning programmes is strange, though. Of course they're very cheap but I would put something else there, such as some old Wildlife on Ones and Michael Palin travelogues. I think these could get the share up to a more respectable 3-4%.
While ITV abandoning comedy was crazy is there any evidence that chasing male viewers will deliver them the massive hits they badly need? Great Night Out suggests doing so drives millions away. TV's big hits these last few years have all been very female-led: Miranda, Downton, Call the Midwife, X Factor, Strictly, Mrs Browns Boys (well, 'man in women's clothing'-led!).
Badly - about half the figure Countdown was clocking in the slot a few months ago. Really C4 should without delay be putting Countdown back at 3.15pm and Face the Clock at 2.45pm, but they won't.
Was that a news special on the M5?
It's ridiculous really - like people need confirmation that they're not imagining the snow which is outside the front door. Even on a regional news level it's rare they give out info which is useful to people locally.
Yes, I thought it would go over 4m and it's a shame that yet again when ITV try something other than a detective show on a week night (and Great Night Out is hardly a risky move!) the audience just doesn't seem to be there.
I suspect though like Benidorm that ITV shouldn't be too hasty on Great Night Out and try giving it a repeat run (say after The X Factor auditions) and see how it does there before deciding on a second series.
Chris Evans looked a total prat on The One Show in his scarf, and he is easily the worst show on Radio 2, I thank god I got a DAB Radio this Christmas, so I can listen to 6 Music Breakfast Show.
How did the BBC get the rights to an Ant and Dec movie?
I definitely agree that it is going to be very tough for them to get back into comedy and they certainly should not be using the same benchmarks that they use for new drama because otherwise nothing will break through. That's a poor rating for Great Night Out and whilst it's a decent enough show I can't see it being something that grows significantly through word of mouth either. Perhaps it could a bit but not massively. It strikes me as something that would do reasonably well on Sky1 but isn't quite there for ITV1. But then as you say if the other two comedies don't do much either then they're going to have to keep one of them at least and I do agree that they should try repeat runs etc especially on ITV2 (perhaps a 9pm repeat run and a 10:45pm post-Celebrity Juice run). Sitcoms tend to grow over time and they need to be patient.
Having said that, I actually think that even if the 3 sitcoms perform at the same level I'd prefer them to renew one of the 30 minute ones instead as they are more straight sitcoms as opposed to comedy dramas. Also 30 minute sitcoms are less of a commitment and so they'll probably have slightly lower benchmarks. I also think The Job Lot and Vicious both sound better than Great Night Out, although as always the proof will be when they air. I do partly agree that they could struggle around the 3m mark like GNO, but then on the other hand I think The Job Lot could possibly appeal to a broader audience than GNO and therefore stand a better chance. It being a straight sitcom rather than a comedy drama could help too as so long as the scripts are good it should be more consistently funny. Meanwhile, Vicious has a stellar cast so probably has the best chance of getting a decent opening episode audience at least, what with it starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Again it's a straight 30 minute sitcom as opposed to a comedy drama and is written by a guy that has written for shows such as Will & Grace and Family Guy so should be funny. It is also a studio sitcom which seem to be back in fashion these days what with Miranda and Mrs Brown's Boys, so I wouldn't write it off. I hope one of them at least does reasonably well and that they stick at it, although I can see why you aren't too optimistic about it.
All time highs for both even excluding +1. Previous high for Tipping Point on officials (including HD) was last series on 3rd July (second episode) with 2.29m. Also an all time high for a regular edition of The Chase - previous high (on overnights) inc +1 was 3.97m which was reached a number of times.
Friday 11th January 2013 - Demographic Breakdowns
Children 4-15
01 - 795k (34.3%) - EastEnders (20:00, BBC1)
02 - 782k (36.3%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
03 - 754k (32.0%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
04 - 531k (25.0%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
05 - 466k (23.9%) - The Dumping Ground (17:00, CBBC)
Adults 16-24
01 - 939k (45.8%) - EastEnders (19:30, BBC1)
02 - 731k (41.0%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
03 - 695k (37.8%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
04 - 473k (28.3%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
05 - 367k (26.1%) - The Simpsons (18:00, C4)
Adults 25-34
01 - 1.31m (42.4%) - EastEnders (19:30, BBC1)
02 - 1.01m (32.6%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
03 - 962k (34.0%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
04 - 689k (27.0%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
05 - 578k (17.5%) - 16 Kids and Counting (21:00, C4)
Adults 35-44
01 - 1.38m (41.0%) - EastEnders (19:30, BBC1)
02 - 1.14m (39.3%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
03 - 1.14m (30.8%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
04 - 819k (18.5%) - Silent Witness (21:00, BBC1)
05 - 795k (30.3%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
Adults 45-54
01 - 1.89m (38.9%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
02 - 1.87m (45.9%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
03 - 1.56m (36.3%) - EastEnders (19:30, BBC1)
04 - 1.38m (37.0%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
05 - 1.18m (22.6%) - Silent Witness (21:00, BBC1)
Adults 55-64
01 - 1.72m (42.2%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
02 - 1.66m (22.6%) - Silent Witness (21:00, BBC1)
03 - 1.61m (35.9%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
04 - 1.40m (36.7%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
05 - 1.27m (36.3%) - EastEnders (19:30, BBC1)
Adults 65+
01 - 2.99m (44.8%) - Coronation Street (19:30, ITV)
02 - 2.83m (39.8%) - Coronation Street (20:30, ITV)
03 - 2.66m (41.5%) - Emmerdale (19:00, ITV)
04 - 2.64m (35.4%) - Silent Witness (21:00, BBC1)
05 - 2.53m (39.7%) - BBC News at Six (18:00, BBC1)
That's some really good analysis and much better than the usual one liners that some people tend to go with.
Indeed, talking about RAJAR's, I wonder if they will ever introduce a BARB style daily rating system.
Imagine if when Daybreak replaced GMTV, if people had to wait about 4 months to know how it was doing, and even then it was some vague one line figure!