Shows this year though are performing better scheduled around The X Factor thuogh than they did last year scheduled during it.

That's true. I doubt having the result after 10pm on a Saturday night is going to deliver the same audience it could get before 10pm on a Sunday night.

Based on this article:

Time.....ITV1
20:10...11.4m
20:15...09.3m
--------
20:30...12.2m
20:35...09.8m

It does state: "Viewers only stayed with the ad breaks once Strictly finished at 9pm."

Not sure why ITV arent pursuing the final results show for Sunday 13th Dec. They could even have one of the final three eliminated at the end of Saturday's show with the final 2 performing their potential winners song on Sunday and another guest independant of the duets.

How do we know they aren't?

The finale should be over both Saturday and Sunday. They'd be mad not to. They could easily string out a 1 and a half hour show on Saturday with the finalists doing their various songs, then have a 1 and a quarter hour final result, featuring the guest duets, the winners singles and the announcement.

Scheduled on a Sunday it would get 20m, not to mention the sheer amount of votes that would be cast in that 24 hour window. Why on earth would ITV pass this by?

Something of note: EastEnders will be making up the missing Friday Children in Need episode with an hour long on the Thursday of week 47 which will be 26th November - looks like the 2nd Emmerdale might take a knock that evening.

I thought it would get an hour long on Tuesday, but seems not.

Regarding the Royal Variety Performance, there's no official confirmation of the dates. A couple of newspapers have said Sunday 13th December, but if ITV want TXF final on that night they can just delay RVP a few days to the Wednesday.

Unless ITV move Emmerdale to an hour episode at 7pm on that Thursday? I doubt they will mind.

Having the RVP on a Weekday isn't unusual, in fact the BBC have done it too, I know 2006 was on a weekday but I can't remember if the 2008 one was on a weekday or Sunday.

What about The British Comedy Awards? I imagine that will on a Saturday Post X Factor.

Yeah, last year's one on BBC1 was on a Wednesday as well. ITV tend to go for Sundays, but there is a football free Wednesday that week so it could slot in there.


I think Saturday 5th December after the X Factor semi final would be likely. That's what happened last year.

Impressive - the second most-watched evening programme of the week by share.

(Question Time got 50.5%)



Well, it peaked 2 weeks ago with 14.7m, it peaked last week with 14.8m, and it peaked last night with 14.8m.

I'm no statistician, but that looks like a show plateauing to me.

As I said the other day, it looks like TXF has reached saturation point with around 11-13m committed viewers and a couple million more who tune in to see who gets voted off.

There is no evidence that it is snowballing, BGT-style.


14.8m seems a fair bet...


Question Time?

Rather more column inches and internet coverage than Cowell's singing contest I think you'll find.

Tell you what, it was the only show anyone has particularly raised in conversation with me lately. In fact I don't know anyone who didn't watch it.


Perhaps people actually watch it on Sundays, the Saturday edition just being an increasing number of people tuning in for TXF, disengaging their brains, getting the alcopops and pizza in...?

Seriously, do we have breakdowns for TV Burp Saturday and Family Fortunes showing how their audiences build substantially over their transmission as the disciples switch on for the Cult of Cowell?


Usually peaks >10m and I recall that the peak share was 61% at midnight. Only BGT's absolute peak at its climax of 70% has beaten that this year, and it stands a decent chance of retaining that 2nd place IMHO.


I've said it before, and I'll say it again, but the Cowell shows will probably find themselves beached in a Tuesday night slot being beaten by Holby City within a year or two. The Millionaire example is a clear precedent.

All shows run out of steam in the end. Even SCD might see its average ratings decline one day...


That assumes ITV even bother to show the World Cup Final.

They chickened out of showing the Euro 2008 Final, if you recall, knowing that they'd be thrashed 4 to 1. They knew they'd make more money out of the Midsomer Murders repeat.


ITV found a good way of keeping the budget down for Not Cracker - they kept repeating the same scenes from last week, and probably will do the same again next week.

Maybe this will catch on...?

Life has taken a knock because of Not Cracker. I imagine it will be back up to 5m once Not Cracker finishes.


Opportunity Knocks, New Faces, Stars in their Eyes - I don't really get why (some) people are in awe of the Cult of Cowell. It's a bloody talent contest, they've been around for decades!

Ironic really how those a decade or so moaning about the lack of variety and talent competitions on TV are largely exactly the same people moaning about the likes of The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent nowadays.

I wonder if we'll see a revamp for BGT next year - I think after three years a new set has to be on the agenda, and due to the live shows being stripped across one week there could be the option of taking it out of a TV studio and setting up in a bigger venue for the week - though really I don't think that would add too much for those watching at home.

ITV still have a big problem with Sundays (and Saturdays to an extent) for the Spring and Summer too. I guess Heartbeat and The Royal will be burned off once Dancing on Ice is finished, but they really need a new big summer format once Britain's Got Talent is finished.

According to Cent it's been pretty much confirmed that they aren't although I've not seen anything to indicate this as of yet.

I agree with the rest of your post though.


Slightly different, although with Strictly putting up a less than convincing fight this year I suppose you have to find something to get excited about.

The Japanese Grand Prix on 4th October had a 75.93% share peak at 06:05.

In terms of share, that beats BGT Final (75.07% at 19:55). BGT's peak is more impressive as it was in peaktime, but I thought I'd just point out that it's share peak has been beaten just recently.

I wasn't getting excited about it, just blowing PJMillar's latest pro-ITV nonsense out of the water with a rather compelling and very recent example...


Excellent, didn't realise that. I did have evening programming in mind though - 6am is 6am...

Which was an element taken from Big Brother.

True, but then technically isn't the 12.05am (61%) peak for the New Year's celebrations morning programming .

I just meant - they wouldn't change it now, because it will be confirmed, locked in.

If they did change it, it would be for next year's final.

Oh good point.

Where do you think we will be in 2019? Will EastEnders overtake Corrie, will Hollyoaks move to prime time, News At Ten be around, X Factor a distant memory? Anyone like to place any bets now

Looking back on the overnights from the beginning of the year, Unforgiven, Whitechapel and Law And Order UK all shed viewers with their second episode before recovering slightly with episode 3. L&O did best losing 600,000, Unforgiven dropped 2m and even the very highly acclaimed Whitechapel dropped 1m. People, it seems, get bored very easily these days and the reaction to Murderland doesn't seem to be as favourable as I thought it was. It's mostly negative comments on the Murderland thread reference tonight's episode, although they're from about 12 people so I don't know how representative that is of the audience as a whole.

As for Life, I wonder if mammals (tonight's subject) are more appealing that reptiles and amphibians (last week's subjects).



Not Cracker will be replaced by the week long Collision which is already being trailed by ITV, though I haven't watched the trailer properly so I can't say if it makes the programme look appealing or not.

Then comes I'm A Celebrity for 3 weeks. Looking back last year, IAC didn't damage the overnights for Stephen Fry In America (6.24m for the final episode) or Spooks (around 5m. Ratings damaged by each episode being premiered a week earlier on BBC3). Not did it stop Survivors or Wallander from picking up over 6m for their first episodes. (Any subsequent drop in ratings was due to their own flaws rather than the ITV1 opposition). Clearly there is a sizeable anti-IAC audience that Life might appeal to.

Your reference to New Faces. This was famed for the savage comments of some of the panels (which Op Knocks host Hughie Green hated). The likes of Tony Hatch, Mickey Most and Clifford Rose could have given Simon Cowell a few lessons in put-downs.

Probably because if they mentioned an ITV1 show in your prescence you'd bite their head off.


It's ironic when channels try something a bit different people often don't watch it. Especially on ITV - I can't name a single non-crime drama that has succeeded for them of late, bar Doc Martin.


Popstar to Opera Star?

Seriously, I think they just need to go back to the nineties and use that format. I think plenty of people would watch a Saturday night full of gameshows and light entertainment.

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I admire how well BBC1 tend to hold up aganist ITV's juggernauts. A damnsight better than ITV hold up in turn. It's a good complimentary schedule.

The X Factor is still doing brilliantly - maybe it has plateaued, but it's plateaued at a fantastic level.

I'm sure the BBC would die to be 'plateauing' at 13.4 million viewers.

Primeval didn't fare too bad, hence ITV giving it another shot once they were able to pick it up cheaper.

Kingdom had similar figures. Maybe if Stephen Fry agreed to pick up the bill, they'd revive that as well. I'm sure he could afford it; he's a succesful novelist....... actor, director, panel game presenter, documentary presenter...... chef, gardener, nuclear scientist, tightrope walker.....

Or he could get his obscenely overpaid pal Hugh Laurie to pay. (All lead actors in hit US dramas are obscenely overpaid - although that's because they have to film 20+ episodes a year.)

Or the BBC?

Although I never really watched it, I thought Kingdom was OK and was getting a decent-ish audience. ITV obviously couldn't afford it with what they are paying Simon Cowell, the FA and the cost of the giant TXF billboards everywhere. But maybe the BBC could?

How can you state a programme is 'ok' when you've never seen it?

Saying that, I'd agree with you that it was ok, but ITV are battling it out with the other commercial channels for demographics now. A poorly performing Kingdom was never going to survive.