Sky News and quality- I don't think so!


Any predictions for election night then. It's obvious the BBC will win hands down and ITV will be beat at least 2:1 - probably 3:1. I think C4's Alternative Election Night will suffer from it being a close call - it would have done better in 2001/2005 when the result wasn't really in doubt, so I'm betting 1.5m at most.


I think the real battle is with HD - could Sky News HD top BBC HD?

Strong ratings for EastEnders and Holby City last night - they're both about 1m up from the equivalent episodes last year. Luther started very well and the BBC could be onto something here - they need to find new drama hits with returnable potential as quite a few of their current ones are near the end of their lifespans (Waking the Dead, A2A, Spooks...). The important number for Luther will be next week to see how much the drop-off is. I hope it holds 5m+ as I enjoyed it, but judging by the DS thread I'm probably in the minority.

Same old story for ITV1: poor. On Five, CSI got completely squeezed out by the two other crime dramas (mainly Luther). I can't remember the last time it fell to as low as 1.8m. La La Land on BBC3 is rating poorly considering it got a 1m inheritance from the 'Enders repeat.

Er... where's the quality then?!

I've already cited one example of excellent journalism by a Five/BSkyB journalist in the past 24 hours, that's quite enough for the moment.

I do think overall Sky have a stronger team. Only notable exception is Kay Burley but she has been there since the beginning and it seems they are too scared to get rid of her.

I think I'll stick with BBC. Don't really want to see Sky getting all happy as the Conservative votes come through.

Same old story in ratings: Good night for BBC, bad night for ITV. Surprising, because on Sunday and Monday it was the other way around.

Maybe ITV only deliver on Bank Holidays?

- Easter Monday: Frost brings 8m+.
- May 4th: ITV win night.
- May 31st: Britain's Got Talent brings ???m.

Theres defenitley a strong BBC1 lineup there last night... with very strong ratings from Holby City and Luther.

ITV yet again, the Tuesday flop zone took action. The Bill's ratings are just so bad at the moment.

Decent night for C4 suprisingly with three shows in a row getting 2m+ which doesnt happen much on there.

News ratings last night?

[spits drink out at the screen.]
I suppose you didn't see Niall Pattersons reports outside bigotgate womans house last week.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...te-marina-hyde

I saw that moment. His behaviour that day was awful quite frankly.

Her tugged on her jacket at least twice as she tried to walk away from him to ask her more questions about how much she hates Gordon Brown. She must have said about 10 times she had to go.

She didn't say she was a Sky News viewer either, he bombarded her with questions and she was just trying to get rid of him, she said something like "Oh, yeh... thats a good one..." when he asked if she likes Sky News. Cue him 15 mins later saying "Mrs Duffy informed us she is a big Sky News fan".

Then when they were asked to move off her private property he stood still with the Sky News camera while all the other journalists left.

No it wasnt. He was no different to Ian Watson.

Martina Hyde should know about filler material. Her whole career is composed around it.

Even though she has a full day to write this tripe.

Schedules for 15th-21st May have been confirmed: The Prisoner, Marco's Kitchen Burnout and Modern Masters all keep their current slots.

There is an extra Holby City episode on Wednesday, which bumps Waterloo Road for the week. ITV1 has British Soap Awards that Wednesday, starting at 19:30 which means it'll be half an hour longer than normal.

Also, although not confirmed until next week, some reports saying that An Audience with Michael Buble will be on Sunday 23rd May for ITV1. If that's true, it'll be a jampacked night for ITV1, possibly going: 18.00: The Seasons, 19.00 Audience with..., 20:00 Britain's Got Talent, 21:00 Lewis

So that we don't get an influx of 'how did past elections rate' in the next few days...

1997 (May 1st)
BBC One
21:55 to 01:00 - 6.5m

ITV1
21:55 to 01:00 - 3.2m

----

2001 (June 7th)
BBC One
21:55 to 01:00 - 5.4m (41%)
* peak: 5.8m @ 23:00

ITV1
21:55 to 01:00 - 2.3m (17%)
* peak: 3.7m @ start

Sky News - peak: 0.29m
BBC News 24 - peak: 0.20m
ITV News Channel - peak: 0.06m

----

2005 (May 5th)
BBC One
21:55 to 02:00 - 4.2m (35%)
* 21:55 to 01:00 - 4.7m (33%)
* 01:00 to 02:00 - 2.6m (41%)
* peak: 6.0m @ 22:45

ITV1
21:55 to 02:00 - 1.7m (15%)
* 21:55 to 01:00 - 2.0m (14%)
* peak: 2.3m @ 22:45

Five
00:00 to 01:00 - 0.2m (3%)

Sky News
21:00 to 01:00 - 0.11m
* peak: 0.22m @ 22:45

BBC News 24
21:00 to 01:00 - 0.07m

ITV News Channel
21:00 to 01:00 - 0.02m

----

2008 (November 4th) - United States Election
BBC One
23:20 to 06:00 - 1.3m (25%)
* peak: 1.6m @ 00:00

ITV1
23:45 to 06:00 - 0.3m (7%)

----

Sources: Media Guardian, Digital Spy

And the BSI strikes again, because if my calculations are correct it means the final episode of Waterloo Road will be in World Cup week.

Why on earth would they take off Waterloo Road to show an extra Holby City, isn't Holby City on enough as it is?

--

Regarding The Bill, I think it is the name 'The Bill' which is the problem at the moment.

Viewers who liked the old Bill but don't like the new version have switched off, and few new viewers have switched
on because it's still The Bill. A show they didn't watch 20 years ago and don't watch now.

I bet if they launched a new police drama with exactly the same scripts as The Bill but with different character
names and different actors, the show would get double the ratings.

Why on earth do they bother hiring schedulers when they're not fixing the obvious.


The BBC once again taking the same old attitude to the World Cup.

Rather than doing what any sensible organisation would do and not commission episodes to run during an event you've known you'll be broadcasting for years they of course commission them and push everything else around the schedules to accommodate them.

Don't forget though that Coronation Street may need to go there as it loses two episodes on Monday 24th May due to an England game. Depending on where ITV schedule it, of course.

Plus The Prisoner loses an episode on 22nd May due to the Champions League Final, but I suspect no one really cares about that!

Thought this would intrest some.


I defiantely agree with the last bit!

I hope not, I quite like This Morning and Loose Women and will want to get away from overkill of election coverage

Stephen Glover at The Independent also saw it...and praised Niall and Sky News for their coverage:


Source & more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/me...r-1960890.html

So to be honest I'm not sure the attacks on Niall are very justified. Indeed he has come under fire a lot recently from barely articulate and occasionally abusive users on Twitter, but has always taken time to respond to his critics.

A brief scan through his Tweet history will show he is far from anti-Labour:

http://twitter.com/niallpaterson/status/13298277057
http://twitter.com/niallpaterson/status/13313865398
http://twitter.com/niallpaterson/status/13358492018

Great night for BBC One. EastEnders had an excellent share and the Hobly rating is superb too. Luther enjoyed a very good inheritance and seems to have done well with it. It'll be interesting to see if it can sustain those figures.

Awful night again for ITV and especially The Bill. Still, least its not in The Prisoner / Modern Masters territory.

As I said there before there is something not quite right about the HD figures, suggesting that the way rating of these works is somehow flawed.

The argument raised here was that some shows are just more watchable in HD than others....as in Doctor Who would attract HD viewers but Over the Rainbow would not.

To a degree, perhaps. But if 6.5 million watch Doctor Who and 5 million watch Over the Rainbow but half a million watch DW in HD and next to nobody Over the Rainbow in HD this does not look correct.

Both are on one after the other on both BBC 1 and BBC HD and many viewers surely just stay on the channel they are tuned to.

I suspect there are several factors why many of the 15% potential audience are not watching ITV HD.

Many Sky viewers may not even realise it is there. It was never promoted and I have seen several posts from people spotting it in the EPG a month late for the first time.

Moreover, it takes effort to switch from your local ITV region to ITV HD and if most people have no clue what is in HD and what is not, may just stick with that they have. Because ITV HD simulcasts the London news, weather and local programming anyone outside that area is told to tune elsewhere. How many bother to come back?

Viewers prefer an easy life and many may have just chosen to stick with their local ITV rather than the HD version of London ITV.

ABC:
8pm - Dancing With The Stars - 11.92m (2.4)
* Ties last weeks all time series low
9pm - Lost - 9.50m (3.9)
* Up 5% from last original episode
10pm - V - 5.58m (2.2)
* Finished last in the hour
* Lost 44% of its lead-in

CBS:
8pm - NCIS - 14.83m (3.1)
* Season low
9pm - NCIS:LA - 14.22m (2.9)
* Series low
10pm - The Good Wife - 12.94m (2.4)
* Up 9% from last episode

FOX:
8pm - American Idol - 17.08m (6.0)
* Lowest 18-49 rating since July 2002
* Lowest adults 18-34 rating ever
* Lowest household rating, average viewership & adults 25 since August 2002
* Down 24% from equivalent night last year (A18-49)
9pm - Glee - 11.89m (4.9)
* Down 6% from last week
* Likely to be adjusted down in final ratings

NBC:
8pm - The Biggest Loser - 8.34m (3.2)
* Up 14% from last week
10pm - Parenthood - 5.96m (2.6)
* Won the 10pm hour among adults 18-49
* Up 8% from last week

Tvbythenumbers

Some horrible ratings there, not often that NBC are the only ones smiling!

I agree, it is odd how low the HD figures are at present.
ITV are apparantly going to add regional feeds to their HD channel next month, this could boost HD viewing a bit (see below).


Source: Attentional

She'll love that!