The RT blurb has this:



I thought it sounded quite promising until I noticed the cliches

K

What would you do if ITV ran The X Factor final & result together, whilst the BBC ran the Strictly final & result separate, with TXF averaging say 11m over 3 hours peaking at 14m for the last half an hour, and SCD averaging say 12m over half an hour? Technically TXF beat Strictly hands down with its result, but ITV chose to schedule the final and the result together in one programme. Do we start carving that up in order to declare TXF the top rated programme as well even though in programme terms as dictated by the BBC & ITV, Strictly would be the winner?

I wonder if they're just doing that because they didn't manage to get two episodes of Holby City on air this week, or if it's a little test to see whether Waterloo Road can still hold its own in the Thursday 8pm slot despite ITV's soaps being there?

If Waterloo Road can get 4m there, that's the slot sorted for most of the year, with two 9-part runs of Watchdog and a 20-part Waterloo Road series split into two batches of ten weeks.

I think its a different case though where a programme is split up into two with something else airing in between the two parts. If SCD was meerly split up on the timesheets, but aired as one programme with nothing inbetween then I think we'd add the two parts together. But thats purely academic.

I support rzt's method of a weighted official average of the BBC's whole coverage. It seems the most simple and clear way of reaching numbers that are fit for comparison - which ultimately is what our lists are for.

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I think Identity has every chance of success from the scheduling. Summer needn't be a graveyard if the stuff is popular enough - just look at New Tricks. Crimewatch is non-drama opposition with a limited 4m appeal. And I don't for a minute think The Silence is going to be the sort of mainstream drama success that Five Days was - it seems a lot more niche.

And the Waterloo Road scheduling just baffles me. They seem to be bashing that thing from pillar to post. Either they don't think much of it (in which case, why so many episodes ordered) or they're supremely confident in it (which they shouldn't be, looking at the numbers).

I'd assume if it is good, they've decided to air during the summer in order to make the most of the promotional opportunities during the World Cup and perhaps take advantage of the fact that Keeley Hawes is in it by airing it only a month or two after Ashes to Ashes finished.

I think the average for the broadcast times should be the one which counts. So in that scenario, SCD would be the winner assuming SCD results was a completely different show from the performances and separated from it.

That's somewhat different to the World Cup case, though. The scheduled broadcast times - as stated in the magazines and EPG - are approximately 7-10pm/7-9:30pm and as such the average between those times should be used IMO for comparison's purposes.


Yep, this is what I mean. Sn_22 has put it well.

In yet more GMTV news, Ben is leaving early whilst its becoming more likely that Kate is staying.

So that probably means John will probably become the new male host until September (alongside Kate) where he will take up his new role. He also works quite well with Kate so I think its looking very likely that they will both be involved in the new show as the second pairing. GMTV will probably become a bit more serious with John presenting (it seems to have tightened up lately when he's hosted) and it would be quite ironic if the ratings went up a bit.

Kate does a good job, but I really can't help but think that her presence will tarnish the new show because she is the media figurehead of GMTV. If they want to keep her that badly, they should give her Lorraine's slot on a Friday.

EDIT: Suffering from short term memory loss atm, I just realised I posted the Kate bit the other day

Fair enough. What are you going to do about HD though? Exclude it and you risk distorting the figures in another way since ITV1 HD is apparently more popular than BBC HD but BARB don't like reporting figures for the former and we are not likely to get all of the necessary ones for the latter.

Mike Teevee said the the missing data from ITV1 HD (and some of the other lists) should be on BARB within the next 6 weeks. So once available, they'll be included in the figures, as well as BBC HD of course.

Hopefully we will get all the necessary data for the latter. The only issue is the Pre-Match figures, but looking at the weekly BBC HD lists, I think it'll probably sneak into 9th/10th place and be available to use.

Will all matches be going in the list (assuming they rate well enough to make the end-of-year chart), or just the highest-rated match, or just the highest one from each channel?

That plus being married to that Labour spin doctor. Better to chuck her overboard and make a clean start. Plus £250k per year for a stand in - you must be joking.

Seems a lot of effort to iron out ITV's mistake. Maybe next WC they'll do us a favour and follow the norm.

Well her pay would probably be cut accordingly ... but she isn't exactly inundated with offers so would probably accept anything they throw at her.

John & Helen would be a better pairing for stand ins, in fact they'd probably be better than Adrian & Christine themselves. Both are relatively unknown on GMTV too (I know John has been there years but he has been hidden away on the Newshour).

If you treat the football like any other programme, there is basically a 32 part series called "World Cup Match of the Day Live" (or whatever it is called) and the highest rating episode of that programme should be listed.

On ITV there will be a 32 part series called "World Cup 2010 Live" and the highest episode of that should be listed.


By the way The Fluffy Club is a GMTV programme that airs at Weekends at 6am. I doubt the World Cup has any effect on it's ratings!

May I suggest they start with an anvil?

Not sure at the moment?! BARB usually puts in all the matches which make the grade, and Robbie's in favour of that method. The other method is to have one BBC rating and one ITV rating since they come under the 'MOTD Live' and 'World Cup Live' names respectively. How do you think it should be done?

If you are to 'weigh' the ratings for the first few BBC matches by the way based on the slot timings, you get (including HD in brackets - if available for all 3) :

Friday 11th June
Uruguay vs France - 6.28m (0.42m = 6.70m)

Saturday 12th June
Argentina vs Nigeria - n/a (pre/post match not available for BBC1)

Sunday 13th June
n/a - no ratings available for BBC1

Wimbledon is returning to BBC1 at 6.40pm.

The BBC News and Regional News have been cut back to just 20 minutes each tonight.

I expect tonight's ITV soaps will be hit, especially as Coronation Street is not billed. Expect sensational 'lowest rating episode ever' headlines.

EastEnders over on BBC 2 then?

Sensible decision - I don't think there has been any major news today, so sensible.

BBC Two is showing The Hairy Bakers.

How did you arrive at 6.28m? Can't be right as the overnight was higher than that. (6.29m)

I don't understand why the BBC do this are they thick or what
Why move Wimbledon from BBC2 -BBC1 and show rubbish over on 2?
If showing Murray on BBC1 is a must then move everything over to BBC2 starting with the news

I've got it as 6.29m (only a miniscule difference I know!). I think the slight difference is due to the end time which was 21:59, not 22:00 which you may have used?

Edit: You can check the exact starting and running times here: http://www.overnights.tv/public/ProgrammeSearch.aspx


The way the match is going, the Murray match should be over long before EE begins. The Tennis currently scheduled till 7pm according to my Freeview EPG.


Although in this case it should be 6.29m, live events such as football often go down in the officials compared to overnights as hardly anybody timeshifts it and the exact starting time (6.59pm instead of 7pm) can dent the officials slightly compared to overnights.

No chance, the tennis will be finished by then, or if it isn't, it almost will be, so EE will 'follow the conclusion of the tennis' (and then be dropped entirely and reappear tommorow bumping Waterloo Road no doubt )