Will the press get bored though?
There's only so many ways a story about Daybreak's low ratings can be written, but the tabloids are still doing so every few days. At some point they will surely move on to something else?

If that were the case nobody would ever try anything new. ITV can win at breakfast but they wont achieve it overnight.

That may be true but getting the average back to more or less 1m isn't outside the realms of possbility given that that is the level it has dropped from in a short space of time. They shouldn't just settle for 0.6m because they're never going to beat BBC Breakfast, there is clearly a wider audience interested in the content of Daybreak but the current presentation of it isn't good enough for a lot of viewers.

I think the press just enjoy attacking high-earning presenters, as they did with Jonathan Ross. If all the GMTV presenters had stayed on to present Daybreak, there'd be a lot less coverage of any low ratings the show might have had.

The problem is that it's all just "background" TV for many viewers. There's nothing you can really do with the basic breakfast TV format that makes it "must see". It doesn't matter if you've got a big name on because it's not at the time of day that people make an appointment to watch TV. They'll just watch whatever is there unless it becomes particularly annoying. Very few people are going to get up early to see Robbie Williams on Daybreak or show up for work 30 minutes late because Ed Milliband was on BBC Breakfast.

The result is that any significant improvement is going to take time and probably require errors on the part of the competition.

BBC One had a good night with Spooks beating Whitechapel, a tenth series must be in the bag but with Richard Armitage doing The Hobbit, they may have to replace him which is a shame as he's good. Channel 4 did okay with Titanic and MPD. BBC Two had a strong night with UC and Masterchef while Five did good with Gadget Show and Rory and Paddy which both have retained their audiences, will be interesting if Series 3b of Extreme Fishing can do just as well which I think it will.

Richard Armitage is good in the show, but I agree they may well have to replace him, it worries me that none of the new characters have really made an impact.

Richard Armitage is in the Captain Amercia movie as well

I don't think they're going to have to settle for 0.6m. I think, over the course of a year, it will average at or slightly below what GMTV was averaging in its last year or so.

ITV's breakfast ratings trend has been a downward one for years. How much of that is down to a strong (BBC) Breakfast, or dissatisfaction with GMTV, or higher radio listening, or increased multichannel competition, is impossible to say.

Clearly something about Daybreak has alienated some of the viewers who were still watching GMTV, and while a bit of tinkering with Daybreak might bring some or most of them back, and improve the AI figures from those who've remained, it's unrealistic to expect more than that.

No one would expect Coronation St or Millionaire for example, to suddenly start averaging what they were averaging a few years ago, so why expect the breakfast slot to do it?

ABC:
8pm - Dancing With The Stars - 20.13m (4.2)
* Most watched show of the night
* Up 14% from same night last year among adults 18-49
* Up 5% from last week among adults 18-49
10pm - Castle - 11.78m (3.0)
* #1 in the slot among viewers & adults 18-49

CBS:
8pm - How I Met Your Mother - 8.38m (3.2)
* Flat vs last week
8.30pm - Rules of Engagement - 8.27m (2.9)
* Flat vs last week
9pm - Two and a Half Men - 13.66m (4.3)
* Flat vs last week
* #1 show of the night among adults 18-49
9.30pm - Mike & Molly - 10.85m (3.6)
* 84% retention from Two and a Half Men
* Up 6% from last week
* Season average to date: 3.7
* Down 8% since premiere
10pm - Hawaii Five-O - 10.03m (2.8)
* Down 3% from last week
* Series low
* Down 28% since premiere

FOX:
8pm - House - 3.99m (1.4)
* Repeat
9pm - Lie To Me - 4.27m (1.5)
* Down 25% from last weeks fast national rating
* Series low

NBC:
8pm - Chuck - 5.39m (1.9)
* 24% worse than Heroes in same slot last year
9pm - The Event - 5.93m (2.0)
* Down 9% from last week
* Another series low
10pm - Chase - 4.91m (1.3)
* Down 19% from last week
* Equal to Jay Leno one year ago

CW:
8pm - Gossip Girl - 1.88m (1.0)
* Up 11% from last episode among A18-49 (2 weeks ago)
* W18-34 - 2.2 (down 4%)
9pm - 90210 - 2.04m (1.0)
* Up 11% from last episode among A18-49
* W18-34 - 1.9 (up 12%)
* Ties season highs A18-49 & W18-34
* Largest audience of the season

ABC notched up its 6th Monday win in a row, posting year-to-year gains on all of them. Meanwhile, NBC posted its first year-to-year loss on a Monday. In premiere week, NBC started out 17% of last year but the lead diminished as The Event and Chase fell back. Last night, it trailed 2009 by 11%.

Link: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/26...ver-boss/69693

ABC:


CBS:


NBC:


FOX was all repeats on Sunday night.

Even though DH dropped in total viewers, I think DH is still doing good, especially how most scripted shows perform these days. Though I must say that the final total viewers looks suspiciously odd, since it looks VERY similar to the overnight numbers. Nevertheless, having a 3.9 for three weeks in a row shows how good the show can hold up. Plus, the total viewers had worse days last season, when the latter half (Feb-May) had around 10-11m.

ABC and CBS have been seeing drops on Sunday, mainly because the Sunday Night Football on NBC featured a high-profiled player, Brett Favre. Yet still, both networks held well. Not bad at all, in my opinion.

GMTV was averaging around 1m 18 months ago which isn't that long in terms of breakfast TV. The GMTV figures were falling and the statement ITV released about year on year decline basically says that if GMTV was still on air then it would be doing worse than Daybreak is. Breakfast TV is something most viewers dip in and out of, and rather than switch off completely I think a lot of viewers will just be watching less of it hence bringing the average down. Even if they can somehow make their current viewers watch for a bit longer then the ratings will artificially increase and if they can start an increase, then its a good start. These things take ages to bed in but as long as the ratings are going in the right direction then thats all that matters if they want to avoid such drastic changes. To properly analyse it they need to release the actual reach.

Cancelling Daybreak would be a ridiculous decision, they need to give the show time. Obviously the ratings are not good but it would be much easier to work on Daybreak rather than come up with something new or returning to GMTV. I think it would be a knee-jerk reaction to the negative tabloid reports.

I see they have already changed the background behind Adrian and Chritstine when the London view is dark and dreary, which at this time of the year is pretty much all the time.

Link: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/26...usted-up/69786

ABC:


CBS:


NBC:


FOX:


CW:

Season high for 90210 in total viewers, adults 18-34 and women 18-34. Ties season high among adults 18-49.

The gaps vs last year for 90210 and GG aren't looking too bad either considering they both started out this season with massive declines vs last season. Equivalent 90210 ep last season had 2.36m (1.1) among A18-49, equivalent GG episode had 2.21m (1.2).

Ooops!

Biggest ratings disappointment of 2010?


We're all aware of this anomaly in BARB's reporting on here I think.

Mike - given how barmy it is to only report the "networked" element for shows in BARB's top 30s, can you not ask them why they (or BARB) do this? It doesn't make any sense to only count the original network showing when reporting the figures for a show. What you are basically saying is that no-one in Wales watched Countryfile at all that week. Which is patently rubbish.

Why can't BARB report accurate official ratings for shows with alternative regional transmissions? Loads of BBC shows end up with lower reported official ratings than they actually got because of this.




Change the name back to GMTV, run a few trailers to that effect, and the viewers will come back. Even with Adrian and Christine at the helm.

Simple.

Daybreak is really starting to reach dnager levels - it should be at least sustaining around the 0.8m mark considering what GMTV achieved.

Low also for Whitechapel which is slightly surprising considering how well it held up for the first two episodes - surely Hollyoaks Later couldn't have stripped away that much of an audience??? Spooks did well, though, as did the soaps.

Which would be pathetic if viewers came back, so all you need to have a successful series is to change the name??

Maybe Channel 4 should've renamed 'Big Brother' 'The X Factor'...?

Possibly.

Erm...

- Don't Stop Believing
- James Corden's World Cup Live
- Daybreak
- Married, Single, Other
- Michael Winner's Dining Stars
- Ant and Dec's Push the Button
- Modern Masters
- The Prisoner

(Some can be contested, but those are ones off the top of my head)

Also add Seven Days.

None of those went from 9m for series 1 to 5m for series 2.

Expectations were certainly high on here, doubt anyone predicted Spooks to eventually win the battle.

Most of those were never expected to do well though.

I still think The Prisoner must get the award though 1.6m after a 9m lead-in. 0.7m at 10:10 on a Saturday Night. Truly awful.

Actually, my contender for biggest ratings disappointment in 2010 is The X Factor.

I was hoping it would average about 8-9m a week...

Plenty to choose from.

I suppose with lots of those, many of us guessed it would flop. James Corden and Dining Stars come to mind here.

In terms of falling under expectations, flop of the year (so far) has to be The Prisoner - which sank to horrific depths despite the budget, big promotion and BGT lead-in.

(Blimey, that list was popular - ratings thread junkies love nothing more than a good flop )