The Royal Wedding will get a collosal audience - probably around 25m.

I would have thought the lesson of recent years is obvious. If you give ANY event collosal hype and then, on top, broadcast it simultaneously on EVERY single major channel then it is guaranteed to get a collosal audience.

Tonight's interview is going to have a combined audience of about 12m to 15m. So does anyone seriously think the actual wedding (with 1,000 times more hype) is not going to get a massively higher figure?

It will be a public holiday too, it wont quite be Diana and Charles but it isnt any old wedding. There will be a huge combined audience. I wonder if ITV will suspend adverts for the day like they did in 1981!

It says here it might be on a Saturday, though. Although Charles and Camilla's wedding didn't do that well, the coverage wasn't all that huge - it was of course supposed to be on the Friday, a normal working day, but moved back a day to avoid a clash with the Pope's funeral - and ITV decided to only show the blessing, while the Beeb had been on for two hours at that point and all anyone wanted to see was what everyone was wearing. Also, ITV's coverage featured the world's biggest ever DOG.

I think the nearest comparison will probably be the Jubilee coverage in 2002, which was on both channels and got decent ratings. It won't do as well as Charles and Diana, but it'll do way more than the last two Royal Weddings which were really low key anyway.

I'm guessing not very good!

Charles and Camilla's wedding is no comparison - it was in a Registry Office with no TV coverage inside.

There were no fancy clothes, no special music, no procession, basically nothing at all to make it a TV spectacle.

This reminds me a bit of some comments on here that the Election debates would get poor ratings as nobody would be interested in politicians talking for 90 mins.

The point is that the subject matter is irrelevant - with collosal hype a massive audience is guaranteed. And with it simultaneously on every major channel then it has to get 100% of the casual audience.

The only way the audience could be dented in any way would be if it's on a Saturday and it clashed with a big sporting event on terrestrial TV. But I would bet for certain they will ensure there is no such clash.

Looking on BARB for the Golden Jubilee (seeing as its been mentioned above):

Saturday 1st June 2002
20:10 - Prom at the Palace: 5.45m [BBC1]

Sunday 2nd June 2002
18:30 - The Queen's Story: 3.90m [ITV1]
20:30 - Alistair McGowan's Big Jubilee: 4.60m [BBC1]

Monday 3rd June 2002
18:30 - The Queen's Story: 4.56m [ITV1]
19:30 - Party at the Palace: 12.54m [BBC1]

Tuesday 4th June 2002
BBC1
09:25 - The State Procession: 5.74m
11:25 - State Service of Thanksgiving: 6.51m
13:45 - Carnival in the Mall: 7.88m
18:45 - BBC News: 9.44m

ITV1
19:00 - The Queen's Story: 6.31m
20:30 - Bertie and Elizabeth: 5.01m

Wednesday 5th June 2002
19:00 - The Queen's Story: 8.63m [ITV1]

Vince is a bit of a coup in my book. The calibre of celebs for the special seems pretty good and I would be inclined to either extend or split the Christmas special into two parts.


Agreed. The first episode is only going to attract the hardcore fans whilst most of Corrie's audience switches over to Eastenders.

Was Party at the Palace a concert in the vein of Live 8 or the Diana concert?

When is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee? I assume it's in 2012 and I imagine it'll be either before or after the Olympics.

Barrowman is also appearing, and there is an ever growing and desperate rumour that he will take over from Bruce when the time comes. Heaven forbid.

Well that would be the same for any episode they aired.

I think it's appropriate that they repeat the first episode during the anniversary week.

Funnily enough it's ten years on from her Golden Jubilee and I believe like in 2002 the May Bank Holiday will move to the first week in June with an extra bank holiday on the Tuesday. So that'll bugger up Britain's Got Talent's usual schedule then!

It was similar to the Diana concert with much higher production values. It had an real epic feel especially with The mall full and the massive firework display at the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXWPumvXy5g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6apRQM7f5Yc&feature=fvw

Fireworks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kBz85FFb_0

Diamond Jubilee is in 2012 before the Olympics and a similar long weekend [i think the Tuesday will be a bank holiday again ] of Festivities are planned.

There will be probably be a concert of some sorts although I would think that they'll also be an Olympic concert in August.

Genius Brekkie. Linking the Queen's Jubilee to BGT scheduling.

Well ITV's dream FA Cup tie of AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons isn't going to happen a week Saturday!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...up/9191187.stm

But they've already made the selection now so they're stuck with that game.

Anyone else think that ITV placed their future programming on a wall chart and sticked pins in it to decide what goes where? Shame I'm A Celebrity...The Reunion/Coming Out slipped under a sofa really. Some ridiculous scheduling there, and just when I thought they were showing some brains as well. I have no idea what they're doing with Coronation Street in anniversary week - starting a programme in the middle of a BBC1 programme never pays off, especially when it's a something like Holby City.

Talking of ITV, they must have been elated and slightly annoyed in getting the exclusive interview with William and Katie. I guess Clarence House set the embargo time, meaning that they had to air it at 7pm really. Mind you, knowing ITV they may have set it off their own back despite Emmerdale! I guess the plunges that that and, to a lesser extent, EastEnders take tonight will make Coronation Street's descent look reasonable come Thursday.

In regards to the FA Cup - ITV now have the glorious tie of Wimbledon or Ebbsfleet v Stevenage Borough. Bet they can't wait for that one.

Good figures for the main two channels last night, and the soap figures show that the winter is starting to set it now.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.30m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.25m
19:00 Home and Away 1.03m
19:30 Iron Chef Australia 0.91m
20:30 Packed to the Rafters 2.08m
21:25 Sneak Peak: Winners & Losers 2.24m
21:30 Parenthood 0.96m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.10m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.11m
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 0.95m
19:30 Top Gear (R) 0.97m
21:00 (New) Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds 0.66m

Ten
18:00 The Simpsons (R) 0.48m
18:30 Neighbours 0.54m
19:00 The 7pm Project 0.79m
19:30 Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation 1.18m
20:30 NCIS 1.16m
21:30 Good News Week 0.64m

ABC1
19:00 ABC News 0.89m
19:30 The 7.30 Report 0.73m
20:00 The Old Guys 0.59m
20:30 An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby 0.46m
21:35 QI 0.62m

7TWO
19:30 Fawlty Towers (R) 0.24m
20:10 The Vicar of Dibley (R) 0.25m
20:45 Keeping Up Appearances (R) 0.21m

If I was to take a bet on Prince William's wedding ratings, I would go for 30 million viewers, possibly 35 million if everyone has the day off. As the Prince is the most popular Royal, I can see ratings of 30-35 million on the cards.
Yet I wonder if ITV will bother, or will have very reduced coverage, possibly only the service. For decades the BBC has flattened them in the ratings and ITV1 has largely withdrawn from covering national events for this reason ans on cost grounds.

Yawn all this fuss about Corrie. ITV were always going to milk it to death that week. As every episode that week should have at least 11m (if not they have a big problem) they would be fools if they didn't air extra episodes. The Emmerdale/EE clashes are unavoidable but do perhaps prove that ITV airs too much soap.

Interesting, and I suppose we can't blame ITV if the Palace decreed that the interview should go out at 7pm.

It does look to have worked out rather nicely for ITV, but I guess we'll have to see tomorrow. It may have given The One Show an unexpected boost - although given how slow ITV viewers are with the remote (probably stuck down the back of the settee under a pizza box or some old Carling cans), the 7.5m EmFm audience will have sat there waiting patiently for it.


Hope the 7.30pm EE that night finishes on time...


I thought I was being hyperbolic when I predicted 6 ridiculous hours of Coro programming in 5 days.

Looks like 7.5 hours is nearer the mark!

Are ITV shutting up shop for 2010 on December 11th? Looks like they're aiming to make as much money as they can between now and December 11th by piling it all up to the roof and flogging it all off at 50% off to get as many punters as humanly possible through the doors - and hope for the best.

Desperate stuff really. ITV could until fairly recently achieve the same ratings hegemony 51 out of 52 weeks without even breaking sweat.


An hour only for SCD?

Are they not dancing twice per show in the later rounds this year?


Why would ITV have shown it?

It's a BBC programme - presumably the BBC commissioned Granada to make this?

There was talk of BBC2 repeating it in December to coincide with the Coro 50th, but they would struggle to find a slot that week not already filled by Coro programming!

An hour on BBC2 too would be overkill...


These don't tell the full story either.

Party at the Palace peaked with 17m IIRC, and averaged 15m over the 2 hours from 8-10pm, but only got 12.5m over the full slot because ITV aired Corrie as normal at 7.30, dragging BBC1 down considerably for the first half hour.

The 4 Tuesday ratings posted there I think constituted the entire day's programming on BBC1 from 9.25 to 7.30pm that bank holiday. Sensational average for the whole day, which absolutely pulverised ITV. The Carnival in the Mall peaked with around 11m or so - not bad for a hot summer's afternoon (and public holiday).




Well worth every penny of the £130m they paid.

(OK, granted that wasn't just for this match!

Must be pretty depressing for the BBC1 command today as ITV trotted out a full week of programming when they will win virtually every primetime slot and bust BBC1's balls with a big bat in the ratings.

At least BBC1 gets to repeat the complement in the following 2-3 weeks - albeit without the big numbers every night, but by delivering a diverse mix of quality programming across all genres rather than something akin to sitting down to a Brewers Fayre "all you can eat" carvery dinner every night followed by great big bowlfuls of toffee pudding and custard.

Worth remembering - ITV are in it for the money; BBC are in it to supply a service. Their approaches will be different. In a sense, it's a shame the approach in advertising has diversified so much as it's affecting the commercial channels badly.

I should say, for the avoidance of any doubt, that I have never eaten a Brewer's Fayre carvery dinner, or been in one.

I am told they are hideous though, so it seems a good analogy...

I accept that. But, its another example of ITV putting short-term gain before long-term success. Sure ITV will make more money than usual during Corrie's anniversary week but its shutting the door on non-Corrie fans and possibly risks losing some viewers in the long-term by overexposing a hit show again.

It also makes a mockery of Adam Crozier's statment about trying to change " a remarkable lack of diversity" in the schedules. It sure is a diverse selection of programming that week.

to be fair I think his plans for a diverse ITV scheulde, is slightly more long term, possibly not until autumn 2011