Interesting. I guess with EBS' other activities internationally, they'll be looking to bring DigiGuide out in other countries. AFAIK it only officially supports UK & Ireland channels at the moment? Apart from that can't see anything changing.

It's a good bit of software, and hasn't changed very much in all the years I've been using it. But very reliable.

Thanks, makes sense for the studios to advertising the latest films plus new releases on DVD. They do it all the time with the Superbowl and Idol.

The Deadline article suggests that Syco/Cowell will go for Pepsi despite Coca Cola offering more money although I imagine it's a ploy to squeeze more money from the two companies.

I did wonder that too, though the report I have suggested a 2.91 million timeshift for OFAH. ITV broadcast The Living Daylights which got 8.03 million though not certain how many were watching between OFAH's 8.00 to 9.00 timeslot or indeed how many taped The Living Daylights. But you would have thought with BBC2, C4 and fledgling satellite channels that a fair number must have been watching that night.
Be interesting to see a peak figure for OFAH-riding off into the sunset for the (almost) last time.

Isn't it likely to be the case that ITV actually used up a lot of that nights allowable advertising minutage during XF.

And so to put out a 2 hour drama after it would probably end up with a situation of ad breaks filled with trailers. Not a good return on investment, when you can sell much more advertising around it on another night.

To that effect, I don't think audience inheritance post X Factor is such a big deal for ITV, just the ratings enthuiasts on here.

the e:mail has some caps of an iPhone app, looking very brightly, cleary a redesgin on the way.

I may well keep the Classic look however, it works fine for me.

Yes, just seen the new website. Very flash. I note a redesign for the PC version is also underway as well as the new iPhone & android apps. I hope it's not too drastic and keeps the option to choose from various themes.

Hopefully with EBS on board, DigiGuide will actually update when scheduling changes occur in future:

They should have used the slot to either debut a new series or boost a current show like Take Me Out the night before.

For example, ITV could have kept a show like DI Banks back. They could have debuted it last night after The X Factor and got 10m. They could have a took a hit and only had a couple of ad breaks and perhaps take a loss on the show but the lack of ad breaks could mean a 2 hour show with adverts was fitted into a 90 minute slot. When DI Banks returns 2 months later it gets 8m for the whole series. The investment is worth it then.

I have Digiguide and it's great value for money at only £10 a year. I was having problems earlier but it seems to be okay now, I'm guessing they were changing servers which affected downloading.

Next weekend looks set to be seriously cold. Should guarantee massive numbers for the BBC's second biggest weekend of the year.

http://www.netweather.tv/gfsimages2/.../ukmaxtemp.png

Some interesting notes from this weeks BARB Top 30:

- all editions of the Six O'Clock News were above 5.5m on BBC1; despite having an overnight rating of 4.33m, Casualty had 5.32m in the officials, a timeshift of almost 1.0m
- all but one programme on BBC2 is over 2m. 6 programmes topped 3m, while Miranda's rating was 4.01m
- 18 different programmes on ITV1 top 8m. Then, there's a gap of over 2m before the next programme, TV Burp
- despite having a lead-in of 1.81m or over for the entire week, Hollyoaks failed to make Channel 4's top 30 for the week, the majority of the top 30 are for programmes outside of primetime, only 4 programmes aired after 7pm
- in comparison to Channel 4, Five had more programmes that aired in primetime in the top 30

looking at the pictures of the iPhone app, its black with bright colours, as seen on the new website


glad to hear it wasnt just me

To be fair last night was minimal padding - it was actually all business except for an opening Take That performance and one before the result. Last year they had 5-6 guest performances.

Agree though taunting for anyone to come up with the next big Saturday night hit - and until Simon Cowell does TXF is going nowhere.


Something from Robbie that paints Strictly in a poor light. If Strictly had grown in the same way as TXF we'd be looking at figures of 25m at the weekend.


Interestingly Coca Cola opted to premiere that ad on C4 first during Come Dine with Me - even had a very nice intro with the C4 logo morphing into the Coca Cola logo.


That was my thinking too - can't think of a show more perfect for the slot or a slot more perfect for the show, considering it's highly unlikely ITV would air it on Christmas Day.


No surprise though - was a poor show for the slot and would have been better after Take Me Out on Saturday.

ITV could even have doubled up with Take Me Out over the weekend, or perhaps aired the Michael Buble special they aired at 10.25pm the previous Saturday.


Why on earth do 1.2m people tape the news when by the time they watch it it's technically out dated.

I saw C4 advertise that, didnt see it however.

It seems like entertainment has made a big comeback and, for all the soaps have had their big moments during the year, Coronation St, Emmerdale and Eastenders no longer dominate the ratings like they did 10 years ago. This year's top rated shows would be BGT, TXF, IAC, SCD, with the soaps lagging behind these.

There has been a lack of new entertainment successes recently, IMO. Particularly on Saturday nights and there's a massive gap from something like XF to the other ratings which are seen as OK like The Cube or Family Fortunes. Most of ITV's current entertainment hits come from the era of Celebrity Love Island and Celebrity Wrestling - when they were perhaps more willing to take a long shot. Sure, they bombed, but who would have thought celebrities eating kangaroo penis in the Australian jungle would be so big in the first place? And it's often the unexpected ones that do well - who thought Take Me Out would be drawing the same number of 16-34's as Dancing on Ice?! But even that isn't a major hit, certainly not in total viewers. It saw moderate growth in its first series but hardly the kind of growth that we saw for something like BGT in 2007.

And there's no real sign of where the next big hits will come from. I do wonder if Million Pound Drop might have done well on ITV1 on a Saturday night but generally, quiz shows don't seem to be taking off. There's not much left to do with talent shows that hasn't already been done. Physical gameshows like The Cube and The Whole 19 Yards are getting 4-5m. Ant & Dec are the only presenters who currently seem capable of carrying a format on their own like Saturday Night Takeaway (which was created & produced by the team at Syco, believe it or not) but there's no sign that Push The Button will match its success.

Everyone is looking for a BB replacement now. But very few stripped formats have ever worked. I've said before that I'd like to see ITV take another look at Hell's Kitchen or, better still, adapt 71 Degree's North into a live, stripped format (basically I'm A Celebrity - with or without the celebs - in the Arctic). Of course, ideally they'd find a new format altogether that could work but I'm not sure that's going to happen!

Not sure if it's been noted, and I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that 13.03m for Strictly Come Dancing is its highest ever rating. The previous best I can find is 12.97m for the 2008 final. For the final next week, Strictly could be taking aim at the 13.5m of Britain's Got Talent.

What odds would we have given that at the start of the year? (To be fair, its the same story with I'm a Celebrity vs BGT too).


Some really interesting tidbits in there, particularly about the smaller channels. Miranda is a massive success for BBC Two, but it just shows up where Channel 4 is failing. That they can't get more than 4 primetime shows into the Top 30 is a real indication of their weakness at the moment.

And just to catch up on the past few pages (about 4 since I last posted this morning ), James J was spot on when he said that it's been a hell of a year for TV. XF is on for the most watched TV programme since 2003, and EE is the most watched scripted show since that year too. Those are two real feathers in the cap for 2010.

No different to what most of us have been experiencing for the past month now, can't see a huge spike myself

71 Degrees North would be more risky live and unlike IAC isn't in a controlled enviroment. Masterchef and The Apprentice, despite having no voting or live aspect are successful, maybe ITV should consider a show like that for a Saturday or Sunday slot.

Gameshow wise, they haven't been a successful format in a number of years, Deal or No Deal was successful but I'm not sure if would have survived had it been a Saturday Night show on ITV1, it's a bit too cosy but it works.

A lot of the basic formats have now been taken: people dancing (SCD/SYTYCD/GTD), people singing (TXF), variety acts (BGT), ice skating (DOI), business (Apprentice), cooking (MC/HK), learning opera (PSTOs) etc.

What else is there without going into one of those territories? I think there would be some potential in doing a comedy talent show, not just restricted to standup comedians but anyone funny, whether it's dancing, standup etc (but then I suppose it's BGT territory). It must be harder finding the next big thing nowadays compared to 10 years ago because a lot of the basic ideas in the "reality genre" have already been taken and are hits already, whereas 10 years ago reality TV was only just starting to get popular and there were plenty of potential ideas about.

Speaking of new reality shows, here's a new one on ITV1 next year (which sounds like a potential flop to me):


Wasn't there a Apprentice rip-off on ITV a couple of years ago which flopped really badly!?

I seem to remeber the last Apprentice rip-off ITV produced, needless to say I dont have much hope for this

Wasn't it called Tycoon?? With the bloke from Dragons Den?

that was it

More heartening ratings statistics...

Merlin finished Series 3 finished with its highest rated episode ever with 7.67m viewers. The Series Average was also the best of the shows three series, with 6.78m - up by 0.79m or 13% on last years numbers.

To put that into some context, it's recorded a higher average rating this year than mainstay dramas like Spooks, Hustle and Ashes to Ashes - and its less than 1m behind Series 5 of Doctor Who.

And it's achieved all that running against the biggest show on TV week after week. My hat is off to them - it has to be my nominee for "Most Overlooked Ratings Performance of the Year"

Any idea where PSTOS is going in the schedule next year ?

Presumably it'll be Comedy Rocks in the Friday 9pm slot in Jan.

That would be a major acheivement for Strictly if it could beat BGT and, as a added bonus, it would probably p1ss off Simon Cowell as well.

Strictly lost a bit of momentum this weekend due to its change of slots and possibly the loss of Anne Widdecombe, but she's back next week (maybe the BBC should get her to do the trailer: "See me dance again on Saturday") and as has been pointed out earlier, the weather looks as if it's going to take a turn for the worst (or best, if you're a TV executive).