Channel 4 must have a screw loose with what they have done to Deal, or No Deal.

It has slowed down an already slow show and put Countdown at risk.

We have watched from day one but have now opted to record if we can remember as watching in FFW is now the only tolerable way to watch.

Not only that but as ITV improves The Chase and films it in HD Channel 4 'devamp' the DOND set so its once great picture (even though it was only in SD) is not as good. They have not upgraded to HD either with this change as they could have done if they think so much of the show to give it extra time.

Moreover the snail's pace will mean that if a show peters out as they can do with early deals or taking out all the big numbers early viewers will think twice about hanging around to the end if it is moving so slowly...and that will impact whatever 4 put on afterwards.

Just cannot understand where they were coming from with this decision.

Jonathan Ross doesn't seem too pleased by the scheduling on Twitter either:

Wossy - Hellooo. Tonight 9.30 Channel 4 is Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Well, of last year really. But C4 thought tonight would be good time .
3 hours ago via TweetDeck

He also notes his chatshow is 'back' on ITV1 in October. Hmmm, I wonder what slot that is getting? *cough* after X Factor *cough*

Here's the demographic profiles of some of the programmes which aired yesterday:

Programme..............Total.............C14-15..............A16-34.............A35-44................A45-54………...A55-64…………..A65+…………ABC1

Antiques Roadshow...6.78m……..0.20m (3%)….…0.46m (7%)…….0.48m (7%)…....0.84m (12%)…..1.40m (21%)…...3.41m (50%)….3.15m (46%)
Casualty……....…...6.15m……....0.28m (5%)….…0.66m (11%)……0.73m (12%)…..0.83m (13%)…..1.17m (19%)…...2.48m (40%)….2.78m (45%)
Countryfile……....….6.25m……....0.20m (3%)….…0.44m (7%)…….0.33m (5%).…..0.78m (12%)…..1.33m (21%)…...3.18m (51%)….2.92m (47%)
Famous & Fearless...2.07m.........0.28m (13%)......0.64m (31%)…...0.44m (21%).....0.32m (15%)…...0.16m (8%)...…0.26m (12%)…..0.69m (33%)
Marple…………....…4.02m……....0.14m (4%)….…0.38m (9%)…….0.39m (10%)…..0.67m (17%)…..0.86m (21%)…...1.58m (39%)….1.93m (48%)
Primeval..................3.06m..........0.49m (16%)......0.45m (15%)…...0.53m (17%).....0.53m (17%)…..0.57m (19%)...…0.50m (16%)…..0.92m (30%)
The Cube.................3.74m..........0.37m (10%).....0.75m (20%)…...0.52m (14%).....0.61m (16%)…..0.56m (15%)...…0.94m (25%)…..1.23m (33%)
Zen………………......5.11m……....0.15m (3%)……0.44m (9%)…….0.62m (12%)…..0.80m (16%)…..1.12m (22%)……1.98m (39%)….2.89m (57%)

Note: ITV ratings exclude HD, C4 exclude +1

I'll try to post more of these demo profiles in the future so people can see what sort of audiences are watching particular shows. Tonight's drama clash will be interesting - I think both will be hit quite hard as there's probably quite a similar audience.

That's a very high ABC1 percentage for Zen last night.

Also Casualty seemed to skew a lot older than I thought it did, although I expect that is exagerated a bit by it being surrounded in Antiques/Countryfile

Deal or No Deal has become progressively more boring and stupid. The overkill with it is beginning to show.

Strange age breakdown there to be honest.

National Television Awards shortlist now open (voting closes at noon on Wednesday 26th January).

http://www.nationaltvawards.com/home

More proof that Channel 4 is losing the plot: extending Deal or No Deal to a point where it becomes completely tedious and unwatchable and the total overkill with Come Dine With Me, which can fill entire Sunday afternoons, not to mention the way they overdosed on Big Brother to the point where they killed their biggest show.

No, I genuinely thought AS got 7.5m this time last year but I'm obviously wrong.


Hope it slumps and gets axed. If Noel is out of work, he might then be persuaded to host a live Saturday entertainment show on BBC1 - should the controller of BBC1 want that.

They've got bugger all else...




Just voted for all the BBC shows. Nerrr...

Actually, I didn't - I picked the best in each category. But some pretty bland and dubious nominations in there (comedy - Benidorm?? - shurely shome mishtake?). LOL at the term "serial drama" for the soap operas - are the NTAs the new BAFTAs?

Mind you, ITV certainly adopts some "serial scheduling" of its "serial dramas"...

I do hope BBC1 isn't going to air a repeat of Indiana Jones 4 against the NTAs, just 3 weeks after its premiere to 8m viewers, as speculated on here the other day. We could see the NTAs making the Top 20 of 2011 if they do...

Zen skewed a lot older than I would have though, perhaps it will do better next week by not having Marple against it. I presume Wild At Heart skews a bit younger.

Rzt, do you have any demograhpic breakdowns for The Inbetweeners? I would love to see how many 16-34s it gets.

It came from Sam Hodges, one of the BBC press people on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/Sam_Hodges

I did think of the Rome rating, but I presumed he could be excluding it as it was a co-production with HBO. In any case, the rating is utterly remarkable and it must be a big boost to see that a top notch drama, well scheduled can succeed on BBC Two.

Tenuous link but talking of Rome, any news on when the BBC will screen the final series of The Tudors?


Have to agree with that - and a 3.15pm start for Countdown wouldn't be too bad. 3.10pm just doesn't sound right and makes it appear to be on earlier than it is.

Also agree both Come Dine with Me and Coach Trip especially could sustain a 45-minute slot.


Have to say the slower pacing is really noticeable - an hour is fine for the odd special, but 45-minutes worked well enough for 5 years. The actual running time has gone from 36 minutes to 48 minutes according to 4oD - an increase of a third. If they'd done the (more) sensible thing and just put it in the 4-5pm slot rather than this stupid 3.55pm start time they could have got away with as little as 42 minutes running time, so the extra filler wouldn't be quite so noticeable.

I don't have a demo breakdown for The Inbetweeners as I pretty much just have data from the last few weeks.

But I remember that it said on C4Sales, that The Inbetweeners was getting about 1.3-1.6m 16-34s which is exceptional. Apart from the talent shows, EE, Corrie, Doctor Who, hardly any other programmes do that well in the 16-34s.

Repeats on against the X Factor final, dodgy Christmas scheduling, no promotion for Silent Witness or (as far as I can see) BBC2's The Bear Family And Me (the two opponents for Above Suspicion), Indiana Jones repeated just one month later against the NTA....

Looks like the BBC have decided that ITV1 need all the help they can get if they're not going to have to rely on 2 soaps and 3 reality shows to prop up the channel.

(The BBC also devised another tripey LE show to aid Primeval but so far that plan's not working.)

DOND is on for an hour. From tomorrow Come Dine With Me is down to start at 4.55 (on until 6pm).

I highly doubt Primeval would claim 4m against Holby City. It couldn't even hit 5m versus the rubbish which was The Magicians.


To be fair four of those bring in good ratings to ITV and 71 Degrees North did ok in the Tuesday night slot considering. The Biggest Loser has got tough opposition, but it's got a decent lead in.


Thanks for posting these. Casualty's 16-34 is stronger than I thought it would be. The Cube did well in that demo as well. As someone else has already said - Primeval's is a bit strange; I thought it'd attract the lower range. Do you know Doctor Who's average breakdown of the demos, rzt?


Can we just confirm George Dixon has gone to Channel 4, and not ITV1? Their winter schedulign is bamboozling. I guess they wanted to keep Kidnap and Ransom away from Silent Witness - personally I may have risked it, with The Biggest Loser on Tuesday, Comedy Rocks on Thursday and Taggart on Friday.

So do Doc Martin, Downton Abbey, TV Burp, You've Been Framed, Above Suspicion, Whitechapel, Law and Order (Ok it did struggle a bit last time round), Kidnap and Ransom, Take Me Out, The Cube, Marple, Poirot, Midsomer Murders, Mr and Mrs, Family Fortunes, Benidorm, Foyle's War and Wild at Heart come under soap or reality...?

Ah, there seems to be more than 5 as well there.

I don't think Primeval has ever skewed particularly young, and that breakdown is very evenly spread. From what I gather, Doctor Who skews much younger. Interesting to see that The Cube topped the night with 16-34s, which makes up for its poor overall audience to an extent I guess. I did think it would get 4-5m but it looks like the poor lead-in hurt it and it was dented by Famous and Fearless which is also a physical gameshow and skews young.

ITV1's entertainment shows tend to skew a fair bit younger than BBC1's in general, but in drama it's pretty even and BBC1 does much better with ABC1s. Do you know what the demos were for the Benidorm Xmas Special rzt? Thanks.


Problem with that is that you'd have 2 drama clashes, and Comedy Rocks clashing with BBC1's comedy block which has Come Fly With Me which would dent Comedy Rocks. Also The Biggest Loser would only get 3-3.5m, whereas it stands a decent chance of getting 4-5m on Mondays, and ITV could do with a new midweek entertainment format and seem to have faith in this one. Taggart should get 4m or so with +1 which they'll probably be OK with as they're only paying about £200-300,000 per episode for it as opposed to the £600,000 they used to pay. It'll also have it's run interrupted by the Brits and possibly football, which won't matter so much as they're individual episodes, whereas it would hurt The Biggest Loser more. Kidnap and Ransom seems like something that could get a full series if it does well so keeping it away from Silent Witness seems wise, and comedy vs drama on two nights is better than comedy vs comedy on one night and drama vs drama on another.

On Christmas Day, Doctor Who's age profile was:

Total: 10.29m
C4-15: 1.74m (17%)
A16-34: 2.30m (22%)
A35-44: 1.82m (18%)
A45-54: 1.77m (17%)
A55-64: 1.26m (12%)
A65+: 1.40m (14%)

ABC1: 4.91m (48%)

The regular series skews similar to that too. Incidentally, the average BBC One drama skew according to their statistics is:

C4-15: 6%, A16-34: 16%, A35-44: 15%, A45-54: 16%, A55-64: 19%, A65+: 29%... ABC1: 44%


Total: 5.56m
C4-15: 0.53m (10%)
A16-34: 0.97m (17%)
A35-44: 1.00m (18%)
A45-54: 1.06m (19%)
A55-64: 0.900m (16%)
A65+: 1.09m (20%)

ABC1: 1.88m (34%)

In terms of returning ITV scripted programmes, it's probably their best skewing (%-wise) towards 16-34s.

The problem is they're chucking their schedule about just to fit in with BBC1's approach rather than working off a base they know which works. I remember that Thrillers have always done pretty well on Monday's for ITV1, and crime on Friday. Thursday has, in the past, been their night for light-hearted drama/comedy while Tuesday has been Tripe Night.

Kidnap and Ransom would do more with the Coronation Street lead in, even against Silent Witness in my mind, than The Biggest Loser. Taggart would perform better opposite Hustle than the second part of Silent Witness for me. Comedy Rocks would attract the anti-Little Britain audience on Thursday and I could see it pulling in 4m (I can't see it getting much more than that in it's Friday slot). Yes, The Biggest Loser would flop but, well, something has to have that Tuesday slot and I'd prefer them trying to give the drama and comedy a leg up rather than yet another reality show.

Thanks for both, rzt. Benidorm appeals to the 55+ range more than I thought it would. Doctor Who pretty even across the board, but the 16-34 pull would be attractive to commercial channels. Did Old Who used to pull in younger viewers or was that more for an older audience, do you know?

Thanks rzt. Benidorm does pretty well amongst 16-34s but also seems pretty popular amongst the older demo, although ABC1s aren't it's strong point. Doctor Who does really well in the key demos and has a much better % skew than Primeval, so ITV are probably pretty jealous.

I see where you're coming from but I think it's good to try something different every now and again as it makes things more interesting, and they can't just keep throwing factual stuff in that Tuesday slot as nothing will ever break out there and they can't just let the night remain in the atrocious state it's in forever and putting Taggart there shows they're doing something about it. Crime has worked well on Fridays and Taggart would undoubtedly do better there than it will on Tuesdays but I like that they're giving new stuff a better chance (I think Comedy Rocks would be squashed by CFWM), and whilst The Biggest Loser may be 'another reality show' but it's done well around the world and none of ITV's previous reality efforts have been successful so they could really do with this one working.

It might look like a lot but it's low compared to most other scripted shows on BBC/ITV. Most shows skew 20%+ in 55-64s and 30%+ in 65+, so Benidorm's got quite a young audience compared to the average. Indeed it was the youngest-skewing (%-wise) for any scripted show on ITV last year bar MSO.


Not sure, I thought it has always had a relatively young audience, though I don't have the demo data for years going that far back .

I think if they want a reality show to succeed they should hold it back until the spring and air it post Britain's Got Talent in April. Risky, admittedly, but there'd be less pressure on it to succeed as Britain's Got Talent would've sucked up all the advertising revenue. Plus there'll probably be more of an audience crossover between Britain's Got Talent and The Biggest Loser than Coronation Street and The Biggest Loser! I think The Prisoner may have done slightly better if aired on a Monday night after Coronation Street (though not by much) due to the natural crossover.

As for Tuesday nights, I still don't know why ITV don't move the soaps one final time. The current scheudling for Coronation Street is ridiculous as you get five episodes over three days. I'd be tempted to do something like this:

Emmerdale
Monday: 7.00-7.30
Tuesday: 8.30-9.00
Wednesday: 7.00-7.30
Thursday: 8.30-9.00
Friday: 7.00-8.00

Coronation Street
Monday: 7.30-8.00 and 8.30-9.00
Tuesday: 8.00-8.30
Thursday: 8.00-8.30
Friday: 8.30-9.00

I'd prefer to cut the soaps down to four episodes each but that'll never happen. I think the documentaries that ITV put in the Tuesday 8pm slot at the moment may fare better straight after news/against The One Show for the first half hour on Tuesday's and Thursday's.