http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popstar...Rivals#Ratings

7.11m series average. Not that good for the times back then, I don't think.

I do think ITV1's Sunday schedule this year is much better than last. Should be capable of ~4.5m throughout primetime which would be good. No one has commented on Scott & Bailey after last week, I wonder how that will do tonight. Surely 6m after last week's start?

I don't think that would be too much of a problem as DOI airs on Sundays only and I think could run alongside The Voice without being dented as the two are just about different enough. I suspect ITV would want it for the Summer though.


I think TMO suffered from the Primeval lead in rather than was boosted by PTB as Primeval basically sapped all momentum from the evening and the small audience that it did get was different to ITV's usual audience. Even if they'd have ran an entertainment show getting a similar total audience to Primeval I think TMO would have done better as it would have drawn in a more typical ITV entertainment audience like PTB did.

I agree about The Voice, I can't see it and DOI running at the same time being a problem.

What an incredible flop its been. I mean, some were sceptical about its return but I don't think anyone expected it to fall so far from a frankly limp performance in 2010. The drop must surely teach the BBC to lay off the talent shows at this time of year. Running alongside Doctor Who and opposite BGT has killed two in two years now. Quit it! They have a massive open goal in January and February but insist on sticking to Total Wipeout and In It To Win It.



Not surprised to see ITV interested. I've been rather sceptical about the BBC stories anyway - it does seem like the production company is doing a whole lot of stirring. I imagine we'll find that Fincham will have deeper pockets than Cohen in this case. The Voice would be a hard sell on the BBC anyway.

I do have to laugh at Channel 4's attitude though. Too derivative? Have they seen the state of their own schedule? At least The Voice is ambitious, which is a damn sight more than can be said for C4's lifestyle rip-offs.

I suppose there's no major issue - just seems like a lot of talent shows for one weekend! The stripped live shows could be a good idea for its first series.

Excellent figure for the extended HIGNFY repeat on BBC2. Helped to dent BBC1 even further after 9pm.



Your a bit late with that comment, The Royal Wedding was on over a month ago now.

I think that rule was dropped a couple of years back - ITV certainly had a phase where the early news was around 4.30pm and the late at 11.45pm for a number of weeks.


I suspect ITV's main motivation is to raise the price the BBC would pay, hoping to dispell their interest. However, if ITV did get it I would suggest airing it on Wednesday nights rather than at the weekend once the football is out of the way - though that would probably put it's debut back to 2013. ITV need to shake up their schedules a bit once the football moves and bringing some weekend magic to midweek would be a bold but brilliant move IMO.

The other option I guess is they could lease the format rights and incorporate it into The X Factor, using the Blind Auditions and Battle idea to get down to the final 12, then proceeding as usual.


Sounds like a story cooked up in an attempt to boost newspaper sales to me.


Exactly. I probably say this every year but I hope they've learned this year they need as much talent as possible through to the semi-finals, not acts who obviously have no chance but are put through for "entertainment" factors. Indeed I wonder if Simon hadn't been returning if the likes of Popeye and the Entertainanator would have made it as I suspect they were put through with one eye on getting a rise out of Simon.

BTW, the voting breakdown for anyone who is interested: http://talent.itv.com/2011/news/arti...tem_100974.htm


I do think though they need to make a change to the final to get the most out of it. Although we'd all prefer the semi-finals as one show, I don't think we can deny the benefits to Corrie far outweigh the cons to BGT, so I doubt that structure will change next year.

With the final though I think they need to do one of two things to boost it. Either move it to Sunday, giving the Friday night acts and extra day to prepare and the press and extra day to build up to it.

Or have it on Saturday and Sunday. I think they could easily make the Saturday show the two hour performance show for the Top Ten, and then on Sunday reveal the top three, have them reprise an earlier performance and then fill the show with more guest acts. I do think the show could sustain that and I think the ratings would be up - plus ITV get an extra night out of it anyway, so they wouldn't be too bothered if there was a slight drop.

Excellent for BGT, 5 years on and still ratings gold. Looking good up to 2013 and potentially beyond at that level.

Next weeks SYTYCD finale must be the least anticipated since Celebrity Love Island.

BGT did well last night, those 5/6million viewers that skipped operastar whilst waiting for the result must have been channel hopping like mad. ITV had little competition really, but a decent audience share nonetheless.

What I commend the BBC for is the fact they run the regular schedule in the face of such opposition. Personally I would have brought in a decent film at 9.00 to run to 10.45. Not bad figures for the England match, those 2 early goals made it an uphill task - possibly caused some viewers to turn off early and do something else.

Operastar may get 5 million tonight - some of the guests seem quite likeable - it is up against AR which ought win the slot. At 9pm Case Histories to beat Scott & Bailey, can see the former having a good opening episode and the latter dropping somewhat - also many could switch to +1 to catch Scott & Bailey at 10pm.

I love how people keep wheeling out that excuse, it's a typical "Fan Excuse Bingo" comment.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...go-card/87187/

It hasn't been that good weather every Saturday evening, even last night was overcast with drizzle where i am (i know where i am isn't representative of the rest of the country, but it was hardly a scorcher everywhere yesterday). And besides, surely the fans of the show will watch it whenever it is on anyway, rain or shine, so i can't see the weather affecting the ratings as much as people seem to be implying here.

I don't know about the rest of you, but if there's a show on that i want to watch, one i consider myself a fan of, i'll watch it live (providing it doesn't have adverts) even if it's the hottest day of the year outside, and I imagine that the majority of DW fans are the same.

We are stunned BGT heldup so well.Had to be the weakest Live Semi week ever.

For Cowell to even say 'I just wanted to die last night'
I can see a bloodbath on the panel.Holden and the Hoff I think are toast.

I think The Hoff may survive. Had Simon not been there, I think he'd have been far more comfortable on the live shows. The panel actually worked well over the series, IMO. I don't think it was the problem.

I think it's behind the scenes that needs some work. Obviously there were some changes in the production team this year but I've felt the semi-finals have struggled for the past couple of years, tbh. Even the year with SuBo wasn't actually that great.

IMO, a lot of it comes down to the current format being used for the semi-finals. But given advertising regulations, a strong performance through the week and the boost it gives to Corrie, I'm not sure ITV will change it.

I think The Hoff was a bit uncomfortable on the first live show but other than that I've really liked him on both the live shows and at the auditions. I think it was a good move to have him sitting at the other end of the panel for the live shows as it meant the 2 harsher judges anchored the panel with the softer judges in the middle. McIntyre has been brilliant has had received the credit for being so, but I don't think The Hoff has received enough credit for his role this year, and I think he's done well. I think both new judges will be back next year, and Cowell seems happy with them. I'm not too sure about Amanda but I've liked her much more this year than I have for a few years now so I'd quite like her to stay, but I think if any of the judges leave it'll be her. Not sure about a replacement though, and her and McIntyre in particular work well together so I don't see much point in getting rid of her.

I'm not sure if Cowell will appear on it again next year. He's been quite good this week but I don't think he's particularly needed and it would have been fine without him. I guess it depends how XFUS does, as I guess this week was him keeping a UK TV profile just in case it bombs in the Fall. If he does come back it'll probably just be for the live shows again.

I do think an expanded show shown twice-weekly (Saturdays and Sundays) over a longer period would work better but ratings-wise this week has worked well so I doubt they'll change anything. Having a day off between the last semi and the final would really help improve the quality of the final though as the acts would have more time to prepare, as acts like Razi suffered from having very little time last night, and I think the final was a bit flat as a result.

I guess you havent seen the huge timeshift and iPlayer figures for this series then.

Absolutely agree on both counts. Simon did indicate last night on More Talent all three judges would be back, but we all know the value of Simons word. It would be for the best for them all to return, and then just have three for the live shows as I do think Simon returning has hampered both McIntyre and the Hoff on the live shows. It is interesting too the acts haven't particularly hung on every word Simon said - many were more interested in how the judges who said no first time around reacted to them.

I agree only Amanda might move on - she has said five years is a good run and her role in Shrek may give her the incentive to put her own acting career ahead of BGT, but I do think ultimately she will return.

BBC1 and ITV1 Demographic Information for Friday 27th May to Friday 3rd June: http://i54.tinypic.com/2qa0iv7.jpg

I'll post last night's demos tomorrow. If you have any specific requests from last week, let me know and I'll try to post them.

any chance of getting the Tour Series: Peterborough on ITV 4?

Game of Thrones on Atlantic, would be interesting to see. Also the demos for Sky Sports coverage of the Champions League Final, to compare with ITV's.

All the dramas are roughly 2:1 in favour of female viewers.

Only exception, Doctor Who, but still more females than males.

Do any dramas skew the other way?

Scott and Bailey's demo's were pretty awful even with nearly 8m watching.

Having checked the dates next year for BGT:

7th May to 12th May --> yes, has FA Cup Final as lead-in
14th May to 19th May --> no, Champions League Final
21st May to 26th May --> no, Eurovision
28th May to 2nd June --> no, Final will be on Jubilee Weekend
4th June to 9th June --> no, Euro 2012

Starts on a Bank Holiday, and will finish on Saturday 12th May. So, in case you're wondering why ITV wanted The FA Cup Final time moved to 5:15pm, there's your reason.

However, I don't think it will mean it will start earlier, instead it means that it will be on Saturday and Sundays. I suspect the scheduling will be:

Audition 1 - Saturday 20th April
Audition 2 - Sunday 21st April
Audition 3 - Saturday 27th April
Audition 4 - Sunday 28th April
Audition 5 - Saturday 5th May
Audition 6 - Sunday 6th May (90 minutes)

Okay, one less audition show than this year, but it simply means that all the shows will have to be stronger than this year. No problem, that. For Audition 2 and 4, I'd have:

19:30 - BGT
20:30 to 22:30 - Lewis/Vera

With Audition 6 being:

20:00 - BGT
21:30 - new drama (1/6)

Saturday's auditions can be on from 19:30 to 20:30 just so there can be some kind of sync to them. It also gives them an opportunity to put something like Take Me Out on at 20:30 so it gets a boost. (just don't waste the lead-in on Piers again please....)

As for the weekdays. Hmmm. Let's do something radical. Instead of 40 acts go through, only put 30 through. With six each night. Two go through to the final. Sounds good to me:

Monday thru Friday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:00 - Britain's Got Talent
21:30 - new drama (2/6)
22:30 - ITV News
23:05 - Coronation Street (R)

Saturday
15:30 - The FA Cup Final (kick off 17:15)
19:30 - Britain's Got Talent Final
21:00 - New: The Voice
22:00 - Britain's Got Talent Final Results
22:30 - The Voice Uncut
23:00 - ITV News
23:15 - FA Cup Highlights

The only thing good about the current schedule is that two new shows got a boost. Do not:

a) give Piers Morgan a Britain's Got Talent lead-in again
b) give a 50 year old soap a lead-in

Do:

a) give new shows a lead-in
b) give shows 'needing a boost' a lead-in

Corrie may, in some eyes 'needing a boost'. However, telling their production team to wrap key storylines up by a set date is unnecessary. (and I'm only saying the last bit because of the poor quality of the ending to the week)

It did well with ABC1s but it did skew very old.

Thanks for these rzt. Interesting to see BGT Results skewed slightly older than the performances, which is down to it starting at 9:30pm after Corrie. They still skewed younger and slightly more ABC1 than Corrie though (although it was dented by TA on Wednesday obviously).

Considering Camelot begins on Saturday have C4 advertised it at all yet?

Yeah, those are terrible demo results for Scott & Bailey. Less 16-34 viewers than the HIGNFY which faced Corrie.

ITV1 skews seriously old on Sunday nights though so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised.

Here's those demos: http://i55.tinypic.com/m7alag.jpg

Derek, I don't get Sky Atlantic data so couldn't get the Game of Thrones info.


Depends if you put it into context or not: for a BBC1/ITV1 prime-time detective/crime drama, it's not an awful skew: Vera, for e.g., had a 7% 16-34 skew the previous week, Exile a few weeks ago had a 9% 16-34 skew, Silk had ~8% 16-34s so it's similar. Shows of this type nearly always skew with a relatively old audience (although this skewed slightly older) but it's the ABC1 demo which is the key as that's what advertisers will be targetting for this sort of drama - a 47% skew and 3.6m ABC1s for the show is high compared to most ITV dramas.

Yes, I'm delighted that 5/6 million viewers know how to use a remote. A bit concerned for the similar number that apparently don't, and watched a 30 minute preview show in the gap.

And the award for "wasted opportunity of the year" goes to... ITV1! A 5 minute preview I could forgive, but not half an hour. Absolutely not.

Very curious to see the actual Popstar / Operstar ratings now to see if it was at all worth it. I'm thinking not, but we'll see...

BBC Two and Channel 4 held up well last night. Poor for BBC One and Channel 5.