I agree.. however..


I doesn't 'wow' in the overnights anymore, it doesn't need to. The programme 'wows' when the consolidated figures are released. "The most recorded programme EVER in the UK" clearly indicates that it is still must see tv for the majority of it's core audience.

Doctor Who (along with Top Gear for example) has a large young 'tech savvy' audience and both have seen a significant drop in overnights during the last 18 months. However, the weekly reach figures have indicated that the viewers aren't tuning out, just merely seeking the programme at their own convenience via the various new platforms. Viewing habits have/and will continue to change over the coming years but it is important not to forget that habits do vary quite considerably from show to show. Take a look at Antiques Roadshow, not exactly must see tv but yet the majority of it's older and 'less tech savvy' viewers still watch it live. Very little uplift from the initial overnight.

ive said this recently, this thread, the BBC and the rest of the TV industry, need to get over the love of overnights, when they simply are not reflective of how much a TV show is watched anymore.

Sure it would be nice if we could make a calcuation that tells us shows add (for example) 15% to overnights for a more reflective figure, but that simply isnt the case, each show timeshifts differntly, for differnt reasons.

The Mail wouldn't want open warfare with Des as presumably it'd lead to a load of articles in the Express pointing out Mail proprietor Viscount Rothermere has an illegitimate child in New Zealand he refuses to acknowledge, and of course that he doesn't pay UK tax. This would upset Viscount Rothermere's wife.

Let he who is without sin.... etc. etc. etc.

I suppose it can't compete with Celebrity Big Brother's 18 million.

I think there's a lot of truth in this. I suppose as Jake Lyle said, the comparisons with 2007 aren't quite so damning, but there did seem to be a bit of momentum with Athletics in the past couple of years. Both the Worlds in 2009, and then the Europeans in 2010 did rather good business for BBC Two (albeit in primetime slots) - pulling 2-4m averages for the whole sessions and a few 5m peaks for the big races and British medals. The UK trials on BBC One last month probably pulled better figures than yesterdays live coverage...

To be honest, on a broader note, I don't see what Channel 4 are gaining out of this. The coverage is standard and mostly of a reasonable quality - but it's not really innovative or experimental and I've not seen the channel making any other use of the property. It just seems a bit random and, frankly, a bit pointless.

I've a feeling the IAAF didn't really think it through very extensively, either. The initial Press Release made me cringe when the President pointed out Channel 4's 16-34 skew as a big factor. Typical sports administration: "Oh yes, lets put it on a 'youth' channel then it'll be popular with the kids." Um, no. It won't. They're better off trying to get the broadest exposure they can and experience says thats on the BBC.

Yeah, Steven Moffat has repeatedly stated that every episode of Dr Who still gets over 10 million total when everything is added together, and there's no reason to think he's wrong.

Good point about Top Gear which also has shown similar movements. Also the argument that Matt is less popular than David Tennant is pretty stupid too, David's last Chistmas Day episode [part 1 of a 2 parter] got 10.4m in the overnights and Matts first Christmas episode in the exact same slot got 10m even though according to some his first series was 'too complicated' and drove casual viewers away.

I agree it's unfair because despite it having shows I wouldn't watch, there are shows I do watch, it's the same for every channel. Channel 4 shows freakshow programmes like Seven Draves, BFGW and Embarrassing Comedies and docusoaps like OBEM and 24HIA&E but they also have stuff like Channel 4 News, one-off dramas like The Promise and Any Human Heart.

I think Big Brother will lead onto better things, the fact they're talking about panel shows and in the long run comedy after Big Brother, that wouldn't have happens 9 months ago!


My guess is that Channel 4 wanted more sport given that they really have horse racing and I imagine they've seen how successful Channel 5 have been with the cricket and wanted to emulate that but athletics isn't as popular as cricket and most people only watch during the Olympics or The Commonwealth Games.

He is guilty of spinning the figures slightly, but yeah. Series 6 is averaging between 9-10m unique viewers each week. Pretty much in line with the previous 5 years.

Interestingly, a timeshift of 1.8m for Doctor Who (a realistic possibility) would match the 8th episode figure from Series 1, back in 2005.

TXF is populist 'crap' that makes a bundle for ITV & Syco, I was in a relatives house today and it was on the itv2 rerun, it was cringeworthy - but I knew 10.1m had tuned in last night. I don't know how many think, actually it is so bad it is good. You can't deny it is the #1 show - but that fact is not something I would be proud to boast to someone not from the UK.

Dr Who = classic science fiction
TXF = classic Syco fiction (when it comes to transparency about auditions and judges remarks.)

Discussion at the Edinburgh Television Festival on how the internet has affected television...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14702285

That ties in with the launch of BBC HD in 2006. Initially is was available only via pay with a PVR as standard issue.

The BBC blogs and media forums were full of 'When is xxx going to be in HD?'.

Top Gear, Doctor Who and F1 were by far the most popular requests.

Top Gear and Doctor Who's vastly higher than average HD shares and timeshift uplift on BBC HD demonstrate this.

Good rating for DW and the rest of the schedule held up as well as expected.

Strong retention for XF and I enjoyed the panel more this week as they settled in. The auditions are some of the best I can remember in recent years too which is always great. Much better than the awful auditions of BGT this year and it was the judges which saved the show.

The XF lead in doesn't seem to be doing much so far. Both WWTBAM and Will Young would probably have got similar ratings without an XF lead in which is bizarre What is good though is how well ASFF held up against DW. I thought it would be quite a bit lower. Bodes well for ROB next week too against DW, especially considering it has half an hour after not against it.

CBB now seems to be on the level everyone expected it to be at. I agree though that the Saturday highlights needed to be dropped during normal BB and Sunday extended to 90 minutes, because the US crime dramas can perform alright on their own on Saturdays.

-----

Btw is there a figure about for The Gadget Show on Friday? Sorry if I've missed it somewhere.

Here you are:


Very poor rating in all honesty for it.

Channel 5 yesterday:

12:00 Celebrity Big Brother (rpt): 0.40m (4.0%)
13:00 The Bachelor (rpt): 0.26m (2.0%)
14:00 The Bounty Hunter: 0.49m (4.1%)
15:35 Riders of Vengeance: 0.78m (6.1%)
17:05 5 News Weekend with Julian Druker: 0.86m (5.8%)
17:10 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle: 0.96m (5.6%)
19:10 The Da Vinci Code: 2.24m (10.2%)
*5 minute peak: 2.65m (12.5%).
*16-34 demo: 506,000 (12.8%).
22:00 Celebrity Big Brother: 2.08m (10.3%)
*5 minute peak: 2.39m (11.5%).
*16-34 demo: 662,000 (16.6%).
23:00 Extraordinary People (rpt): 0.54m (4.4%)

Good primetime for Channel 5 with 10% share, am surprised Big Brother did not beat Da Vinci Code though.

It did. In terms of audience share.

No doubt CBB would have been even higher if it wasn't for MOTD.

Another brilliant night for Channel 5. Also note the 400k that caught up on Saturday's show during Sunday lunchtime.

Excellent ratings for Channel 5 last night. Wasn't expecting the Da Vinci Code to do as well as it did!

I thought it would do well, but not THAT well. It basically rated the same as last year's screening, when it drew 2.21m (11.9%) on October 10th in a later 9pm timeslot. (hence the higher share)

BBC News piece on the return of Ab Fab - it's a 3 part special, not a one off, and "later this year". So not necessarily at Christmas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14700772

The final part is set at the Olympics, but I would assume is still set to air "later this year" with the other two.

Are there any non-Channel Five ratings yet?

Great night for Five last night.

Or in your case, perhaps there might be some more sub-Channel Five ratings...

I thought it was down something like -15% year on year. Makes Daybreak's y-o-y decline seem good eh?