Well you can say that, but that's not really the case now is it. In reality ITV2 is only getting close to BB on a couple of nights a week and 99% of the time BB comes out on top.

Sure, Xtra Factor is only a spinoff show but it a spinoff show of the most popular show in the country. So we can make it sound fairly insignificant in comparison to suit a certain argument but it's not, it is quite a big show for the channel it's on. And especially on nights like last night where there was a big twist, it was inevitable that some of the 11m or so that were watching the main show would want a bit more.

Future weeks will give us a better idea when there's a less shocking result. My suspicion is that Xtra Factor will drop to around 0.8-0.9m whilst BB will remain steady at around 1.3-1.4m. Unless they are going to try and make it as controversial as possible every week like last year again (yawn!).

In comparison Big Brother is going about its business quite quietly and entertaining its loyal audience of around 1.3 million every single night with considerable less fuss. I don't deny its ratings are below where they should be, but it's got a decent enough base there and I strongly feel they can build on these numbers.

I certainly don't think Xtra Factor is in a position to poke fun at BB's ratings as it was apparently doing the other night. According to the officials it's only roughly matching where it was last year despite Konnie Huq being highly criticised as presenter. Last night's show is up YoY though.

True, but it's kind of enforced due to MOTD being back this week. There isn't time to air a full schedule including a full length lotto gameshow without starting SCD at 5.40pm. So they've dropped the lotto down to 10 minutes. But the loss of 40 minutes from that would then make MOTD too early. So they've just moved everything forward a bit, and also ensured that struggling Casualty at least gets a Merlin lead-in and viewers don't switch to TXF when the lotto comes on.

Spin offs always have a sarcastic edge to them; the dig was light-hearted and sarcastic. Considering Big Brother's meant to be the next big thing for Channel 5 the fact that ITV2 gets close to it on ANY night of the week should be a cause for concern.

As for The X Factor - I hope they go down the calm route for the series rather than twist every week but I won't hold my breath on that.

Sounds promising - but Christmas one-off comedy-dramas can go either way.

I note the press release refers to Keith Barron as a star of Benidorm. I think they mean Duty Free - the superior, and funnier, show from which Benidorm takes its inspiration...

5.55 Strictly Come Dancing
7.45 Merlin
8.30 National Lottery
9.20 Casualty
10.10 BBC News
10.30 Match of the Day

Here's a look at how the four main broadcasters did in the BARB Monthly Shares for September 2011:

BBC
BBC1: 19.6% (September 2010: 20.3%), BBC2: 6.1% (6.5%), BBC3: 1.4% (1.4%), BBC4: 0.7% (0.6%), BBC HD: 0.2% (0.2%), BBC News: 1.0% (0.9%), CBBC: 0.8% (0.8%), CBeebies: 1.3% (1.2%)
--> Total: 31.1% (September 2010: 31.9%)

ITV
ITV1: 16.9% (17.1%), ITV1+1: 0.7% (n/a), ITV2: 3.1% (2.6%), ITV3: 2.1% (2.0%), ITV4: 1.0% (1.0%), CITV: 0.3% (0.3%)
--> Total: 24.1% (September 2010: 23.0%)

Channel 4
C4: 6.8% (7.3%), E4: 1.8% (1.9%), Film4: 1.7% (1.3%), More4: 1.1% (1.0%), 4Music: 0.3% (0.3%)
--> Total: 11.7% (September 2010: 11.8%)

Channel 5
C5: 4.6% (4.7%), 5*: 0.6% (0.6%), 5USA: 1.0% (0.9%)
--> Total: 6.2% (September 2010: 6.2%)

ITV (+5%) was the only broadcaster up in market share y-o-y, whilst Channel 5 was level, and BBC (-3%) and Channel 4 (-1%) were down vs. last September. In terms of the terrestrial channels: BBC1 (-3%), BBC2 (-6%), ITV1 (-1%), C4 (-7%), C5 (-2%) were all down year-on-year. I would say a bit concerning though for ITV1 that they weren't up y-o-y even with the RWC.

The BBC's most improved channel was BBC4 (+16%) while BBC2 shed the most viewers vs. last year. ITV2 experienced a strong gain of +19% to post its best ever monthly share. E4 experienced a slip of -5% but Film4 had a very strong month with its audience up a massive +31% y-o-y. Despite the introduction of BB and its spin-off, C5 and 5* were stable or slightly down vs. last year but 5USA rose +11%.
------------------------------------------
And here's a look at how the broadcasters have averaged for the first 9 months of 2011 (January to September) vs. the first 9 months of 2010:

BBC: 33.0% (Jan-Sep 2010: 32.8%)
ITV: 22.7% (22.4%)
CH4: 11.7% (11.6%)
CH5: 6.0% (6.0%)

So for the first 9 months of the year, all four major broadcasters are either flat or up slightly vs. last year: BBC (+0.6%), ITV (+1.3%), CH4 (+0.9%), CH5 (+0.3%).

The suggestion that The X Factor is being dragged down by its lead-in seems absurd to me. Of all the excuses you can make for the drop a poor lead-in isn't one of them. I think you also have to remember that this is down on 2009 as well so its not just a simple case of the 2010 series being an artificial high it can't possibly hope to match. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be able to match the 2009 series at this stage.

And the fact is at the stage it is still beating 2009.

There's been some wailing from the TXF fanboys about the Mail's reporting of the show - and fair enough, when they comment on "a massive drop of 800,000 viewers!" - but I think Strictly gets a raw deal too in the piece I've seen on their website.

It reports the (peak) TXF audience of 12.7m - and then says SCD was "nowhere near" with 8.6m (which of course, was the average). In fact, it was close by recent seasons' standards at 8.7m vs 10.4m in terms of overnights. And of course, it lead by nearly a million when head to head.

So it's not just TXF/ITV getting a bad write up. No wonder Bruce feels the need to dish out ratings sheets at press launches...

A great result for Strictly last night - I was surprised to see it up year-on-year. And I'm always surprised that a recorded results show where the contestants don't even dance can pull in better numbers than Saturday. TXF did fine - I'm sure ITV had braced themselves for a much sharper potential fall with the new panel before the series, so in that context they'll be more than pleased.

Downton obviously continued it's excellent form, though the rest of the ITV schedule looked poor. Holding Out For A Hero is a complete flop, and I've no idea what has happened to That Sunday Night Show this series. It should be doing just fine with a 9m Downton lead-in. And I think TV Burp now gives off the impression of a great show looking for a safe place to land.

Great for Countryfile, which never seems to be hurt by an earlier start - indeed it positively prospers in the 6pm hour. And AR and Spooks offer a reliable counter to ITV's big duo.


Not a vintage month for either of the BBC's two terrestrials, really. Difficult to pin point whats behind either fall, though I suppose BBC One's 9pm line-up has been rather lacklustre this month: Spooks is doing a solid job in a hard slot, but WDYTYA is down, The Body Farm has been fairly anonymous and Outnumbered struggled for momentum. Or perhaps it's something a bit less obvious.

Incidentally, what sort of overall % bump would we expect for BBC One when children's programmes are annexed to CBBC? It's 10 hours a week and at present rating supremely low, so probably be quite noticeable, I presume?

Who predicted its "demise"?


Those are the figures that need reinforcing. No spin just cold hard facts.


Its not childish or pathetic to want a fair measure of performance. 6-7pm brings big ratings for BBC1, yet those are totally ignored when compared to ITV1's performance. Ofcom uses the 6pm hour when discussing primetime so I dont see why it is ignored.


Your right, there is no crisis. However, its down a fair bit y-o-y and struggling to stay above 2009 levels. No other show gets this amount of hysteria and defence of it's ratings. Ratings are down, that is a fact. Everyone show has its own relevant ratings. If Eastenders got 7m a night, people would say how that was a poor figure not that it was easily the most watched show on BBC1/the night.

I'm sure Glenn said it would have about a 20% drop and be off air by 2013. and i think some people on the X Factor fourm said this will be the least watched series ever. It's not even struggling to stay above 2009 is 11.1 v 10.6 a struggle. Anyway i'm sure it will beat some of the 2009 ratings like the 10.34 it had on show 4

The official Channel 5 explanation on what's happened to Law & Order SVU and Law & Order CI, both of which have been pulled from the schedule as of this week:


Source: Channel 5 website.

In the case of SVU, I think they are partly guilty themselves due to the increasingly later timeslots. I'm glad they kind of acknowledged that in their response (i.e. it performed well at the start when it was on at a reasonable time). But it seems a bit pointless to pull it now with only 4 episodes left, they should have recognised this wasn't working much sooner.

CI though got a lot of promotion and wasn't cutting the mustard at 9pm, so it was the right decision.

I wonder where they planned to air Paul Merton before CI flopped? I guess maybe on Mondays once The Hotel Inspector had finished?

Strictly did well. I've never watched it personally but I can see its appeal.

Haven't seen any of XF this year. May tune in as the live shows progress but there are too many contestants by the looks of it and I've just watched some of the performances on YouTube, saves all the ludicrous padding and adverts.

I was interested to see the post someone did about Doctor Who's official averages. Should shut up all the losers who say the show is doomed under Moffat/without Tennant. For it to remain so strong year on year with very little decline is testament to it. I think it's a brilliant show. Merlin is doing nicely too, though I always confuse it with Robin Hood (is that still going?)

I have to say there is a lot of doom mongering where ratings for popular shows are concerned. So far we've seen Doctor Who, Coronation Street back in June and now The X Factor come under the microscope and be rubbished for figures that are still some of the best on TV. Anything for a story, I suppose. Generally TV figures are slowly declining so the sort of monstrous growth X Factor kept seeing was always going to end. I think it's still performing very well.

Surprised to see That Sunday Night show basically flopping despite doing well for its first series with the same lead-in. Also - slightly old news but really pleased to see An Idiot Abroad doing so well - it's a great show.

Dr Who?

If that were true, Big Brother would be put on hiatus as these shows were rating just fine til it came along.

Excellent for the F1, to get 2 million at 6am. It was a very good race as well, mind you.

Spooks rising slightly, XF doing very well for the results but I suspect it would have been quite a bit more had there been a public vote this week.

The Holding Out for a Hero lead-in is sensationally poor, really. 2.8 million is nowhere near an ideal lead-in for XF; at least last year we had The Cube getting a stable 5 million audience.

Downton Abbey stabilising at a 9 million mark, and brilliant for SCD which should top 10 million in the officials and Countryfile as well which could be pushing 8 million in the officials.

I'd say it was a pretty good night for BBC and ITV overall. As regards to Spooks, it's a shame that its final series is being wasted against such a big hitter in the form of Downton Abbey - I honestly think a Monday or a Thursday slot might have suited Spooks better and less competition as well.

Good stuff for C4 for the Transformers film. As regards to BBC2, when is the new Top Gear returning because the Sunday ratings look quite low and probably needs something to prop the schedule up.

Just a note on That Sunday Night Show - quite a sizeable drop but wasn't it getting 3 million earlier in the year and did it not have Dancing On Ice as a lead-in? Maybe the younger audience with DOI decided to stick with That Sunday Night Show but the older audience in Downton Abbey didn't want to stick for that show...

Just read the Waily Fail's article about the X Factor ratings. My favourite part is the description of a drop from 13.5m to 12.7m as "massive".

Ridiculous use of Strictly's figures too, downplaying its success last night.

The Daily Mail seems to exist solely to cause trouble and stir things; I think it's the absolute lowest of the low where papers are concerned. I wouldn't wipe my arse with it.

Apologies, I've been busy with various things. As it happens I forgot that BARB don't create network break averages for ITV1 as spots aren't sold on a network basis (otherwise it gets a bit complicated in matching up the spot times). However, to give you a rough idea of the impact of the breaks, here are the minute by minute Live, Live + VOSDAL (Overnights) and Consolidated XF audiences (000s) for 10th September. Apologies for formatting, not sure how to make it look pretty? (ITV1, HD Not included)

Time Live Live + V Cons % TSV
20:15 6838 7613 8207 16.7%
20:16 7115 8111 8856 19.7%
20:17 7249 8442 9217 21.4%
20:18 7344 8624 9467 22.4%
20:19 7484 8899 9825 23.8%
20:20 7706 9244 10212 24.5%
20:21 7890 9529 10511 24.9%
20:22 7950 9614 10594 25.0%
20:23 7980 9642 10589 24.6%
20:24 7981 9644 10589 24.6%
20:25 8118 9767 10654 23.8%
20:26 8135 9644 10505 22.6%
20:27 7504 7957 8253 9.1%
20:28 7337 7616 7825 6.2%
20:29 7469 7735 7934 5.9%
20:30 7607 7961 8195 7.2%
20:31 7854 9281 10022 21.6%
20:32 8017 9682 10608 24.4%
20:33 8170 9915 10802 24.4%
20:34 8206 10006 10881 24.6%
20:35 8226 10060 10968 25.0%
20:36 8273 10198 11107 25.5%
20:37 8313 10301 11253 26.1%
20:38 8335 10342 11295 26.2%
20:39 8355 10331 11241 25.7%
20:40 8444 10388 11222 24.8%
20:41 8331 10138 10920 23.7%
20:42 7959 8864 9191 13.4%
20:43 7675 8054 8204 6.4%
20:44 7629 7915 8018 4.9%
20:45 7963 8215 8383 5.0%
20:46 8094 8717 9127 11.3%
20:47 8189 9973 10881 24.7%
20:48 8288 10087 11000 24.7%
20:49 8510 10324 11208 24.1%
20:50 8835 10709 11594 23.8%
20:51 8947 10829 11708 23.6%
20:52 9069 10996 11861 23.5%
20:53 9122 10980 11867 23.1%
20:54 9207 11022 11857 22.3%
20:55 9222 11075 11935 22.7%
20:56 9280 11086 11917 22.1%
20:57 9248 11049 11848 21.9%
20:58 9217 10671 11327 18.6%
20:59 8752 9492 9699 9.8%
21:00 8584 9096 9230 7.0%
21:01 8467 8898 9010 6.0%
21:02 8613 9105 9218 6.6%
21:03 8684 9154 9294 6.6%
21:04 8769 9841 10382 15.5%
21:05 8988 10615 11482 21.7%
21:06 9123 10904 11777 22.5%
21:07 9188 10980 12008 23.5%
21:08 9200 11001 12008 23.4%
21:09 9250 11101 12074 23.4%
21:10 9373 11140 12060 22.3%
21:11 9458 11153 12031 21.4%
21:12 9492 11169 11937 20.5%
21:13 9415 10998 11703 19.6%
21:14 8960 10115 10494 14.6%


Clearly, you can see where the commercial breaks are and how when time-shifted there is less of an increment (but importantly still a sizeable increase!). In terms of the impact of how Overnights are interpreted (including commercials) by some, if you crudely (I haven't looked at the actual programme/commercial times) remove these minutes from the Live+VOSDAL figures and create two averages you can see that ave audience increases from 9.8m to 10.1m simply by removing the commercial minutes (as is the case with consolidated audiences). Clearly, this will change from programme to programme dependent on the number of commercials etc etc

Using the code function helps.

EDIT - on that particular day:

- 8.38m watched it live
- 9.78m watched it by 2am
- 10.47m watched it within 7 days

I'd love to see one of them for Saturday's episode or something for Strictly and X Factor on the overlap....

I think a few points do have to be made in regards to this post.

Firstly, Big Brother is supposed to be doing HUGE business for Channel 5. Extra Factor isn't. I would say Channel 5 would be pretty threatened that a multichannel show is very, very close to be beating it an perhaps did considering it didn't include + 1.

Secondly, Channel 5 is flat as a channel compared to September 2010. That's not a good sign considering this is supposed to be it's most important month with the likes of Big Brother and Hotel Inspector.

Thanks trickytree1979, very interesting numbers. It looks like about 1.5m of The X Factor's overnight viewers for that episode didn't watch it 'live' but later on in the same day, about 15% of the overnight audience. I wonder if c15% is normal for most non-factual primetime shows or if that's relatively high? I would imagine something like Doctor Who would have more than 15% watching later on in the same day but what about something like EastEnders or Corrie.

On another note, I think those numbers sort of show us how "aggregated" (a term which has been used to criticise adding +1 figures) overnights are already, with quite a big chunk of the overnights not being just 'live' viewers but SD too. IMO if it's okay for ~1.5m to be added to the live audience through SD figures, I don't see the harm in adding c0.5m with the +1 audiences which is effectively the same sort of thing- people watching later in the same day.

Also, it shows us that if two shows in the same timeslot get something like 1.2m and 1.3m, such as Xtra Factor and Big Brother example yesterday, it's difficult to say for sure which one actually won the direct "head to head". Even with two shows getting 4.5m and 5.0m, you can't say for sure that the 5.0m show won head-to-head, though it's fair to say it's "more popular".

And it already has with Celebrity Big Brother. I'm not going to go over old ground with why I think Big Brother is rating on the low side, as I think the likely reasons have been well documented now, but I don't really see it as a big problem at this stage. With ratings now stabilised at an unimpressive but not disastrous level, its renewal fate will likely be sealed based on how it performs in 2012.


The Hotel Inspector wasn't even broadcast in September, so has nothing to do with Channel 5's average share for that month. Although to only be flat YoY is disappointing with the arrival of their big new show for the season, it should also be pointed out that up until August they had been running down YoY. So in that context to be back to where they were last year is an improvement. I think there are other reasons why the share is not higher such as less attractive Europa League fixtures - the absence of Liverpool has hurt it.

It also shows how little relevance there is to people arguing Strictly starts too early and thus gets lower ratings than it would if it started at the time The X Factor does. With the ability to record and watch later in the evening, that arguement is increasingly weak.

I'm not sure that was the outcome Channel 5 were hoping when they brought Big Brother... It was supposed to spark an brand new era for the channel and it's fell flat really.