The serial killer in question first killed someone on Christmas Eve, then the plot died down and came back to the forefront around Easter, then died down, and has been quite prominent recently. I don't think it's been dragged out, it's been quite well written to be honest.

George, you've excelled yourself! Not manufactured hype my.arse.

I've been flicking through the Daily Mail commemorative supplements for the past 3 Saturdays and wondering where all this series 2 footage, insight and photos came from if it wasnt provided by ITV.....

It's like.saying the 8 page Sunday.tabloid TXF pullouts aren't in any way generated by the ITV/Cowell empire press and pr lackies.

I have to say, ITV is bloody good at this.

I've always though, personally, that the negatitivty that some on forums and Twitter regarding Downton Abbey is due to it being on ITV.

Do i dare say that if it was BBC produced and on BBC One i'd be up to my neck in white stuff with people exploding of joy at a masterpiece?

And next you'll be telling me The X Factor isn't hyped its just liked by lots of people.


I suspect some of the negative feeling comes from it being on ITV. I don't really have any feelings on the show itself - I've only watched one episode and like all period dramas struggled to get on with it but it did strike me as very good for what it was. As I think I said in the previous ratings thread the only reason I'd like to see it bomb is because of the way it has been hyped by some as the second coming and seeing any show that's hyped that way bomb is fun (Red or Black for example).

Also those regarding Silas storyline 'dragging'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUiDF...layer_embedded

The only negativity regarding Downton Abbey really is adverts. But that's what you get with dramas nowadays.

A lot of the hype is generated by ITV itself across the daytime shows, ITV News and the promotion they gave it and then the press caught on. Its multi-award winning so it must be good although like other posters I just can't get into period dramas. But ITV take the awards, the ratings, the critics opinion and spin it into making it sounding like its the best piece of television ever made. It is very much the 'X Factor' of the drama world.

of course ITV are promoting it. They pay people a nice salary to do such things you know. And the BBC and Sky and Four & Five do the same.

I dont remember you grousing about the BBC puff promo featuring Bring Me Sunshine? Was I off that week?

So people doing their job well is a bad thing? I suspect you are just a teeny bit bitter that they did such a good job.

But you can take a horse to water but you cant make it drink as they say. The anticipation re DA was bottom up as well as top down.


More Brideshead than X Factor.

The fact that nobody on this thread watches it means this thread is not represenative of the general public. How many 55 year old housewives post here - come on hands up

Following widespread press surrounding Downton Abbey's international success, 5USA's coverage of the 2011 Prime Time Emmy Awards soared to 159,000 (2.4%) between 10pm and midnight, up a massive 114% on last year's ceremony.

Of course there is a lot of PR for Downton Abbey. Same goes for X Factor and Strictly (one of the few topics that the BBC and Daily Mail can work together on!). But if people weren't interested, the papers wouldn't be interested in running so many stories. See Big Brother.

How is it manufactured hype? The papers wouldn't print those pull-outs if XF and Downton weren't the most popular shows on TV. Wouldn't C5 'manufacture' the same hype for BB if it were that easy?

Its a vicious circle. You get the hype as you get the initial ratings. The hype then increases the ratings and the newspapers feed off the show. Channel 5 have tried it with Big Brother, if you look at Desmond publications they are flooded with Big Brother news but the rest of the media don't care because they got bored of BB about 5 years ago.

C5 does indeed manufacture its own hype but only in Richard Desmond's rags because the other papers aren't really interested

There's no shame in being overshadowed coverage wise by the two biggest shows on TV. It would be very surprising if that wasn't the case.

I think the public are tiring of newspapers telling them what to watch anyway. Their power to influence is on the decline.

Brilliant rating for Doc Martin - that's the highest rated second episode it's ever had, the last two series had overnights of 8.1m and 7.2m for their 2nd episodes. Looks like it benefitted from The Queen's Palaces dropping almost 1m week-on-week. Some strong ratings for the soaps, in general, with Corrie and Emmerdale up y-o-y and Hollyoaks piling on a massive +26% vs the same episode last year! Dispatches did very good numbers last night, but not surprising considering how much coverage the topic had in the news throughout the day. As for Big Brother, that's an encouraging rating for it to be back level week-on-week after the last few days had been down compared to the previous week.

Source (for all shows): http://www.tvmediainsights.com/forum....4#postid-1920

via (Marc Berman's Twitter): http://twitter.com/#!/marcberman

According to early overnights, 2 Broke Girls premiered well with a 12.7 ratings/18 share. That would translate well into 18-49 numbers, when it releases later today. 2 1/2 Men also did well with Ashton Kutcher's premiere with 18.7/26. Playboy Club started off terribly with 4.1/6 for their first half hour and going down to 3.7/6 from 10:30-11. ABC's DWTS peak was from 9:30-10 with 14.1/20.

Demographic Information for BBC1 and ITV1 for Tuesday 13th to Sunday 18th September: http://i56.tinypic.com/33jitye.jpg

Also, here's an update on the 5pm gameshow ratings:

....Pointless...The Chase...Difference
05/9...2.61m.....1.94m.......+35%
06/9...2.67m.....2.03m.......+32%
07/9...2.50m.....2.05m.......+22%
08/9...2.27m.....1.93m.......+18%
09/9...2.46m.....1.77m.......+39%
12/9...2.59m.....2.15m.......+20%
13/9...2.48m.....2.06m.......+20%
14/9...2.26m.....1.94m.......+16%
15/9...2.16m.....1.77m.......+22%
16/9...2.26m.....2.00m.......+13%

Looking at D.M.N.'s roundup, it looks like The Chase narrowed the gap even more yesterday and was only marginally behind Pointless when stripping out +1 (maybe even ahead during the actual 5.15-6pm head to head).

That looks like a massive number for Two and a Half Men - very good for Two Broke Girls as well.

Not at all surprised that The Playboy Club struggled. Can't remember what the audience profile was like for The Sing Off? Unless it skews young, that might be a bad start for it. Obviously took a hit from Two and a Half Men at 9pm.

Two Broke Girls will beat all last years premieres in A18-49 (probably viewers as well?). The pilot was apparently the highest testing ever at CBS and reaction seems to have been good. Big fall next week no doubt as it moves to 8.30pm but maybe CBS have found something for that slot?

It's quite clever, really. Instead of giving up all hope during the summer months, HO trudged on with it's big stories meaning the figures didn't hit the serious lows predicted and now they're building up a really good online rapport with the audience. Jeff Rawle was a genius signing, the Silas stuff is getting people talking. And they've now jailed arguably their most popular character, Brendan, leading to a HUGE #FreeBrendan campaign.

My main worry is that now Brendan's offscreen and Silas himself now is too, and the sixth formers are dominating (who've had a mixed reaction to say the very least) they'll lose momentum.

Holding out for a Hero doesnt really have any redeeeming factors at all does it - low ABC1's; low 18-49 skew.

*puts hand up*

Nice to see Pointless doing well, though The Chase really is hot on its heels. It's one of the best new quiz/game shows to come on British tv in recent times. I wonder if there will be any celebrity specials lined up if it carries on rating well?

Brilliant figure for Hollyoaks. I caught some of the omnibus on tv the other day and it was really good stuff!

Big Brother isn't rating as well as it should be, but at least it's staying around the 1.4m mark.

Mike & Molly will take over the 9:30pm slot from next Monday. Their premiere numbers might rise since Melissa McCarthy, the lead actress of the show, won an Emmy. Then again, does an Emmy win help with the viewing figures? It worked for Modern Family, I think.

Hollyoaks still has a fair bit of work to do though. Including yesterday's 1.46m rating, every single monthly average so far this year has been down year-on-year:

Hollyoaks Channel 4 18:30 tape checked overnight monthly averages (exc +1)
..............2011...................2010..................2009........
Jan...1.21m (5.5%).......1.37m (5.9%).....1.70m (8.2%)
Feb...1.18m (5.6%)......1.31m (6.1%).....1.69m (7.8%)
Mar...1.09m (5.5%)......1.23m (6.0%).....1.66m (8.4%)
Apr....0.96m (5.4%)......1.04m (5.7%).....1.53m (8.6%)
May...0.97m (5.3%)......1.04m (5.9%).....1.51m (8.6%)
Jun....0.87m (5.0%)......0.96m (5.6%).....1.41m (8.3%)
Jul.....0.95m (5.4%)......1.05m (6.1%).....1.35m (7.8%)
Aug...1.02m (5.7%)......1.08m (6.2%).....1.28m (7.7%)
Sep...1.11m (6.0%)......1.16m (6.4%).....1.41m (8.0%)
Oct.............................1.06m (5.4%).....1.47m (7.6%)
Nov.............................1.26m (5.8%).....1.54m (7.5%)
Dec.............................1.11m (4.9%).....1.43m (7.0%)

Thanks rzt. I think the most interesting clash of the week was Downton vs Spooks. Looking at the key demos it did surprise me a little to see Spooks had a higher ABC1 rating than Downton (as a percentage).

Spooks
Male - 51%
Female - 49%
16-34 - 15%
ABC1 - 62%

Downton Abbey
Male - 35%
Female - 65%
16-34 - 10%
ABC1 - 54%

Yeah, although BBC1 shows generally have a higher ABC1 % than an ITV1 show due to the general audience profile of the channels. If say, for example, Downton Abbey was on BBC1 its ABC1 %-skew would've been higher (probably around 60%) while Spooks on ITV1 would've been lower (around 50-55%). It's just the way it is.

Also, I notice DA's 16-34 and 18-49 %-skews were slightly lower than an episode last year which had 9m too. Last year that episode had 13% in 16-34s and 34% in 18-49s. I suspect some of the younger viewers on Sunday night went over to watch Spooks. DA's ABC1 %-skew was slightly higher than last year's 9m episode though (52% ABC1 last year).