Originally Posted by Score:
“I think they could squeeze the 4th episode into IAC's first week as they did last year when they had TXF at 8pm, IAC at 9:25pm and Piers at 10:25pm. I suspect he might film another 2 quite soon to take him to the usual 6, meaning that one of them might still air on XF Final weekend. They do have other stuff airing that weekend though, as I think Take Me Out will probably return that weekend, but hopefully in the pre-X Factor Saturday slot this year (that would be fine if TXF airs at 7:30pm not 7pm). Beyonce has filmed a music special called 'A Night With Beyonce' that was rumoured to be airing on XF's final weekend too. There's the Michael Buble music special too but that one is Christmas themed so they might save it for Xmas fortnight.
ITV don't seem to favour running dramas that weekend, and there doesn't seem to be much that would be boosted with a preview anyway. The only thing I can think of is the pilot of The Security Men which could run in the Sunday 9:30pm slot as it is only an hour long. Also I think a comedy would work much better than a drama in that slot. My only concern is that there would then only be 3 episodes left for next year, so the preview could be a bit worthless. A shame they haven't made more episodes, or that they aren't splitting them into 8x30 minute episodes, as then they could preview an episode and still have 7 left for next year.”
Yeah, I suppose Life Stories might have a couple of episodes airing after IAC. The episode last year which aired after IAC had 3.7m/20% share which was pretty good for the slot it aired in, so they might go for the same thing again. As for the final weekend, I'm sure the Beyonce music show and Take Me Out will pop up at some point. The Sunday 9.30pm slot is quite a weird one as it's a little bit too late for a drama, as you say, a comedy would work there better. As for The Security Men though, I'm not sure if they're even filming the series until next year, so it might well be the series won't be ready to air until Q3/Q4 in 2012, so I'm not sure if they'd air a preview so many months in advance.
Originally Posted by Chris1964:
“You could argue that people might decide to watch the repeat of X Factor today because yesterday was hot. Those figures wont be added in. And ITV1+1 is effectively another channel with its own number that people make a choice over and maybe it should have its own share and seperate viewing figures. There are many swings and roundabouts here -as as been pointed out the negative effect is that Ross will be hurt by people choosing to watch the later XF.”
ITV1+1, as with all +1 channels, is effectively a 'timeshift channel'. People watching a show later on in the same day on a +1 channel is no different IMO to people watching a show later on in the same day on a PVR and being counted towards the overnights of a show. Most people consciously make the decision to watch a show one hour later just as people consciously make a decision to record something. Yes, you could argue that it might be picking up some 'casual viewers' who might not have watched the show otherwise, but I would say that's pretty minimal- I mean how many people realistically who have no interest in XF would happen to just randomly flick to channel 131 on Sky/Freview CH33 etc to watch it? The majority of people who watch a programme on ITV1+1 are viewers who would watch that programme anyway via another method (watched live, part-live or via PVR) had +1 not been available and been included in the overnights (or certainly in the officials). I just find it hard to believe that if +1 not been in place, XF's rating yesterday would've still been the same at 9.66m (or any other show for that matter), which is essentially what you're saying. I admit it might not necessarily have been as high as 10.27m, but then again a few of those BBC1 figures probably wouldn't have been as high as they were last night if ITV1+1 weren't around as some of those 600k +1ers probably watched BBC1 (and other channels) even though they might not have done so without +1 in place. So if it's acceptable to mention the inflated viewership of other channels as a consequence of ITV1+1 being in place, I would say it should be acceptable to mention the inflated +1-included figures too, if you get what I mean. That's not to say they should be automatically included (though from a personal view point I tend to look at those figures), but just considered at the very least. Usually it's not a big issue as the figures have been relatively small so far, but when the figures get big like in yesterday's case, it can make a difference. People say the BBC is at a disadvantage with ITV having a +1 channel, but I would say if anything it helps them out in certain circumstances: the +1 channel will aid Strictly Come Dancing next week for example - in previous years some viewers during the head-to-head would have switched from SCD to TXF when TXF begun but next week it'll probably be a smaller number than usual switching over, as some of the 'fringe' viewers will stick around with SCD until the end of it and then opt to watch TXF on +1. Naturally, that will slightly depress TXF's ITV1-core overnight rating and aid SCD's overnight figure compared to if ITV1+1 wasn't in place. Hence why in situations especially like this, the +1 figures shouldn't be ignored, because if we're happy to to look at the SCD figure which is almost certainly boosted by ITV1+1 being in place, it's only fair to consider the XF figure (with +1 included). In a way, I wish ITV didn't launch a +1 channel as it's complicated a lot of things in terms of year-on-year comparisons/head-to-head comparisons etc
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I know what you mean, though, scheduling him there was innovative for recent times. He hasn't really done much since The Two Rs, has he? Just Sorry and Small Talk spring to mind.
