Just seen on another fourm that the final Ratings for X Factor Live show 1 was 12.05m and Strictly was 9.75m. Yep terrible for both of them they really need to be axed

Consolidated ratings from last week:

The X Factor - 12.05m [inc +1: 12.58m]
Strictly Come Dancing - 9.75m
Merlin - 6.80m

The timeshifts were- TXF: +1.61m, Merlin: +1.26m, SCD: +1.07m

Last year's opening live episode of TXF officially had 13.53m, so last week's was down -7%/-11% (inc/exc +1) year-on-year. The inc +1 number was on a par with the first live show in 2009 (12.64m) - it's timeshifting more this year so the gap between this year's numbers and previous years is smaller in the officials than the overnights. As for SCD, that was down only -1% vs. last year's equivalent show (9.84m). Merlin was up an impressive +12% vs. its second episode last year (6.06m).

Wow fantastic Final rating for Merlin

So really there is no X Factor crisis. Panic over

There never has been. Same as Doctor who that got over 7m. The press won't report those figures

No one is really saying it's a "crisis". People are just saying it's rating low at the moment compared to the last couple of years, which is a fair enough thing to say.

Yeah but TXF is timeshifting really well, like I said I think it needs better themes and songs.

last night was dull as..

I'm beginning to wonder if they might try and push it beyond its 5 year plan - maybe into the future (if you look at Merlin's series its all one arc really)

Certainly having a strong drama presence against X Factor is working.
Am waiting for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to be remade and then it'll be perfect

Sorry why would the Theme and songs Affect the ratings.

I agree it’s certainly possible that the eight episodes that have been produced will air in the UK (with a reduced license fee) but my original point was simply that Channel 4/E4 shouldn’t be lumbered with them if they don’t want them. There should be a clause in the contract that allows them to opt out if the original 13 episode order isn’t produced. This is part of the reason Fox had to produce an extra episode of Dollhouse a couple of years ago that was bundled as a DVD extra in the US but aired in international markets – international broadcasters buy 13(+9) and if you don’t meet that 13 episode order there are all sorts of penalties and clauses built into the deals now. Broadcasters have learnt the hard way with US imports but they have learnt.


Part of me thinks Sky has already brought Alcatraz and I’d expect Touch to land there as well. Having seen the pilot I think Awake would be an excellent buy for Sky Atlantic although I’d prefer to see it land somewhere with a bigger audience. It’s my personal favourite of the new batch of shows this year.

Smash is an interesting one. I’m not sure Sky will want it now they’ve got Glee. It feels like it would be uncomfortable for those shows to both air on the same network although I suppose they could buy in Smash for Atlantic. As I said before I think Channel 4 should make a serious play for Smash I think it would work well for them.


Just in terms of the wider ‘Channel 4 brands’ I think they could do worse than to essentially turn E4 into a comedy channel. Although that would obviously create problems with Misfits and Skins although to be honest I think they could do worse than to move Misfits to Channel 4 – if it were to match the last series on E4 wouldn’t it be one of the Channel 4’s biggest shows? But anyway E4 as a comedy channel and then More4 as a drama/factual channel feels like it gives them two strong digital brands (three when you include Film4) although they should probably rename More4 at this point.


I’d be very surprised if Glee doesn’t get a fourth season. My gut says that it’ll get a couple of ‘special airings’ out of American Idol to try and boost it during the second half of the season and if that doesn’t work then Fox may as well try hitting the reset button and ditching half the cast as originally intended. At this point the show has enough revenue streams going for it to make it a lock for another season I think.

House and Terra Nova are much bigger issues. I imagine they’ll probably want to renew Terra Nova but it’ll be a question of whether they can make the finances work or not. However I think the decision on that will probably have to be made very early 2012 just because of the production time needed for it which doesn’t give them a whole lot of time to play with or see how their midseason dramas stack up. Unless Touch and Alcatraz both bomb I think this’ll be the final season of House. The finances of the show don’t really work anymore and Hugh Laurie’s deal is up at the end of this season and renewing that won’t be cheap. Unless Universal (who produce) are willing to take on a huge amount of the financial burden for the show (and the negotiations for this season suggest they aren’t) then I don’t see Fox wanting to pay for another season. Unless the show magically rebounds this year obviously.


Excluding Masterchef that's a good night for BBC1. Putting Casualty on after Merlin rather than the Lottery works well, how long does that scheduling last before the BBC1 schedule is lumbered with another Lottery gameshow?

ITV had a bit of a disappointing night. Family Fortunes and TV Burp aren't holding up against Strictly as well as ITV would like and Ross seems to be wasting that X Factor lead-in (although I suspect a more consistent start time and not being against Match of the Day would help him). That X Factor figure won't be what ITV was hoping for. It'll be interesting to see how well it recovers in the coming weeks without the Strictly clash.


Won't happen. They might drag Cowell out for the final to give his seal of approval to the winner but aside from that I doubt he'll be back on the UK version anytime soon.


Well none of your 'facts' take into account how many people are recording so they can skip the ads either same day or later in the week. And again I'll say when you have to start using +1 to spin The X Factor numbers something is clearly at least a little wrong.

5 pages already? It must be loads of posts praising X Factor's ratings bouncing back....................

Whats that you say? Under 10m! Under 40% share! Beaten by SCD in the shares!

I pity the poor person who notified Cowell this morning.

I don't get why ITV don't cut down the number of adverts in their biggest shows and get the advertisers to pay more for them - supply and demand. It'd cut down on programme length anyway. I think the timeshifting element is going to really hurt commercial channels as time goes on; how can they pay for shows if people skip the adverts?

Poor for The X Factor last night relatively speaking which is a shame as I thought it was a decent show - more about singing than hype - maybe that's the issue? TV Burp is a shadow of it's former self and Ross isn't makng the most of his lead ins. All in all, I think ITV should be very concerned.

On the other hand, BBC One will be delighted with a strong set of figures across the board. I don't like the way Strictly is going this year (more about hype than dancing) but it's performing very well and Merlin is a great foil for The X Factor. Why they didn't allow the never-ending Casualty the Merlin lead in earlier is anyone's guess but it worked very well for them.

There are no lottery shows in the can/cupboard at the moment. They are are recording another series of In It to Win It and Who Dares Wins in mid-late November. I suspect the main schedule will stay the same until Christmas with the lottery shows returning in the new year. There is a possibility that once Celebrity Masterchef finishes it will be replaced by All New Total Wipeout.

I'm not sure ITV will be particularly happy about that. They aren't the BBC they need people to watch their shows live because that tends to increase the chances of them watching the ads and for something like The X Factor picking up the phone and voting. If you're watching The X Factor Tuesday afternoon you're not much use to ITV.


I do think they need to start developing more drama for that Saturday night slot. Its a shame Robin Hood never really worked out because Doctor Who / Robin Hood / Merlin would have been a really strong slate of Saturday night family drama. Its also a shame that Kudos' The Scrimshaw Pirates hasn't ever made it out of development hell because that sounds like another potentially strong Saturday night drama for the BBC.

I agree though its hard to believe they'll want to end Merlin after five years. And I think the international success of the series might push them to continue making it as well.

About the US TV series airing in 2012, or those that haven't been picked up in the UK as of yet, I can see this happening:

Smash - Sky Atlantic, E4 or Watch
Suburgatory - Sky1 or E4
Alcatraz - Sky1
Touch - I'd like to see More4 go after this, but I reckon it'll be on Sky1
Awake - Sky Atlantic or Universal
Scandal - Sky Living

ABC have been very very strange in retitling their series, they've changed 'Apartment 23' to 'Don't Trust The B In Apartment 23' and 'Good Christian Belles' to 'GCB'.

Because advertisers hate that idea.

Fox tried something similar in the US and despite the fact it actually led to more people watching the commercials they ended up ditching it because advertisers just weren’t prepared to pay extra for limited space. Although I suppose results might have been very different if they’d tried it with American Idol where advertisers absolutely want to buy time.

Having said that if the ‘too many adverts’ stories continue to gain traction in the press then ITV are going to have to do something to counteract it.

Yes i am using +1 do you really think Strictly and Merlin would have got the ratings they had without +1.

Well they did get the ratings they had without +1.

Yes (I'm assuming you mean without ITV+1 being an option for people to watch The X Factor an hour later although it should be noted that Merlin would clash with the start of the show on +1 anyway).

You’re missing the point though which was when you have to start spinning The X Factor’s numbers using +1 clearly it’s not as strong as it was and clearly something is wrong. I’m not suggesting crippling failure here by the way before you try and use that bit of strawman spin. I’ll also add that when you say ‘people prefer to watch Strictly and Merlin live rather than The X Factor live’ (which is what you just suggested) you’re also giving some tacit suggestion that something has gone a little wrong with The X Factor this year.

Few thoughts from me:

1. Never really watched Strictly but found I'm drawn to this series. The judges are much better than X Factor for fun and comments, it's a great line up which will see them through to the final (unlike X Factor where you have a 2/3 horse race) and it just feels like a show on top of it's game.

2. Merlin is probably the best family drama on TV. Easily watchable (unlike the last series of Dr Who which became too convoluted and complex), great production values and I can see it appealing to many viewers. They really have a winner here.

3. X Factor is struggling this year. Last night's standard was appalling. Barlow lost all credibility saying his boys were great cos they were awful and I think the biggest indication of how it's running out of steam is I watched it on Sky Plus and fast forwarded through so much of it. I think many will choose this way in the coming weeks.

I think BBC1 also benefitted from losing the awful Secret Fortune lottery show which is their weakest lottery show.

I think ITV could be in for a difficult winter.

MasterChef didn't even do that badly last night. A 19% share is okay - its figures have picked up on Saturday nights the last couple of weeks. I suppose leading into SCD helps, due to viewers tuning in a bit early for SCD. The Friday episodes are definitely tanking though.


To be fair, I don't really think adding +1 is "spin". If +1 hadn't been available, those viewers most likely would've watched the show later on that evening anyway via a PVR and been counted in the overnights that way. You can sure bet that if +1 wasn't around, TXF's ITV1 overnight rating yesterday would've been a bit higher than 9.8m. It's not really spin, it's just a bit of logical sense. The overnights aren't people who watch shows live, they include viewers who watched a show until 2am. All the +1 manages, is it makes sure for a commercial channel, that some of those people who would've watched a show later in the evening on a PVR (and skipped through the ads) will be able to watch the ads on +1 which is an advantage for the broadcaster over a scenario of these same people watching on a PVR later in the evening and missing the ads.


I think what Samthefootball means is that, those BBC1 shows would've benefitted from ITV1+1 being in place. Some SCD viewers who might've tuned into watch TXF from 7.45pm last night if ITV1+1 wasn't available, might've decided to stick with SCD until the end and watch TXF on +1. Hence that would've boosted SCD's overnight slightly compared to if ITV1+1 wasn't available like previous years.

Yes i did mean that. If ITV +1 was not there IMO Strictly would have been below 9m And Merlin would have got about 5.3m. I Don't think Anything is Wrong with the show. Its the clash that it hurting the show.

The 'too many adverts' thing I think ITV will be forced to just place them better. Make them less obvious. With Downton they tried the US think of a 5 minute advert then the epilogue of the program - its daft.

In terms of the 'timeshifting' aspect - if all timeshifting increases across the board then Advertisers still have to pay to reach those audiences. Whilst the revenue will fall as some advertising moves its spending elsewhere - I think overall it won't be too bad since its not like they have a choice between ITV's 8 million or BBC's.
ITV should look to create more revenue streams though.

In the end it'll be the pay TV channels who'll be strengthened - Virgin/Sky/BBC - but ITV will still be the only real source of mass marketing - so advertisers will always be willing to pay more for it.
Plus sponsers might see their fees go up because suddenly by sponsering a programme its the only way to get mass viewing - as people timeshifting will see it constantly and likely start the program as they see the sponser coming up. Knowing the ads have ended.

Its not as black and white as it might appear basically.

It would be interesting to know how ITV1's overall share over the last few weeks would compare to last year if the effect of RWC was stripped out.

XF is down and the rest of the Saturday night schedule doesn't look great. Quite a few recent soap ratings have looked poor and Tuesday evenings are still desperate.

On the plus side Downton is doing well as is Doc Martin which wasn't there last year.

Overall I get the impression RWC may be masking the situation and without it overall share may be down quite a bit.

Yes i do mean that