Yes, my prediction that it would be well down was roundly rubbished yesterday

I am just watching last night's show now, it is not brilliant so far. I wonder how many people were channel hopping or indeed sat down at 8pm and skipped through the ad breaks/occasional rubbish act at high speed, thus bringing down the average. 2 hours would be an ideal length, there is a lot of variety - but not all of it will appeal to all the viewers.

Yep, it was 2 hours, and it was 2.5 hours in 2009 on ITV so that wasn't the problem. I'm surprised at how low it was though. The lineup wasn't great though which will have dented it. Also, I wonder if there was a bit of a 'BGT' factor in play, as I suspect BGT has introduced some new, younger viewers to the RVP in recent years, and as this year's winner was much less memorable and had an older appeal some of those viewers may not have bothered with it.

Still a disappointing performance though, although it seems like everyone except ITV1 and C5 had a pretty rubbish night, so perhaps people just weren't watching TV. Particularly surprised at how low Superscrimpers and This Is England were on C4, although in the latter's case I did think it should have done a bit better on Tuesday with the BFGW lead-in so maybe it isn't so surprising. That Impressions Show rating is diabolical.

So, a day after ITV1 got its lowest weeknight 9-10pm overnight rating of the year, BBC1 (2.2m) experienced the same thing last night too. BBC1's previous lowest 9-10pm overnight average of 2011 was 2.69m for a repeat of Silent Witness at the end of June. Their primetime share (not yet released but probably c13.5%) would be their lowest since June 2010 up against an England World Cup match (11.9%).

Coming up to Christmas now and its not been a good week this week for TV.

I think it was a few factors as to why RVP was down:

1. poorer set of performers name-wise compared to normal
2. lack of promotion: normally it's been trailed more than it has been this year.
3. forgettable BGT winner failing to bring in some of that crowd
4. slightly longer length would've dented the average by c0.2m (no more though)
5. fewer people watching TV last night compared to previous RVP years (this doesn't account for the drop in share though)

With all that said, it shouldn't have been down as much as it was though, given the easy opposition on BBC1.

Yes you were right!



I just don't get why it was down. Perhaps it would have been higher after a Corrie lead in? Hmm a thought for next year.

I guess everyone has different tastes, but this has been the best week of the year for me.
Masterchef finale over three nights.
This is England over three nights.
SCD finale on Saturday.
The Killing II double episode Finale on Saturday.
Comedy Awards Friday.
Phew!! Will have to watch most of it next week as have a busy week with Christmas partys and have to visit inlaws at the weekend.

Gosh really surprised at RVP rating I actually predicted low on DSPRG not realising what a big show it is.
Considering there was nothing on BBC1 that's very disappointing.

10 year deal!



10 year deal!



10 year deal!



10 year deal!

How much did ITV pay for the 10 year deal, btw?




BBC1's weakest primetime line up of the whole year probably, and look how it rated compared to ITV1 the previous night.

Given the astonishingly poor RVP rating, I bet the Beeb are wishing they hadn't run up the white flag!

I recorded the RVP to whizz through the best bits when I have half an hour to fill over the weekend.

Should I bother? Was it that bad?

Did Peter Kay actually do a "turn" or just introduce the various acts (I caught a bit of it post 9pm and he was just reading out lame intros off a card)

You certainly wont need a half hour.

Next week on BBC1

7.30 PM Nigel Slater
8.30 TIS
9 PM Royle Family Repeat

ITV1

Behind Downton
A Night Of Heroes

The last time ITV showed the RVP, the budget was reportedly £700,000 for the entire 2.5 hours, so only £280,000 per hour. Before that, they were paying about £1.2m for the event (about £480k/hr). They're now probably paying about double what they did last time including the rights for exclusivity, so around £560,000 an hour. For a programme getting about 7m viewers, that is still good value for money, so I don't think anyone at ITV will be complaining about that 10-year deal. No doubt though that they'll try and get its figures back up to the 8m's for next year.

Yes another triumph for the same ITV management team that brought you Daybreak

Not wishing to over-analyse this but Masterchef The Professionals had a healthy rating 3.3m. The Fulham match on C5 must have had 2m viewers for the actual match (from 8:05-9.50pm). BBC1 did very poor from 8.30-10:00pm, I understand BBC1 has a PSB remit, but some shows don't find an audience in primetime.

Under 25m watching tv last night, it was really chilly last night but the pub was pretty full where we were. I am skipping through RVP now, have watched almost 2 hours in under 1 hour. Some of it is very watchable, yes some of it is a little bland and there are some Syco/ITV1 plugs - Manford, Penn&Teller, Leona, Nicole etc. Jai McDowell was okay but only got a brief appearance with a choir.

Apart from Oli-gate (Think there's been enough said about that already! ) It's been a cracking series. Best ever, Surprised noone has tried to poach Michel Roux jr, between this and Service he does great TV.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Wednesday nights on BBC1 are craptacularly bad. They have nothing that pulls in viewers apart from a successful 9pm show. One of the worst nights on TV along with Tuesdays on ITV.

you and Robbie are like the Gordon Brown & Alistair Darling of tv ratings. Things can only ever go up no matter what.

I wouldn't put it in the same league as ITV Tuesdays.
Frozen Planet, Apprentice, and Waterloo road all do well.
I'm not saying it's good either, just for the record.

You've aimed some choice insults in my direction over the years, George, but comparing me to Gordon Brown (the Tuesday Night Flopzone of PMs!) is below the belt...

I assumed there would be some contrived nonsense involving the cast of Downton for me to FFWD through.

No?

They missed a plug there then....

As I said. Take out a successful 9pm show and there's not much else on BBC1 on Wednesday night that wins its timeslot. Much like ITV1 on Tuesday. Take out Emmerdale and most weeks it has nothing that delivers.

I'm sure RVP will bounce back in 2012 just like it did from other previous lows. I do think the football dented the live audience a bit. Lets see how the +7 figures do. Of course the football will be on ITV next year too

PS how do you know I was comparing you to Brown and not ftv?

Surprised that so few who have BBC HD actually watch this show in HD. It's picture quality is sheer perfection.

Perhaps the random non-simulcast scheduling early in the series did it in?