some of us cant spend all day on the internet spouting off by your logic you must be a paid for BBC PR

VOSDAL count as the overnights even though it's timeshifted as they watch on the same day. It's still different to the "timeshifted" viewing programmes get when consolidated is compared to overnight. But as you say it's all timeshift and due in no small part to clashes.

I think the total timeshift was just under 4m. Around 0.5m (VOSDAL) 3.5m (7 day)

My point is that with your unique hindsight you might be advising ITV to rush Series 3 of Downton on as you have suggested the BBC should have shown Upstairs much earlier - it wasn't even made in 2010 !!

And that was a record breaking timeshift as well for Downton Abbey. It's funny to me that the programme which get compared the most to Downton in terms of performance, is the one least like it namely Call The Midwife.

Didnt Doctor Who have a 4.1m timeshift for The Impossible Astronaut?

No, that was around 2m if memory serves. VOSDAL isn't viewed as timeshift even though it is.

A night of two halves for BBC 1 I think- CTM did outstandingly well and deservedly so. Hopefully the success of it shall spurn both the BBC and ITV into making quality drama more regularly again. I do think they will be disappointed that UD didn't teach 7m in the overnights especially give the promotion and the massive lead in. We could see it drop to the low 6 millions throughout the rest of the series which really would put an end to those Downtown Abbey comparisons. In a way it is the comparisons with Downtown Abbey which make UD look disappointing because I think people assumed it would get the same sort of figures when instead it is more of a middling hit than a huge one.

Coronation Street did very well indeed for a Sunday epiode which wasn't advertised. Just shows the force of the show at the moment and teh fact that Sunday has always seemed like Coronation Streets place. Dancing on Ice and Wild at Heart both pulling in good figures but severly dented by strong BBC 1 opposition. They will be looking at how to regain both shows glory next year, hopefully by introducing new scheduling.

Homeland deserved the strong figure it got, amazing piece of television from Channel 4 last night. Looks like there's a buzz around it aswell so we could even see an increase in ratings next week. Had it been on at Thursday 10pm I would say it would have gotten around 2.5 million in the overnight.

Advertisers and therefore the commercial networks...?


That's all well and good for the BBC but for the likes of ITV having a few million people recording shows and skipping through the ads is hardly a good thing. So whilst 7 million people might be watching Wild At Heart if only half of them are actually watching the ads then it doesn't mean a whole lot.


It was probably close to a 2 million timeshift and then the same again on iPlayer (although that may have been over the course of the series and would have included repeat viewings from fans).

VOSDAL is counted as timeshift. And I haven't looked at it for a while but I still believe Doctor Who Impossible Astronaut is still the highest time-shifted programme ever with 4.2m I believe.

Well it aired on 26/27/28 December 2010 - so I think it must have been!


I still don't know whether the 1996 "final" episode of OFAH holds the honour. It got an official 24.35m (still the largest figure ever reported by BARB post 1981), but I remain convinced the overnight figure was 20.something million.

Of course, if we'd all had Sky+ and PVRs in 1996, rather than having to find a blank VHS tape with space on it before rushing out of the house, then the official figure would surely have been even more staggering...

Doctor Who holds the record for most recorded show of all time. +1.77m (VOSDAL) +2.34m (7 day) = 4.11m. Excluding VOSDAL, Downton Abbey has the highest 7 day shift (+3.5m).

Be interesting to see if the latest Deal or No Deal twist today boosts figures....

This was the Top 10 (as of July 2011).

Programme - Channel - Episode Date - Time Shifted viewing - Total Audience

01 - DOCTOR WHO - BBC1 - 23 Apr 2011 - 4.11m - 8.86m
02 - COME FLY WITH ME - BBC1 - 25 Dec 2010 - 3.29m - 12.47m
03 - THE X FACTOR - ITV1 - 02 Oct 2010 - 3.17m - 13.49m
04 - EASTENDERS - BBC1 - 25 Dec 2010 - 2.7m -12.61m
05 - BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT - ITV1 - 01 May 2010 - 2.55m - 11.84m
06 - THE ROYLE FAMILY - BBC1- 25 Dec 2010 - 2.53m - 11.29m
07 - CORONATION STREET - ITV1 - 10 Dec 2010 - 2.5m -13.46m
08 - WAKING THE DEAD - BBC1 - 03 Apr 2011 - 2.5m - 7.21m
09 - WALLACE AND GROMIT BBC1 - 25 Dec 2008 - 2.5m - 16.15m
10 - STRICTLY COME DANCING - BBC1 - 11 Dec 2010 - 2.38m - 11.57m

Other than DA, are there any new additions?

You're quite right, 4,11m for DW, my mistake. Yes, Downton got 4.07m on Christmas day. I cant think of any more, unless we want to flood it with other DW/Downton episodes?

I see the BBC website has the CTM story up

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17101303

They do appear to have fallen victim to the ITV spin machine:


Yeah right. Of course it was...


Well, I've given you one other possibility that I am sure is in the 4m or so ballpark. Or is 2001 "year zero" when it comes to ratings?

You're not still going on about this?

Do I need to go and find the many other examples of Corrie being displaced onto a Sunday night in the last year or two, all of which you didn't even shrug at?

Just because the BBC have found a drama hit on Sundays doesn't mean ITV aren't allowed to put an episode of Corrie that was lost because of football there now.

The way you talk about it, you'd think Corrie hadn't aired on Sundays from 1996 until 2008?

US Ratings Sunday February 19

CBS narrowly won the night in the demo but their schedule is due revision in the finals after a 20 minute golf overrun threw them off schedule. With that in mind the battle may very well be between ABC and NBC for the night both of whom tied for second just a tenth behind CBS' average. The holiday weekend in the US will likely delay finals until midweek though.

On the night itself ABC's Once Upon A Time was stable vs. last week (where it was opposite the Grammys) to lead the night in the demo. Unlike Once Upon A Time both Desperate Housewives and Pan Am saw some uplift from being free of the Grammy Awards with Housewives up 22% week-on-week and Pan Am up an incredibly misleading 71%.

Over on NBC the night was kicked off by a repeat of The Voice the second hour of which out rated all but five shows on NBCs schedule this week. One of those five that logged victory over a repeat of a reality singing competition was the returning Celebrity Apprentice which logged an average of 2.6 over its two-hour run time. That's down 7% on last year. NBC will be happy and it may very well close that gap if it repeats last years upward adjustments.

Fox's Animation Domination schedule was (with the exception of Cleveland which was steady) up vs. last week but things don't look great. A milestone 500th episode of The Simpsons was up 30% vs. last week but the raw number is somewhat disappointing. Napoleon Dynamite rose 11%, Family Guy 8% and American Dad 22%.

Once again I'll note that CBS' numbers are currently all over the place so don't read anything into them just yet. I suspect 60 Minutes will be adjusted down, Amazing Race up, Good Wife down and Miami could go either way.

ABC
7PM: America's Funniest Home Videos – 2.0 [8.03]
8PM: Once Upon A Time – 3.0 [9.71]
9PM: Desperate Housewives – 2.2 [7.55]
10PM: Pan Am – 1.2 [3.88]

CBS
7PM: 60 Minutes – 1.8 [11.53]
8PM: The Amazing Race – 2.6 [10.85]
9PM: The Good Wife – 2.2 [7.55]
10PM: CSI: Miami – 2.1 [9.81]

Fox
7PM: Bob's Burgers [r] – 0.6 [1.81]
7:30PM: The Cleveland Show – 1.2 [2.62]
8PM: The Simpsons – 2.6 [5.79]
8:30PM: Napoleon Dynamite – 2.0 [4.42]
9PM: Family Guy – 2.7 [5.39]
9:30PM: American Dad! - 2.2 [4.40]

NBC
7PM: The Voice [r] – 1.3 [4.20]
8PM: The Voice [r] – 1.9 [6.07]
9PM: Celebrity Apprentice – 2.5 [7.11]
10PM: Celebrity Apprentice – 2.8 [7.68]

Once Upon A Time might not have experienced uplift in the demo, but it was the most watched show of the night by this measure and also added 1.1m in Total People.

There should never have been a new episode last week, ABC shot themselves in the foot there. Still, it's a cert for renewal now. The other major networks had little to offer or inspire on Sunday.

Anything for TWD yet?

Ive got the Broadcast report by William Phillips for that episode of OFAH and the timeshift (indicated as a record at the time) was 2.91 million.
Incidentally the other two episodes in the trilogy were 21.33 and 21.31 millions -its hard to imagine a time when that kind of grouping happens again.
EDIT: in that week programmes achieved "zero" ratings apparently-including BBC2's Handel opera "Ariodante"-cant say that suprises me.

A big night of ratings news, as expected, then.

BBC One had a great night - Call the Midwife is obviously the standout and has been a phenomenal hit for them. A total powerhouse that has waded into one of the most competitive slots on TV all year round and completely owned it. The Downton comparisons are, I fear, going to become tiresome again. There's all sorts of mitigating circumstances you can use on either side to make the point you want. Let's just be pleased that the two major broadcasters have such powerful dramas in their armoury now - pulling figures they'd have said were beyond any scripted programmes but the soaps just a few years back.

Upstairs Downstairs did solidly considering expectations and lead-in. Of course, we sometimes forget that if we just look at its figures unburdened by Downton, Midwifes or whatever else - thats a brilliant number! I do fear it could be heading for a fall over the next couple of weeks, though. Last night good in patches for me, but I feel the bits I was keen on (the richer historical context, the political backdrop. etc) won't be what's needed to keep the Sunday night masses attached.

Corrie did well for ITV in the circumstances, I thought. But if they were hoping it would offer some sort of boost to the existing schedule, then the strength of BBC One appears to have very clearly stopped that from happening. I suppose fans will be hoping for a DOI/WAH resurgence next week with CTM now out of the way - but I'd caution against expecting anything too dramatic. There ought to be a boost, for sure, but its not going to register in the millions, I don't think.

Finally, Top Gear got squeezed, but remains remarkably resilient considering how tired the show itself can feel. And against all odds, Homeland put in a very solid showing indeed. Let's hope the viewers stick it out.

I didn't watch UD, but I read the thread on it to hear if it is worth watching or not. It is getting a mixed response. I suppose we all expected it would do better due to DA.

The Once Upon A Time rating makes no sense. On a night when even Pan Am was up week-on-week it is astonishing that what is supposed to be the big new hit of the season couldn't even gain a tenth in the demo. Particularly given that the reason it was supposed to have dropped this low last week was the Grammys. The whole thing is very odd. That its first half hour was against 60 Minutes rather than The Amazing Race makes the whole thing even stranger.

In regards to its scheduling. If they hadn't aired a new episode last week then it would have to gone off air for three weeks. Next week is the Oscars and there's no way taking it off air for the Grammys then putting it back on air this week and then back off air next week because of the Oscars is a good move. And a random three week hiatus wouldn't have done ABC or Once Upon A Time any good. As much as I bemoan ABC's scheduling its a difficult beast to tame.

Nothing on The Walking Dead yet and unless AMC release a press release (and I'd be amazed if they don't because it'll beat everything on broadcast this week) you may not see anything until mid-week.

Does anyone know the schedule for next Sunday night. I hope we don't have to endure 2 hours for DOI again. Surely they can run it in 1.5 hrs at the most

But it is the big new hit of the season. What other bigger shows have there been?

Let's see what happens after the Oscars.