Not exactly. Forgot to mention The Voice will not air on that night. It will be shown on Friday night instead.

Oh that's a shame. Still at least it won't have any overlap with BGT on the other side.

Is 8.30 on a Friday (I assume) for TV really a better slot than early evening on a Saturday?

Jut as it highlights a short attention span to ignore the fact that The Voice has grown each week to the tune of more than a million viewers since the debut episode. This is despite the continued clash with Britain's Got Talent and the fact that it was airing over the Easter weekend this week. You don't perhaps think that people are looking at the three weeks of The Voice's ratings and judging that it has built up impressive momentum and word of mouth and this week not simply narrowed the gap with Britain's Got Talent but for intents and purposes made it non-existent.

I don't believe that anybody (except perhaps Robbie) has declared that Britain's Got Talent is dead and indeed its been pointed out by many that a drop over the Easter weekend was to be expected (which only serves to make The Voice's increase even more impressive). But frankly it is absurd to look at this weeks numbers and the numbers from the past two weeks and not praise the performance of The Voice which has consistently beaten the majority's expectations of it.


I still cannot understand this ITV obsession with the Keith Lemon character particularly not in regards to finding him a prime time Saturday night vehicle. He's just completely wrong for this kind of slot and for this kind of show. If they really are determined to get him onto ITV1 then I continue to think their best option for success is to give him a chat show and stick it on after the watershed.

What I find particularly frustrating about all of this though is that they've had Harry Hill under contract for a good few years now – why have they not been developing shows for him in this kind of slot? He's already proven popular with the audience that's there with TV Burp so why didn't they try and find him a second format? That in turn would have reduced the number of TV Burp episodes they were churning out each year which probably would have extended its life cycle considerably.

I think Take Me Out would've been below 4m if up against The Voice. TVUK is so big now that whatever ITV1 puts against it, is rating about 1m-1.5m lower than how they normally would rate. It's like In It To Win It against BGT which is getting 4-4.5m but is capable of 5.5m when against normal competition... or Merlin against TXF which gets just under 6m in overnights against XF but in the same slot against normal opposition it can get around 7m. TMO was getting around 4.7m a month or two ago against decent competition but I reckon it would've been in the mid 3's against TVUK. ITV1 will find it quite difficult now getting decent 4-5m figures against TVUK because they simply don't have the normal 5-6m fillers/gameshows at the moment to be able to get 4-5m against a big-hitter like TVUK.

Take Me Out has been a weird one though, getting higher ratings without a BGT lead-in and against tougher competition. I guess airing in that late slot means that there's lots of on-demand same-day timeshifting going on at that time with people catching up with TVUK or BGT and it's sort of got lost in the pecking order, as well as facing similar skewing shows like BGMT and MPD. That post-XF/BGT Saturday slot hasn't really produced any big results, apart from a couple of Life Stories episodes, and we've seen lots of shows in the past struggle there even with a big lead-in. I'm not sure what ITV should do with TMO: on the one hand it gets close to 5m viewers at 8pm but that's not exactly that brilliant (and not strong enough to anchor the night in Q1 even with its excellent demos IMO) but post-9pm it gets lower 4-4.5m figures although that's higher than pretty much anything else that ITV1 has that could air in that slot. I think they really should be aiming to have a Q1 Saturday night talent show next year to air in the 7.30pm/8pm slot in 2013 (not DOI but a new one) with perhaps TMO at 9pm continuing with c4m or so.

As for Lemonaid, that did about the same as how the Harry Hill fillers rated in that slot last week but with much more promotion. It's an okay start in the grand scheme of things, at least a 17% share is something to work with unlike the half a dozen shows ITV1 has launched in the last year with sub-12% shares for episode one. It could maybe get 4m or so in the 7pm slot against mediocre competition but I agree with others that the Keith Lemon character is better suited to post-watershed.

Any publicity the BBC is offering is meagre consodering the weight of The Voice machine, not least Universal Music, which is way more influntial than SyCo - hence Cowell panicking and demanding ITV rubbish the competition.

The Voice's continued success should be a wake-up call for ITV: it can't continue to rely so heavily on Cowell's titles and needs other shows that can stand on their own, rather than being propped up by TXF/BGT.

The Voice is doing amazingly well.

I love it. It's so fresh and I love all the judges and they all have credability.

I can see many of the acts getting record deals.

BGT doing well too but I think ITV1 underestimated the Voice.

The Cowel machine isn't as strong anymore

Saturday Night Takeaway is back next year (presumably in Q1) so I would assume it'll be paired with Take Me Out and presumably discount a Saturday talent show. Particularly as the late slot doesn't seem to be helping Take Me Out any this year. I'm guessing something along the lines of:

6PM: All Star Family Fortunes (or maybe Mr & Mrs?)
7PM: Saturday Night Takeaway
8PM: Take Me Out
9PM: Jonathan Ross(?)

I'm not sure they're going to have space for a talent show unless they run it in the 6PM hour and shift everything by 15-20 minutes. That seems too early for ITV on Saturday night though. And to be honest I think they have a solid (albeit unspectacular schedule) without a talent show and God knows they need some Saturday night success away from the Cowell shows.

It doesn't really need a lead in. Also we all forget that the on-the-day timeshifting means really tough competition later!
So people will either be watching The Voice or BGT when its coming on.

Then theres the simple problem that its on too late. 8 o'clock is good for Take Me Out.
Fact is it was never suppose to be in that slot and ITV pulling BGT earlier has shoved it out the way.

Take Me Out doesn't set anything on fire as I've said before (and much to ITV's frustration); but its a show that does rather well on its own. I think its just been a bit poorly cared for by ITV. Where they have no BGT/XF - TMO is a great addition to the schedule as no matter what, it'll do solid.

Basically ITV should keep it out the danger/busy seasons and stick it on where its more appreciated.


I think it'll drop next week. It was helped slightly being against the end of a film; and the quality was...there wasn't any actually :/
ITV just need to accept hes for ITV2.

[Tbf to ITV I think there is some 'pleasing talent' going on, and they are cutting deals with Keith and his agent to launch him even bigger. Which might put some warning signs over his future with ITV if he feels there the problem. He could do an early evening Ch4 chat show I suppose]

There was a special Adidas advert playing out at 20:12 I believe. See what they did there.

Very nice rise for CSI:NY there, highest rated episode for at least 5 weeks. And can't grumble at a 1 share point advantage over 4 (slightly less with +1).

I think the idea of a show just being positive was underestimated by many critics too. Reading comments on Twitter and reviews plus also general chat with friends/work colleagues the "niceness" of the show is what many are responding to.

Take the Syco shows and the soaps away and ITV1 isn't in a great position. I don't think Peter Fincham has done a brilliant job at the channel at all - it still has the same problems that it had when he took over when you really look at it.


I presume ITV were paid a lot of money for the coveted slot as it's hurt them a lot in the PR wars. I can't even remember the Adidas advert in question so it couldn't have been that great.

Completely agree. This is the main strength of The Voice, the feel-good vibe and one they must focus on going forwards.

Cowell's shows got too nasty for me personally, hence me ditching them in 2010. They are good at what they do if you can turn a blind eye to it but they put ratings first and well-being of the contestants second, and after a while that becomes too uncomfortable to stomach.

Didn't see it, read about it on Saturday morning and noticed they were promoting a 20:12 premiere. Its had a fair amount of press coverage.

Whoever thought that was a good idea and would in anyway be cared about by the general public needs to be demoted to a less thinking-intensive position.

Am sure ITV's scheduling department is in need of a few staff

22m watching on saturday and outside of the head-to-head clashette most of the ratings on BBC1/ITV1 are very poor even for easter.

ITV1 is especially clueless as so many of it's shows are so low brow nowadays.

How can they ever hope to get big numbers for their non-BGT/X-Factor stuff?

I agree. The only query is how much money ITV have to risk on 'high brow' programming. If it wasn't for the international sales Titanic may have sunk them in terms of cost.

At least low brow programming tends to attract the right demos. But as I said before the problems ITV1 had before Fincham took control are still there for all to see IMO.

ITV have obviously not got the talent in terms of departments.
LE especially, I mean lets be honest BBC's LE department used to be bad, but its main problem was an inability to actually change with the times (That dancing one, was a very good example of the times, not helped by Don't Scare the ****ing anamatronic host!). ITV just seem to have a factory floor specifically FOR flops.

I mean how many have there been? The Marriage Ref is what highlights their problem. They keep commisioning things we all know is going to be crap (Red or Black? anyone!) and generally we all write down as flops before they even go out (and unlike BBC its not because we know its their LE department - its the entire concept thats at fault)

They've made good strides in drama, but I don't know what their playing at outside of that.

I'm sure theres production deals/cost savings we don't know about and can't fully understand from ratings alone.
But they need to get a grip, I wonder if ITV just have a bit of a bad culture within the company, with many believing that their big shows are 'unsinkable' and the rest of it is 'unimportant' or 'unable to compete'

BBC1 isn't exactly coming up with hundreds of light entertainment ideas either, it's just less noticable as the schedule is blocked out by Casualty & Lottery Quizes all year round.

Excluding talent shows, how many Light Entertainment shows have BBC1 aired on Saturdays in recent years? To get their current hit they've had to pay millions for the format, which shows how hard it is to come up with LE formats.

You must remember those days of high brow Saturday night entertainment, which occured never

Blind Date v Noel's House Party was the height of high brow!

I agree, Light Entertainment isn't the problem for ITV1 - at least not in comparison with BBC One. ITV's problem is a lack of middle hitters to hold the schedule together when the big hitters are off air; particularly over the weekend and to save Flop Zone. The broadcaster surges from - ratings wise - the sublime to the ridiculous. It deserately needs some consistency.

With you saying 2010 I take it that it was the Katie Waissel being saved thing that was the final straw?

I think in a few ways ITV are quite lucky that The Voice is against Britain's Got Talent instead of The X Factor. Aside from the obvious reason that TXF is another singing contest and BGT is much broader, I've always thought that BGT is a less hostile show than TXF. There isn't the sense of exploitation that TXF occasionally has at the auditions, particularly this year with David Walliams on the panel (and McIntyre last year) who tends to lighten the mood. BGT feels like a celebration whereas XF can occasionally feel like humiliation. It's a much lighter show than The X Factor and is more upbeat (having Ant and Dec really helps them there). Even the banter on the judging panel is good natured between Walliams and Cowell, whereas there was clearly genuine dislike between The X Factor judges last year. It's just a more positive show, I think, and ITV should at least be pleased that it isn't TXF against The Voice (and that BGT has significantly upped its game this year to go against it).

For once I agree lol. What are these high brow Saturday night entertainment shows people talk about? I dont remember any. LemonAid is the same type of Saturday night shite Itv used to show a lot of 20 to 30 years ago.

ITV should also be thankful The Voice is on BBC One and not Channel 4 - otherwise the latter would be planning a quick turn around to air an autumn addition of the show as well.

But thats the problem.
I don't mean out of the box hits like The Voice.

Fact is BBC has a number of decent ratings they can rely on.
ITV? I think Take Me Out definetly, and Harry Hill was once upon a time.

But the rest is cheap filler.
ITV don't have things like Casaulty, I don't think that can be used as a criticism of BBC!

And it has been their LE department thats had 10's of flops in the last 12 months alone. So obviously thats where they are looking to find some consistent hitters.