Setanta Sports went unencrypted for the whole of Cup Final day in 2009, including the game itself.

I can't remember what ESPN did last year, but I don't think they went unencrypted at all. I could be wrong, of course.

Ah, okay, I think I'm thinking about Setanta then. (although they probably knew that they were going bust a month later... )

Not a bad Friday all around. It is good to see Not going out still in the 4 million mark. And PMLS has performed rather well so far in the Friday slot. And HIGNFY back over 5 million which is promising after a nasty little blip last week.

I wonder how C4's comedy night compared to BBC One's. The general consensus was that it dented BBC One last week. Has it held up?

Was WILTY still above 3 million?

Ken

Soap ratings are out:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/ne...uble-bill.html

EE Omnibus really struggling. 8% is well below normal BBC One standards, at a time when the only competition from at least two major channels is shopping/gambling.

Well EastEnders is going to be killed next week based on that rating. Even The BBC Three repeat seems low.

I think the BBC need to think about skewing EE older like Corrie. Because Corrie never seems to have these huge lull points. Yes they do go low but never that low.

Will be interesting to see if the EE staff reshuffle will give it a boost. I expect to see the effects of that next year maybe late this year. The main soaps now need to get there quality as high as possible because we live in extremely competitive times.

Ken

Non ESPN subscribers can watch the 3D coverage on Sky3D. Same as last year.

It's good how they work together for the viewers' benefit.

The FA Cup Final
2011: Man City 1 Stoke 0
Programme - 13:00 to 17:30: 4.3m (34.9%)
- 15-minute Peak: 8.0m (52.6%) @ 16:30

2010: Chelsea 1 Portsmouth 0
Programme - 13:10 to 17:30: 3.9m (32.6%)
- Match: 5.5m (46.0%)
- Peak: 6.5m (48.2%) @ 16:40

2009: Chelsea 2 Everton 1
Programme - 13:00 to 17:30: 3.6m (42.4%)
- Match: 5.4m (54.0%)
- Peak: 6.8m (56.9%) @ 16:50

2008: Portsmouth 1 Cardiff 0
Programme - 12:50 to 17:30: 5.0m (41.1%)
- Match: 7.3m
- Peak: 8.2m (51.8%) @ 16:30

2007: Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0
Programme - 12:40 to 18:00: 7.0m (53.7%)
- Match: 9.7m (62.6%) [15:00 to 17:30]
- Peak: 11.5m (65.3%) @ 17:15

2006: Liverpool 3 West Ham United 3 (Liverpool won 3-1 on pens)
Programme - 13:00 to 18:00: 6.5m (51.9%)
- Match: 8.8m (62.0%) [15:00 to 17:45]
- Peak: 11.3m (64.7%) @ 17:30

2005: Arsenal 0 Manchester United 0 (Arsenal won 5-4 on pens)
Programme - 13:00 to 18:10: 7.3m (50.5%)
- Match: 9.9m (61.0%) [15:00 to 18:00]
- Peak: 12.8m (67.1%) @ 17:30

2004: Manchester United 3 Millwall 0
Programme - 13:00 to 17:30: 4.3m (44.0%)
- Match: 6.3m (55.0%)
- Peak: 6.8m

2003: Arsenal 1 Southampton 0
Programme - 12:10 to 17:20: 5.3m (44.4%)
- Match: 8.3m
- Peak: 9.7m (55.7%) @ 16:50

2002: Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0
- Programme - 12:10 to 17:25: 4.1m (43.0%)

2002 to 2008 - BBC1
2009 to 2012 - ITV1

Given the later kick-off time, ITV have to be hoping for higher ratings. Should be the highest since 2007, maybe ~6.5m average if it goes into extra time, which I'm sure many people at ITV are hoping for for more than one reason...

Arguably, there's a lot riding on today for ITV - if it ends in the 90 minutes, then The Voice should increase week-on-week, but if it heads into extra-time (and north of 10m) then The Voice could plummet...

This time last year and in 2010, EastEnders was consistently beating or matching Coronation Street on Friday nights. I don't think they need to start trying to skew it significantly older, if they do that, they'll begin to alienate the younger audience. Although EE's weakest night is Fridays, in the past when the show has been strong, it's been able to rate close to Corrie on Friday nights. They just need to try and improve the show, have stronger storylines, characters and writing, its ratings should then go back up. Maybe as you say, with the staff reshuffle, they'll be able to get it back on track.


Just to complete the list, the match average for last year was 6.8m.

Yes you make a good point. The sole problem is quality. Once they get that back I am sure they will be fine. Ideally they need it to kick back to life for Christmas. Otherwise there Christmas backbone is looking a bit week. It was a bit flimsy this year.

It is actually quite good they have a young audience because it ensures the program into the next generation.

Ken

Exactly what Danny Cohen wants I'm sure so he can quietly drop the omnibus completely sooner rather than later, and save cash on repeats fees.

Coldest Cup Final day in 30 years. Hopefully ratings should be good.

I think viewers are heartily tired of this depressing soap. Emmerdale might be corny, but at least the characters have some warmth and Coronation St has decades of loyalty. Soaps really aren't the BBC's thing and EE was a knee jerk reaction to a temporary ratings slump.

According to Broadcast C4 are considering reformatting The Bank Job for daytime. Would be a good move IMO - replace the host, pre-record it and slash the prize money as necessary and it is worth a shot as it is actually a decent format, just very poorly executed.

BBC News
- average share: 2.09%
- peak: 667k at 23:45

Sky News
- average share: 0.78%
- peak: 191k

Source: Kevin Bakhurst on Twitter.

As much as you'd personally like EE to be canned it isn't going to happen. All 3 soaps are going through mediocre era's atm. None of them are pulling in stellar ratings.

How can you accuse EE of being 'depressing' when Corrie for example is currently showing a domestic abuse storyline and the dementia storyline with Eileen and Paul. Not to mention Emmerdale with it's elder abuse s/l.

Maybe the problem is staring the soaps in the face, overkill. Cutting them back to three episodes a week would help.

Ive read some laughable comments on these forums but seriously??? Your calling the past 27 years a knee jerk reaction.

It was given the go ahead in 1984 when BBC One ratings were 18 points behind ITV. Prior to that the BBC had dabbled briefly in the genre, decided it wasn't their thing and survived quite nicely.
Also a bit more on topic, soap omnibuses seem a bit pointless with repeat showings on digital channels, which almost everyone can access, and catch up channels. 8 pc for the EE omnibus suggests no one is that bothered and ITV1 scrapped the Coronation St omnibus when it was only attracting 6 pc of the audience.

EE regularly wins soap of the year and best actor/actress. Just because it doesn't get 10m regularly doesn't mean it is going anywhere soon.

I agree. The Times that the Soaps got 10-13m a week have long gone. The Soaps still do very well though and i think some people forget most people have over 40 channels now not just the main 5.

Anyone know if the BBC renewed Who Do You Think You Are? for 2012. There is usually some buzz about which celebs are being researched by now but I cannot see anything anywhere.

The viewing figures seemed okay last year and they are repeating some of the 2011 shows at the moment (June Brown this bank holiday Monday).

Maybe they are struggling to find new volunteers - especially given the glut of genealogy series added to by War Hero in my Family that started last week,

According to wikipedia future episodes staring Konnie Huq and David Schwimmer have been filmed. but i can't see any news about a new series

Has DS done a ratings roundup yet? Ahh I just checked no non soaps update.

10 million was considered crisis level for the big two in the eighties, I can remember Coronation St falling to this level in 1984 and calls for it to be axed. Nowadays 10 million is what you get for a climax to a storyline. Typical audiences would be 17 million, with the death of Stan Ogden taking an awesome 21 million. Even a fading soap like Crossroads was attracting 8 million when it was cancelled.

It's completely futile to talk about what a disappointing rating in the 80's was. It means absolutely nothing now. The only thing that matters is how soaps perform today compared to everything else the channels show. And you only have to take a glance at the Top 30's on BARB, week in, week out, to see the answer to that.