Back to the ratings - surprised to see The Voice rise that much. I thought it would be comfortably over 10m but that's even more than I expected. Didn't expect to see BGT over 10m either. Tbh, ITV can't be anything other than pleased with the show this year. Six series in, with everyone and their cat predicting its demise, it's up on last year.

Making longer term predictions is tricky. On the other side of the Atlantic a year ago, The Voice was massive, American Idol was on a roll, predictions for X Factor were massive, America's Got Talent was up, DWTS was still doing well... talent shows were dominating. The line being pushed by most people involved was that the success of TV/AI early last year was a good sign for everyone because the genre was thriving.

Last week DWTS set series lows, American Idol was near in-season series lows and down a third from last year. The Voice has gone from Superbowl highs to shedding more than a third of its audience in six weeks and falling vs last season. Meanwhile, X Factor US is scrabbling around fixing things after a first season well below expectations.

___________________

Another great start for The Voice - there's definitely appetite for a new hit format after years with nothing new coming through. While it's delivering for the BBC at home, it's proving to be something of a nightmare for their commercial unit with the damage it seems to be doing to DWTS in the US and now Australia.

I, for one, would love to see a UK network buy The Sing Off

(yes, someone did watch the US/NL versions )

Wow, big rating for The Voice in Australia!

John Williams
- Hawaii Five-0 averages 557k, peaked 652k
- TOWIE returns with 1.3m (with +1)
- Spurs v Chelsea peaks 8.1m (with +1)
- Titanic averages 3.8m (with +1)

Kevin Bakhurst
- Chinese Grand Prix live on BBC1 ave 2.9m (39.4% share) - peak 4.1m #F1

From Attentional:

Friday - 19:00 - The One Show: 3.70m
Saturday - 10:00 - Saturday Kitchen: 1.92m
Saturday - 13:00 - The Grand National: 4.07m
Saturday - 21:00 - Inspector Montalbano: 593k (2.5%)

Meanwhile...

I thought some viewers might float back for the last episode. Clearly not, lol.

Nothing but an unmitigated ratings disaster. It deserved nothing more.

Yeah, stupid ITV for spending out on a big budget drama to mark a massive event in British history!!!

Sometimes these things pay off, sometimes they do not. But, as a commercial success, I would suggest ITV studios are happy to have sold the drama to 100 broadcasters worldwide, so not a complete failure for ITV eh?

I haven't watched it yet, but I can not understand why people in this country want ITV to fail when they pump money into a big budget drama - something no other commercial channel seems to do. We would be left with only BBC for the majority of original drama if it wasn't for ITV, so why the negativity???

Ratings success, maybe not - but the commercial success of worldwide distribution has allowed a commercial broadcaster to bring a massive budget show to the UK, free to air, while still making money...

Then you have no right to comment.

The issue wasn't one of making a drama focused on the Titanic but the crappy quality of Fellowes' script and the pi$$ poor production. It might be financially profitable for ITV but as entertainment it was risible. The opportunity was there to make 'A Night to Remember' for our times. Instead we got sub-soap opera storylines, turgid characters and laughable sets. The whole farago was an insult to the ship and those who sailed on her.

13:00 - The Grand National: 4.07m (33.86%)
* peak: 10.88m (64.09%) at 16:30

Source: Broadcast

James Cameron did that. It was called Titanic. The 3D remaster is currently number one in the UK box office.

The Big Quiz: TOWIE v Benidorm tanked with 2.61m (inc. +1).

Sorry, but I'm delighted with this figure. Well done GBP!

Coming off an over 8m lead-in as well. The football averaged a solid 6.09m, but Antiques Roadshow and Silent Witness had 7.19m and 6.51m respectively.

I must admit that I bailed after the first episode but ratings wise I suspect that ITV made a scheduling error and assumed that Titanic would prop up their Sunday evening offer rather than sinking it. Less damage might have been done if they had shown it over 4 consecutive nights but then the content might not have been up to it - from what I have read it was like deja vu each time.

In the Radio Times, Alison Graham states (in relation to Fellowes' writing) '... it's classic escapism, a chance to wallow in the familiar, in a time where everyone knew their place and was jolly glad about it'.

I don't think she is being ironic.

*lol* You joke, surely?

Big rating for Antiques, up nearly 2m week-on-week.

Sky Sports F1 averaged 480k for the live race yesterday, peak of 854k.

Courtesy of https://twitter.com/#!/juliantelly

Pretty solid peak and the average isn't too bad. Sky's coverage was much improved yesterday as well.

We need to ask ourselves whether it will be a hit 3-4 years down the line. Shows like Weakest Link and Deal or No Deal hit the ground running in many countries but they fizzled out after a couple of years.

I think Antiques Roadshow did particularly well last night as the football match finished about 19.55, a lot of its viewers would've switched over (or off) after that instead of watching the post-match analysis. I suspect the 20.00-20.15 post-match period probably rated as low as 3-3.5m and with that sort of lead-in, The Big Quiz rated very poorly (it would've rated poorly anyway even with a big lead-in though!). Good rating for Silent Witness, back up to last year's levels.

"ITV2 had its BEST EVER Sunday primetime share (7-10.30pm) last night; thanks to Benidorm, More Talent and Towie all rating over 1m."

Source Jenny Cummings

I know that some people have their reasons for not being too keen on criticising it, but Titanic was simply indefensible. Anyone at ITV with half a brain should have clocked immediately that what Fellowes produced was not what people expected, wanted, or were willing to endure - and should also have realised that every penny of the well-publicised budget should have been visible on screen - and instead a film many decades old (A Night to Remember) looked much more believable. It deserved to fail. Hopefully after Titanic and Red or Black, ITV might finally learn that hype does not mean success. The hype is responsible for the first ten minutes' ratings - after that, content is everything.

Any Ratings for Once Upon a Time?

Sunday 15th April Overnights
BBC One
07:00- F1: Grand Prix: 2.9m (39.4%)
* peak: 4.21m
14:50- F1 Grand Prix Re-Run: 1.6m (12.6%)
18:05- Titanic with Len Goodman: 2.20m (11.2%)
19:00- Countryfile: 5.76m (24.5%)
20:00- Antiques Roadshow: 7.19m (29%)
21:00- Silent Witness: 6.51m (25.79%)
22:00- BBC News: 5.15m (24.3%)
22:25- Have I Got a Bit More News For You: 2.49m (15.7%)

BBC Two
19:00- F1: Grand Prix Highlights: 500k (2.3%)
20:00- Best of Top Gear: 1.6m (6.5%)
21:00- This World: Norway’s Massacre: 1.10m (4.4%) inc HD
22:00- Match of the Day 2: 1.79m (9.4%)

ITV1
17:30- FA Cup Semi-Final Live: 6.04m (28.47%) , +1: 56k (0.24%)
* peak: 7.99m (33.92%) at 19.30
20:10- The Big Quiz: Benidorm v Essex: 2.37m (9.7%) , +1: 187k (0.9%)
21:00- Titanic: 3.52m (13.95%) , +1: 225k (1.2%)
22:00- Words of The Titanic: 1.46m (8.1%) , +1: 101k (1.1%)

Channel 4
18:45- Marley and Me: 1.49m (6.3%) , +1: 255k (1%)
21:00- Homeland: 2.15m (8.53%) , +1: 421k (2.3%)

Channel 5
16:00- Toy Story 2: 1.84m (12%) inc +1
18:00- Practical Magic: 969k (4.5%)
20:00- Once Upon a Time: 1.7m (6.9%)
21:00- The Patriot: 880k (5%) , +1: 53k (0.49%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One: 25.1%
ITV1: 16.5% (+1: 0.5%)
Channel 4: 6.6% (+1: 1.1%)
BBC Two: 5.1%
Channel 5: 4.8% (+1: 0.2%)

Multichannel
BBC Three
21:00- Don’t Tell The Bride USA: 621k (2.5%)

ITV2
22:00- The Only Way is Essex: 1.16m (6%) , +1: 172k (1.7%)

Sky 1
21:00- Hawaii Five-0: 557k: 652k

Sky Sports F1
06:30- F1: Grand Prix: 480k
* peak: 887k

Sources: Attentional, Broadcast, DS, MG

Sorry for my ignorance but how is the peak worked out?

I see that the 5 minute peak is often more than the usual published peak

As it was explained to me on Sunday, the lower peak is a 15 minute one. 5 minute peaks tend to be higher and are usually the ones quoted by TV channels.

A large part of the reason for those formats fizzling out so quickly though is down to how massively over exposed they were in the major markets. Assuming everyone is sensible and sticks to one series of The Voice a year I see no reason why it can't do what the likes of Pop Idol, The X Factor etc. etc. have done and sustain itself for several years.

Chinese Grand Prix - Ratings Roundup
2008
Qualifying - 1.96 million (0.63m + 1.33m)
Race - 4.42 million (2.44m + 1.98m)

2009
Qualifying - 2.9 million (1.0m + 1.9m)
Race - 4.63 million (3.23m + 1.40m)

2010
Qualifying - 2.30 million (1.13m + 1.17m)
Race - 4.70 million (3.17m + 1.53m)

2011
Qualifying - 2.93 million (1.38m + 1.55m)
Race - 4.74 million (3.27m + 1.47m)
* 5-minute live peak: 5.12m

2012
Qualifying
Sky Live - ???
BBC Live - 1.09m (30.8%)
BBC Re-Run - 1.17m (11.9%)
Total = 2.28m BBC only

Race
Sky Live - 480k
* 15-minute peak: 856k
* 5-minute peak: 887k
BBC Live - 2.85m (39.4%)
* 15-minute peak: 4.1m
* 5-minute peak: 4.21m
BBC Re-Run - 1.6m (12.6%)
Total = 4.93m
* highest Chinese Grand Prix figure ever

As I thought, when BBC and Sky are live, the figures as a whole will be higher, whereas when only Sky are live the figures will be lower because people that already know the result are unlikely to watch the BBC highlights. Great race total in any event.

Qualifying should be ~2.5m or 2.6m, although we won't know for definite it seems until BARB updates next Monday.

Back to last night's ratings, a great peak for The FA Cup, but a hideous rating for The Big Quiz. It seems ITV would have been better off showing the News at 10 as well.