It will be fascinating to see what happens tomorrow now. Maybe viewers will actually give ITV a chance? I haven't witnessed such a negative backlash to a BBC broadcast in a very very long time. There seems to be almost universal agreement that they did a terrible job. Will viewers embrace the alternatives tomorrow or give them another chance?

Right, for The Apprentice:

2011
10/05 - 8.787m + 1.069m = 9.856m
11/05 - 8.297m + 1.145m = 9.442m
18/05 - 8.097m + 1.054m = 9.151m
25/05 - 8.619m + 0.900m = 9.419m
01/06 - 7.590m + 1.132m = 8.722m <-- BGT week
08/06 - 8.617m + 1.014m = 9.631m
Average = 9.37 million

2012
21/03 - 7.607m + 1.451m = 9.058m
28/03 - 7.505m + 0.932m = 8.437m
04/04 - 7.462m + 1.317m = 8.779m
11/04 - 8.054m + 1.261m = 9.315m
18/04 - 7.238m + 1.272m = 8.510m
25/04 - 7.617m + 1.094m = 8.711m
Average = 8.80 million

Source: BARB, BBC.

Is losing half a million viewers a big drop?

Seeing as Andy Murray is playing today, you would have thought that would be on ITV1. and would have brought in some decent figures.

Being on ITV4 it will only get a quarter of what it would get on ITV1.

I doubt the difference between the BBC and ITV will be that much different than the Royal Wedding ratings. It'll take more than one bad broadcast for people to abandon the BBC, especially if the concert is a success tonight.

No but the series overall dropped a lot more than half a million. You've only got the first 6 episodes there, and the y-o-y drops got much bigger as the series progressed, with the final down 3 million and a few other later episodes down 1.5-2m.

It does seem a very strange choice. I would've thought they would take advantage of the bank holiday and the relative lack of opposition (compared to yesterday) to put the tennis on ITV1 until 6pm today as well.

Maybe. But the scathing nature of much of the comment surrounding the BBC's coverage has been a bit of an eye-opener. This level of BBC bashing is indeed quite rare.

Best moment from Sky's coverage yesterday:

http://yfrog.com/0olp5z

Another classic from Kay Burley!

True, and ITV1 were praised for their Royal Wedding coverage. But will people see them as unpatriotic because of the lack of river coverage yesterday and stick with the BBC or Sky? Their lack of promotion for the evening pageant from Windsor could backfire in more ways than one.

Or as I expect, the figure grew throughout the day and the AI figure will come in reasonably high, like it did with their Royal Wedding coverage which seemed to be panned around here but just won a BAFTA!

Oh yeah, I'm not debating that it dropped - it's quite evident that it did, I just wondered if iPlayer made up for any of it.

One more for yesterday:

18:15 - BBC News: 8.9m

Source: Chris Partridge, TV Producer

Quite a few new entries for the Top 20 this weekend, it seems.

Only the criticism isn't just 'around here' this time - the backlash against the BBC's coverage seems fairly widespread across the media today. I agree with Dancc, I've never seen anything like it in a long time.

However I doubt it will have much of an impact on whether people opt for the BBC in the future. They're still seen as the broadcaster of choice for these big events and many will put yesterday down as a rare misstep.

I think the problem with switching the tennis to ITV1 is that it is really difficult to sell advertising space in advance when it is not known when/ if Murray will be on, which would limit the advantages to be had by doing so. It's also worth mentioning that the demographics for the tennis don't really fit in with a weekday afternoon - though I suppose, it is a bank holiday.

I don't think ITV have the same relationship with the organisers that NBC do - they must have lobbied to switch Sloane Stephens (US teenage tennis player) match to finish last on the main court at Roland Garros to fit in with their coverage.

I wonder if we will get the AI scores for the Pageant [EDIT: snap, Georged123!], to help us determine if the bulk of those 10m+ people really were watching 'under protest', unaware of - or unwilling to try - Sky's alternative, or if the Twitter/DS moaners are unrepresentative.

I thought the coverage did get a bit One Show-ish at times, but it added colour and I enjoyed rediscovering Anneka Rice.

Two, interesting, programme "announcements" to do with ITV:

Spice Girls: Viva Forever
- Friday 14th December, 90 minutes

And one programme that may air next month, next year, or may air... never. The last option, is unlikely...

Royal Babies
- 60 minutes
- to be broadcast on the announcment of the pregnancy of Kate Middleton

From what I read the criticism was from a right wing press and a few disgruntled MP's, one BBC employee. I did feel for BBC1 when the weather was affecting the HD feed on board some boats.

Viewers have invested decades of trust in BBC1, that is why after 20 years - most viewers with Sky/Virgin/Freeview in the main shun Sky News for national events. ITV1 might get 'critical acclaim' but it does not come from most TV viewers. Who wants to watch adverts from Direct Line during an iconic national occasion?

Talk about planning ahead.

The criticism has definitely been a lot more widespread than people on here are trying to make out. I can only assume you lot haven't been listening to or watching TV/Radio phone-ins today.

Its still a very small, vocal, minority that if criticised. Were talking a Tory MP, Stepehen Fry and some people on a TV forum. Out of 10m+ watching, I haven' seen much to worry the Beeb...... yet.

I guess we will have to wait for the AI score and the Bafta win next year to get a better picture of the reaction.


I haven't but what is going to happen at the end of the day, will the BBC be banned from showing national events?

If people were that pissed off they should be asking why ITV or C4 didn't show it.

Well the people who phone in to radio shows (not sure what I would call them) thankfully don't represent the 10m+ viewers on Sunday, or the rating would have plummeted throughout the broadcast, if you have seen one boat sail down the Thames - you have seen a 1000!

:confused Sorry but did you miss the Golden Jubilee, The Queen Mother's funeral and to a much lesser extent the last Royal Wedding.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/jun/07/bbc.jubilee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002...=ILCNETTXT3487

Sorry but the Royal Wedding was advert free and tomorrow's coverage will also be advert free.

To be fair, the weather was atrocious and this affected the broadcast.

They won't win a BAFTA.

ETA: I had no issue with the BBC's royal wedding coverage. It was a fantastic and rightly traditional approach. I enjoyed ITV's alternative but that isn't a criticism of the BBC.

That's planning ahead.


And that's really planning ahead.