[C14E]

Originally Posted by Brekkie

Arguments for and against the split in performance and result show - personally I'd prefer it all in one, but it doesn't bother me too much. I don't think it's a marathon though - 9 acts in 90 minutes is pretty good going nowadays for a talent show (If it was Dancing on Ice you could add half an hour!) and I think it moves along at a nice enough pace. The result show is pretty straight to the point too as far as result shows go, though personally I would like to see a second guest act each night so along with the "big name" they either have a former BGT contestant or the a winner of an international version just so the guests aren't always singers.

It's not the pacing that's an issue - I'd agree that 9 acts in 90 minutes is pretty good by most shows standards. It's just the sheer length of time which starts to kick in during the final hour with a 30 minute gap then the slower paced results (which are always going to be harder to fill).

And I think making that request for 5 nights in a row is a lot to ask for most viewers.

[NeilVW]

Originally Posted by C14E

And as someone who doesn't watch very often (clearly) it seems like there's less and less hype around these stripped weeks and less investment in them from the producers (who probably now roll their eyes every time Fincham demands a 9pm run!).

So it's not just on here that people roll their eyes?

[Georged123]

Originally Posted by D.M.N.

GotTalent
Our NEW #BGMT presenters will be announced tonight. @itv2, 10pm
9:31 PM - 10 May 12

Where's Stephen Mullhern going?

Originally Posted by T Penery

It's all a joke. Turns out it was revealed to be Jedward.

Ive seen very little BGT or BGMT this year but Stephen Mulhern has always been excellent on the spin-off show. Im sure Cowell would love someone of his quality on Xtra Factor.

Originally Posted by Brekkie

So kind of a similar story to The X Factor last year. Perhaps it is the change in timing that has hit the live shows more than anything and I still believe they'd have been better sticking to their regular week leading up to the Jubilee weekend, but unlike The X Factor it certainly can't be put down to the talent on stage as this year is clearly stronger than the last couple - and I think they've been justified in putting the extra act into each nights show.

Originally Posted by C14E

It's not the pacing that's an issue - I'd agree that 9 acts in 90 minutes is pretty good by most shows standards. It's just the sheer length of time which starts to kick in during the final hour with a 30 minute gap then the slower paced results (which are always going to be harder to fill).

And I think making that request for 5 nights in a row is a lot to ask for most viewers.

I just think the show has had less publicity for the talent and more publicity on the ratings battle with The Voice. As a very casual viewer I have heard very little about the talent this year, the most being about Jonathan and Charlotte but not much else and more people talking about The Voice.

I really don't think the show's scheduling or time of the year is the issue, the weather has been awful and people have sat through the same runtime for the previous two years. It's just that people haven't been talking about the talent and that has meant less people are tuning in for the live shows.

[Fudd]

I'm surprised Britain's Got Talent's results show saw an increase last night but ITV will be relieved. It really deserves to climb in tonight's ratings - bizarrely the weakest semi final possibly ever was followed by the strongest. They're obviously trying to create momentum for the final but will people have switched off; especially with the increased competition?

Planet Earth Live lost it's audience without The Voice as a lead in and Britain's Got Talent had a half hour head start tonight though EastEnders did offer a lead in. The Apprentice performed very well to hold up like it did - BBC One and ITV1 didn't appear to really hurt each other at all at 9pm.

The Simpsons is obviously hurting from the early evenings; I'm sure it was getting 2m+ a couple of months ago on Channel 4 at 6pm. Edward VII picked up a reasonable figure considering the competition.

[Steve Williams]

Originally Posted by C14E

Buying a hit format tends to be as close to a guarantee of success as you can get - hence why so much money is spent on them and made from them. By no means was The Marriage Ref a hit.

Yes, but there have been many examples of hit formats from other countries that have flopped in the UK, So You Think You Can Dance is a good example, and there have also been some flop shows in America that have been hits in the UK (it's going back a bit but Call My Bluff is an American format that lasted about two minutes in the US) and The Marriage Ref could have worked because the UK has more of a history of comedy panel shows. In addition many formats have been changed beyond recognition, The Bubble in the UK was completely different to the Israeli original. To suggest buying a format requires "zero creative development" is plain wrong, it depends how it's adapted for a UK audience.

Originally Posted by Fudd

The Simpsons is obviously hurting from the early evenings; I'm sure it was getting 2m+ a couple of months ago on Channel 4 at 6pm.

Well, depends what the episodes are, some of them have been repeated about a thousand times, and twice within about three months.

[Score]

The last semi final of #BGT drew an average audience of 9m, with the results show attracting 8.2m (inc+1)

Britain's Got Talent ratings: Audience peaks of 10.6m for the main show, and 9.1m for the results show (inc+1) #BGT

Jenny Cummins

[Dancc]

Originally Posted by Steve Williams

Well, depends what the episodes are, some of them have been repeated about a thousand times, and twice within about three months.

That's nothing.

Over on E4, at two episodes a night with 87 episodes in total each cycle of The Big Bang Theory lasts just under 7 weeks, with no discernible impact on viewing figures whatsoever.

[kwynne42]

Originally Posted by Dancc

That's nothing.

Over on E4, at two episodes a night with 87 episodes in total each cycle of The Big Bang Theory lasts just under 7 weeks, with no discernible impact on viewing figures whatsoever.

I expect that cycle to take a bit longer once the new season finishes, a whole extra 2 weeks or so.

[xfactorfan27]

Originally Posted by Score

The last semi final of #BGT drew an average audience of 9m, with the results show attracting 8.2m (inc+1)

Britain's Got Talent ratings: Audience peaks of 10.6m for the main show, and 9.1m for the results show (inc+1) #BGT

Jenny Cummins

A relief for ITV that it didn't dip to Tuesday's level again. Very strong for results show in particular!

[RobbieSykes123]

Surprised BGT failed to reach 9m main show and 8m for results, for the last semi final! Where's the "big mo'" gone?

A night off tonight, and a partial Voice clash tomorrow, won't help - and it is already hampered by the 150 min marathon duration.

Will it clear 11.99m in the officials tomorrow, which it needs to beat The Voice in the end of year chart?

[newkid30]

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123

Surprised BGT failed to reach 9m main show and 8m for results, for the last semi final! Where's the "big mo'" gone?

A night off tonight, and a partial Voice clash tomorrow, won't help - and it is already hampered by the 150 min marathon duration.

Will it clear 11.99m in the officials tomorrow, which it needs to beat The Voice in the end of year chart?

Why is it not on tonight?
Is tomorrow the results final too?

[Dancc]

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123

A night off tonight, and a partial Voice clash tomorrow, won't help - and it is already hampered by the 150 min marathon duration.

Not like you to be lining up potential excuses for the ITV faithful to call upon on Sunday if things don't go to plan! Scrap the one in bold though, please. The 150m duration is no different to 2010 which also aired across an identical timeslot, and that one appeared to do just fine with 11.8m and a gargantuan 52% share. Last year's had the same total length as well, but split across two programmes.

[dillan]

Not bad for BGT. I think the final tomorrow will get around what The X Factor final got last year. Around 13million.

[grahamzxy]

I am not sure how many ad breaks ITV1 can use for BGT tomorrow. Over 150 minutes of primetime, it has to be around 30 mins. I can see the rating going up 1m+ on last night, but not two million, of course kids might stay up late on a saturday night.

[grahamzxy]

Originally Posted by dillan

Not bad for BGT. I think the final tomorrow will get around what The X Factor final got last year. Around 13million.

That would require 14 million or so to watch from 7:30-10:00 completely, then take into account the percentage who turn over for ad breaks. A 13m rating would be the shock of the year so far.

[grimshaw]

Yeah BGT is just going to get a 'normal' figure on Saturday imo.
Expect a quiet night; fortunately it'll be able to scream it was still above The Voice.

Still ITV need to think about the show. I think taking on The Voice harmed it and both shows became about each other - people watched to compare.

The talent was dire in the auditions. I usually only watch the auditions but the entire show felt like it lacked energy. I think they need to pull away from the cheap cliches.

I don't see any reason for a Saturday boost.

[C14E]

Originally Posted by Steve Williams

Yes, but there have been many examples of hit formats from other countries that have flopped in the UK, So You Think You Can Dance is a good example, and there have also been some flop shows in America that have been hits in the UK (it's going back a bit but Call My Bluff is an American format that lasted about two minutes in the US) and The Marriage Ref could have worked because the UK has more of a history of comedy panel shows. In addition many formats have been changed beyond recognition, The Bubble in the UK was completely different to the Israeli original. To suggest buying a format requires "zero creative development" is plain wrong, it depends how it's adapted for a UK audience.

In many cases, however, there isn't much room to adapt. Shows like The Voice and The Apprentice have a fairly rigid format. The Voice in particular is the same everywhere - there's even a lengthy document telling them how they must use social media. The trend is towards format creators tightly controlling their shows and restricting room for creative development.

And broadcasters tend to be quite happy with that. Whenever you see interviews or panels with people involved in this kind of stuff they always say that the risk averse nature of broadcasters is what makes them money.

Has The Voice actually failed in any country it has aired in? Likewise, ITV passed on Got Talent, but later bought a show which has been a success in pretty much every major territory on earth (I think it flopped in Spain?!).

It's more like a financial market. You've got your triple A "can't fail" stuff like The Voice, Idol, Got Talent, Dancing With The Stars that has all the risk of buying German bonds. Then your "B minus" stuff like So You Think You Can Dance and Hell's Kitchen. And finally "junk" like The Marriage Ref.

[AlexiR]

I can't help but think that Talent's real problem at this stage is that the semi-finals all just blur into one because there's very little diversity between the acts that make it this far. The only thing I've seen this year that stands out from any other year of Talent are the synchronised swimmers everything else appears to be the same old, same old rinsed off and repeated. Whilst I don't for one second believe it'll happen I can't help but think ITV (and SyCo) might be better served by resting Talent for a year or at least making a more focused effort on finding talent beyond the dance acts, dog acts and singers. People will watch this kind of middle of the road stuff during the holidays (because they need something to occupy the kids etc.) but competing for their attention during a regular school and working week is just much harder.

Having said all that I think the general Got Talent format is fine. In fact I tend to think its by far and away the best basic format of any of these reality competition shows its just that ITV aren't really making the most of it.

In other news lots of renewals from ABC in the US

Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor and Shark Tank all renewed on the unscripted front. Grey's Anatomy, Revenge, Once Upon A Time and Castle all renewed on the drama side. Modern Family, The Middle and Suburgatory all renewed on the comedy side. Deadline is also reporting that Happy Endings and Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 will both be picked up by the end of the week.

NBC meanwhile look to have locked in another series of The Office after resigning most of the cast and Community has picked up a 13 episode order for next year. Parks & Rec is expected to be renewed some point over the weekend and somewhat surprisingly talks are on going for Up All Night and Whitney. The amount of comedy NBC has lined up for next season is pretty staggering.

The Office, 30 Rock, Community, Parks & Rec and probably Off Their Rockers are all pretty much locked into return. Plus they've picked up Go On, Save Me, The New Normal, 1600 Penn, Animal Practice and Guys with Kids. Plus they're talking about renewing Up All Night and Whitney and reportedly still have a couple of comedy pilots still in contention for pick-ups.

[C14E]

BGT performances down 6%, results down 16% vs Thursday night last year. 2 hour average down 8.5%.

Semi-final performances averaged 9.14m, down 7.7%. Results (4 episodes) averaged 7.86m, down 16.3%. 2 hour average down 8.9% to 8.90m.

I think we may find ourselves in a +1 argument at the weekend.

[dillan]

Originally Posted by grahamzxy

That would require 14 million or so to watch from 7:30-10:00 completely, then take into account the percentage who turn over for ad breaks. A 13m rating would be the shock of the year so far.

I mean 13million would be for when the result is announced.

I think it will probably average maybe 10million.

[Score]

Originally Posted by C14E

BGT performances down 6%, results down 16% vs Thursday night last year. 2 hour average down 8.5%.

Semi-final performances averaged 9.14m, down 7.7%. Results (4 episodes) averaged 7.86m, down 16.3%. 2 hour average down 8.9% to 8.90m.

I think we may find ourselves in a +1 argument at the weekend.

It's pretty clear that not being in half term has dented the results show quite significantly, as those have seen much steeper declines than the performances shows, which have seen fairly small declines. The fact that there's been a decline at all is disappointing after how well the auditions did though, and other than changing the scheduling it's difficult to see what else they could have done.

I think they're looking at an average of about 11m (inc +1) for Saturday, which, like this week's performance shows would be a small y-o-y decline (about 7%) as last year's 2.5 hour average was 11.8m. Had you said to ITV before the series started that the final would only be slightly down on last year they would have probably been fairly pleased but again after how well the auditions did it's a bit underwhelming. It'll be close as to whether it beats The Voice's 11.99m consolidated rating too as last year's 2.5 hour timeshift was +0.96m whilst 2010's was +1.16m. Will be some major gloating on here if it does but equally I suspect BGT's final will outrate The Voice's so it's swings and roundabouts I guess.

[RobbieSykes123]

Originally Posted by Score

It's pretty clear that not being in half term has dented the results show quite significantly, as those have seen much steeper declines than the performances shows, which have seen fairly small declines. The fact that there's been a decline at all is disappointing after how well the auditions did though, and other than changing the scheduling it's difficult to see what else they could have done.

I think they're looking at an average of about 11m (inc +1) for Saturday, which, like this week's performance shows would be a small y-o-y decline (about 7%) as last year's 2.5 hour average was 11.8m. Had you said to ITV before the series started that the final would only be slightly down on last year they would have probably been fairly pleased but again after how well the auditions did it's a bit underwhelming. It'll be close as to whether it beats The Voice's 11.99m consolidated rating too as last year's 2.5 hour timeshift was +0.96m whilst 2010's was +1.16m. Will be some major gloating on here if it does but equally I suspect BGT's final will outrate The Voice's so it's swings and roundabouts I guess.

Even if it doesn't beat The Voice's 12m, ITV will just cheat and add in the ITV1+1 repeat, like they did last year to claim TXF outrated The Royal Wedding...

[GeorgeS]

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123

Even if it doesn't beat The Voice's 12m, ITV will just cheat and add in the ITV1+1 repeat, like they did last year to claim TXF outrated The Royal Wedding...

I'd didnt realise this was your rules that determined the communication of ratings information paid for by ITV to its own clients.

[Andy23]

Yes I don't think there is any need for any over analysis, what went wrong, what can they do in future etc, at the end of the day after 6 series some people are bored of the show and don't want to watch anymore. That is inevitable and as long as these people are massively outnumbered by those who are coming back, then they will be happy with that. Also as long as it continues to rate in the 8/9/10 million area which is higher than 95% of other programmes then there is no crisis.

The results show decline being out of proportion to the main show will be due to a smaller Corrie storyline, meaning the 9pm offerings elsewhere seem more attractive in comparison and the fact that it isn't half term. The success of the show should really be based on the ratings for the main show rather than the results.

[Andy23]

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123

Even if it doesn't beat The Voice's 12m, ITV will just cheat and add in the ITV1+1 repeat, like they did last year to claim TXF outrated The Royal Wedding...

In this case that shouldn't be a problem as the show is longer than an hour meaning your arguments about it being a 'repeat' don't apply. You can't watch both showings in full.