I only dipped in and out, was a bit more distracted by the tennis

very good average figures for C4, disappointing that the viewing fell away at the night wore on

I think they should have started from 8-8.30pm

very very bad night for ITV - ouch

OUCH for ITV.

Not really who in the real world calls ITV1 ITV 1 anyway, everyone I know just calls it ITV as it is, this is just them entering the real world, goodness know's they need to.

I think BBC1 and 2 are two distinctive channels so it would be a bit confusing to rebrand them ''BBC''. How would you tell the difference ?

So many people are over hyping the Paralympic Games as if everyone cares and as if it's the NEW Olympics. Firstly, I watched the opening Ceremony despite planning not to. I didn't particularly like it, but I have put my reasons on a couple of other threads. I got berated for daring to offer a differing viewpoint.

But you are right in your post that I have quoted above.

I am gobsmacked that it did well, initially. Although it does appear that viewers were switching over in droves once the athletes started coming on.

However, the interest in the Paralympics was due to post Olympics syndrome. We put on such a fabulous games. It created such a feel good factor that the Paralympics is a way of maintaining a little bit of that.

However, there is next to little interest in the Games across the world. Most countries are just showing highlight packages so the opening Ceremony last night will not gain a huge international audience that the Olympic Ceremony did.

And, come 2016, the Paralympics will be a sideline to the main event, like it always has been and let's be honest, that is ALL it really is. Even UK coverage will probably revert back to just an hour or so coverage per day. We shouldn't get carried away that the Paralympics is now a huge event. It is in terms of participants. It is this year because it is in London and our media are hyping it up. But it isn't compared to the Olympics. When a nation bids for the Olympics, they're not bidding for the Olympics because they want the Paralympic Games. We should bear that in mind.

That said though, I was amazed to see so many people tuned in last night and I wrongly underestimated the pull of the Paralympics. Will the ratings continue to be high though? Initially perhaps. But I guess nothing is simple to predict and we'll just have to wait and see.

*whispers* Me How else do you distinguish it from 2 and 3?

Well I still call it Meridian!

I can see where this is going, DS updates a story about the ratings for Ch4 but nothing else... it's like the Olympics all over again. I hope we get all the ratings.

Great peak for the Paralympics - would have been nailed on for a million or two more if they got the order right. I don't believe noone spotted that the big artistic portion of the ceremony was going to occur past 11pm on a weeknight. Obviously it shows the interest is there tor the event, which is great for C4, though we can't be sure how that's going to translate for the Sport itself. That could be a different challenge. The closing could do even better numbers though, especially if its shorter - Coldplay are playing so its mainstream and I think it could feel like a closing to the whole summer, rather than just these Games. Sunday night too - that helps.o

Also, just wow at ITV. That's a figure awful beyond all expectations. How on earth did they hold up worse than the Olympics opening (or indeed against any of the 15-20m BBC One moments of the last few years)?!

ITV, ITV2 ITV3

Same goes for films, to take one example, Men in Black, Men in Black 2, Men in Black 3.

5min peak was 11.2million according to The Guardian.

15min peak was 10.9m

That's odd seeing as Broadcast 99 percent of the time quote 5-minute peaks.

Unless the 5-minute peak of 11.2m includes +1?

Channel 4 top programs of 2012

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C4 -------------- C4 +1 ----------- C4 Official
01: Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony 29/8/12 ------- 7.56m (38.9%) -------- 116k --------------------------
02: Big Fat Gypsy Weddings 14/02/12 ----------------------------- 4.81m (19.9%) ------- 858k ---------------- 6.03m
03: Peter Kay Live: The Tour That Didn't Tour 16/8/12 ---- 3.63m (17.1%) ------- 577k --------------------------
04: The Queen's Mother in Law 21/8/12 -------------------------- 3.47m (14.9%) ------- 493k --------------------------
05: One Born Every Minute 22/2/12 --------------------------------- 3.26m (13.7%) ------- 506k ---------------- 4.15m
06: Peter Kay Live at the Bolton Albert Halls 12/4/12 ------ 3.04m (13.3%) ------- 407k ---------------- 3.35m
07: Embarrassing Bodies 5/3/12 -------------------------------------- 2.95m (12.0%) ------- 509k -----------------3.24m
08: 24 Hours in A&E 20/6/12 --------------------------------------------- 2.89m (13.3%) ------- 401k ---------------- 3.23m
09: 15 Kids and Counting 17/1/12 ------------------------------------ 2.89m (12.0%) ------- 340k ---------------- 3.43m
10: Terror At Sea 31/1/12 ------------------------------------------------- 2.87m (12.0%) ------- 332k ---------------- 3.17m
11: The Hoarder Next Door 3/5/12 ----------------------------------- 2.73m (11.6%) -------- 473k ---------------- 3.11m
12: Gordon Behind Bars 26/6/12 -------------------------------------- 2.64m (11.6%) -------- 321k ---------------- 3.10m

2010 Channel 4 top programs
2011 Channel 4 top programs

C4 and C4 +1 are overnight ratings, C4 official are from the Barb website.
All overnight ratings for 2012 are tape checked averages.
Shows are ranked in order of overnight ratings.
Each name of show only gets one mention in the list;

7.6m for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...ers?CMP=twt_fd

I'm surprised your gobsmacked. The 2008 Paralympic opening ceremony had 2.5m in an afternoon slot. So a 7.7m average isn't that shocking to me given its in London, in primetime and in the aftermath of a very sucessful Olympics.

I wonder what John Barrowman's Dallas got?

Be surprised if we got any other channels ratings.

Surely it's the same point with ITV1 and ITV2?

With a multitude of channels, "ITV" now means the company. Likewise the very first channel was "BBC" until BBC2 was launched.


That would be a good name for the rebrand. BBC1, BBC2, Ouch, C4, Five. Yes, I like that.

It'll be on the list now. The most amazing thing for me looking at that is that I forgot Channel 4 showed snooker.

I think it's because overall, there is generally little interest in the Paralympics. Although UK attitudes towards the Games and indeed, towards disabled people seem to be more positive than in some other countries, so me being gobsmacked can be taken that UK attitudes are changing for the better, which is a good thing.

You heard it here first

Holy Crap at Woman of Substance. It was 7 years before my time and would like to know what it was like. That was for the final part, right? Also nice to see both BB and CBB on the list. 4 Weddings did brilliantly for it's premier too and great to see the Friends final too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...ony-8m-viewers

A Woman Of Substance was period melodrama. Adults seemed to love it at the time as it seemed to get the country hooked. I was young then and just wanted to watch stuff like The A Team.

Is that BBC1's lowest ever 8pm rating as well?