I'm surprised ITV didn't promote Matthew Wolfenden being on Family Fortunes at the end of Dancing on Ice considering he won it last year.


Both channels really struggle with the early evening on Saturday's - it's as though they don't want to spend too much on the programmes as the audience isn't there to watch it; it's become an extension of daytime.


I'd be surprised if it hit 9m with the earlier start and the decline from last year. It'll need to build throughout the series, which is doesn't usually do.


No. The ads just came later.

Thanks.

It got 5.1m against EastEnders last week - I would think 7.3m is achievable tonight?

They must have done. They're finishing 45 minutes earlier this year. They can't possibly be starting 45 minutes earlier as well. Must be a shorter programme.

I really think people are greatly overstating how clever or deep Britain's Brightest is. Last night the games included guessing someone's age, a spelling test, some basic adding up, a memory test and the picture word quiz from Big Fat Quiz on Channel 4 (a show nobody has ever accused of being too smart I'm sure). This is hardly ground breaking stuff.

BBC1 should just run Final Score to 5.40 then the news then start the LE at 6pm. ITV already wait until 6 to start theirs.

Or they could put Question Of Sport on on Saturday evening instead of Wednesday at 10.35pm.

They are only running half the couples arent they-and half next week? Presumably show three will be longer.

There is one less skater in the opening show this year. They've also changed the scheduling.

2012
6.30 Dancing on Ice
8.30 Wild at Heart
9.30 Dancing On Ice: The Skate Off

2013
6.15 Dancing on Ice
8.45 All Star Family Fortunes
8.30 Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off
9.00 Mr. Selfridge

The main show's opposition is also arguably this year, with an Africa repeat, the news and Countryfile airing between Dancing On Ice's hours in 2013 while in 2012 it had to face full epsiodes of Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow.

In 2012 the skate off had to face the last half hour of Sherlock; tonight the skate off has to tackle the last half hour of Antique's Roadshow.

I don't get why BBC One have held back on launching Call the Midwife and Blandings to be honest; why give Dancing on Ice a potential leg up (not that Countryfile and Anqitues Roadshow won't do well)?

Thats what people said would happen for XFactor but it never happened. Dancing on Ice is a stale format, it is damaged goods. No amount of changing the judges, set redesigns or small format changes will alter the fact that it is a repetitive format which has been exhausted. What used to be exciting about it such as headbangers and seeing celebs in danger no longer has the same impact because viewers have seen these features time and time again. This series of Dancing on ice will just continue where the last one left off and get its worst ever launch ratings and worst ever ratings for the rest of the series.

Thanks DMN - didn't quite believe things had got that bad when someone said elsewhere Daybreak had a zero rating. If rather than axing the Morning news they'd moved it to within the breakfast slot for 6-6.30 then that would help Daybreak as 6.30am is when it gets it's first big boost - though I guess we'd only be bumping the figure by tens of thousands, so it's still well down on Breakfast.


I think it'll have to be beforehand as the schedules need to be in before the Wednesday night replay, so the latest they can really decide is after the Tuesday night replays. The Liverpool and Man Utd replays will both be on Wednesday as they play each other Sunday. Arsenal also due to play on the Sunday too, so that's the three big replays competing for Wednesday night.


And always somewhat unfairly. No doubt about it though the FA Cup being on the BBC would be good for the FA Cup - though IMO it's still too costly a contract for the BBC to justify spending on if ITV are willing to continue with it (and even if ITV are not, the BBC would still pay what the FA want as they do with MOTD).


P.S. For those catching up with this thread the key ratings posts from today:

I think that just shows how poor the trailer was for it. It looked like a combination of The Krypton Factor, You Bet! and Test the Nation with challenging questions about psychology thrown in.

The X Factor had a failed launch and didn't recover. It didn't rate badly (unless taking previous years into account); it didn't see a downturn but it didn't see an increase.

On the standard of tonight Dancing on Ice certainly deserves to regain some ground; talent wise it was one of the strongest in some time.

Last years X Factor wasn't the best year and they didn't appear to do anything to stop the decline. They've clearly rethought DOI because tonights show felt a lot different to last year, everything felt much fresher and more polished. They have a promising set of contestants too.

If viewers were bored of stale/old shows then shows such as SCD and IAC would be posting all time lows but they're not. Its completely down to how the producers approach it. Also going in DOI's favour is that this years shows are a lot shorter and the results are an hour earlier.

ITV2 are airing Up All Night, a comedy on parenthood, at 9.30pm on Monday's...opposite Mrs. Brown's Boys.

Are they insane?!

The line up is much better. Karen is back and Ashley is on the panel.

To be honest I think the BBC strategy here is good with a strong focus to their promotional efforts.

Last weekend – Ripper Street
This weekend – New Saturday night schedule
Next weekend – New Sunday night schedule

In contrast ITV have just thrown everything at the wall on the same weekend. Splash, Take Me Out, Jonathan Ross, Dancing on Ice, All-Star Family Fortunes and Mr Selfridge all start/return on ITV this weekend. Not hard to see something getting lost in the shuffle. Especially when you consider the BBC also launched Animal Antics, Secret Service and Britain's Brightest. Add Blandings, Call the Midwife and the second week of Ripper Street to all that and the whole slate is far too crowded.


Lets not forget that a few years ago people were saying very similar things about Strictly Come Dancing. Then it did a little bit of a rebrand and this year was basically the biggest show of the year (when you exclude sports and special events).

So, if MUs 4th round match is chosen (as is being widely predicted over in the broadcasting forum) they'll be takimg a big risk?

K

No, it shows how poor the programme is. The format is too derivative and the questions too random.

All the best quiz show formats are simple and stick to the point. For example:

Family Fortunes: find the answers that the most people gave.

Pointless: find the answers that the least people gave.

Millionaire: multiple-choice questions and a few siple life-lines (although, since they introduced the time limit, the programme and Tarrant are both in a permanent state of panic.)

even Deal Or No Deal (the game show for dimwits) open the boxes then either except the banker's offer or open some more boxes.

Having seen both Up All Night and Mrs Brown's Boys I doubt there's a huge crossover audience between the two. And it sort of, kind of survived airing against Big Bang Theory in the US this season.

I'm more interested to see what ITV2 are going to do with Up All Night long term. NBC are switching the show from single cam to multi-cam as we speak. Assuming it survives that switch (a big assumption) it won't be what ITV2 brought.

Well, not really a big risk. Man Utd at home to West Ham.

But they could still end up with West Ham v Blackpool. Fingers crossed.

I'm guessing ITV have more advert time than adverts...they've just aired a bunch of trailers between Family Fortunes and Dancing on Ice and no ads at all.

There is certainly an element of throwing a lot at the screen and hoping something sticks. I think part of the problem is that there's no consistency with the contestants. The format of having two contestants competing against each other in the opening rounds makes the whole thing feel even more disjointed. If it were the same group of contestants going against each other from round one on it might feel a little smoother and more connected. Or even an element where each contestant gets to decide whether to compete in any given round or not depending upon what it is. Makes the whole thing a little more strategic.

Presumably they've saved all the paid for slots for Dancing on Ice and Mr Selfridge. Says a lot about how they expect Family Fortunes to do...

Of course it does mean we'll be able to tell how well ITV's Sunday night is doing by how many ads start creeping into Family Fortunes.

I hope so but was it really up against anything that could dent it?

CBB 1st eviction will be between....



Announcement will be shown on 5*'s CBB Bit On The Side tonight at 10pm (so won't be a spoiler after that), with the eviction taking place on Wednesday night.

Anyone who thinks Splash! might sink in episode 2 should note that some people might want to see supermodel Caprice and Sky Sports News' Charlotte Jackson in a swimsuit. To see how they get on of course. ITV1 did get lucky last night though with Man Utd losing until injury time.
They will probably have to put TOWIE's Joey Essex on last, in case the water turns orange (I'm here all week).

Its clear that ITV have recognised DOI was slacking and there is much more expectation now surrounding this series which should translate into higher figures. The shorter running time, changes and lack of serious oppostion starting at the launch point should all help even if the 6.15 schedule is a bit early for comfort.
Fascinating to see the results shows figures-people didnt seem bothered last year and generally who gets dumped on DOI doesnt seem to create much interest.