The Ratings Thread (Part 44)

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Andy23

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“Can't wait to see "Grimmy"'s RAJARs...”

Indeed, talking about RAJAR's, I wonder if they will ever introduce a BARB style daily rating system.

Imagine if when Daybreak replaced GMTV, if people had to wait about 4 months to know how it was doing, and even then it was some vague one line figure!

iaindb

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by Score:
“I definitely agree that it is going to be very tough for them to get back into comedy and they certainly should not be using the same benchmarks that they use for new drama because otherwise nothing will break through. That's a poor rating for Great Night Out and whilst it's a decent enough show I can't see it being something that grows significantly through word of mouth either. Perhaps it could a bit but not massively. It strikes me as something that would do reasonably well on Sky1 but isn't quite there for ITV1. But then as you say if the other two comedies don't do much either then they're going to have to keep one of them at least and I do agree that they should try repeat runs etc especially on ITV2 (perhaps a 9pm repeat run and a 10:45pm post-Celebrity Juice run). Sitcoms tend to grow over time and they need to be patient.

Having said that, I actually think that even if the 3 sitcoms perform at the same level I'd prefer them to renew one of the 30 minute ones instead as they are more straight sitcoms as opposed to comedy dramas. Also 30 minute sitcoms are less of a commitment and so they'll probably have slightly lower benchmarks. I also think The Job Lot and Vicious both sound better than Great Night Out, although as always the proof will be when they air. I do partly agree that they could struggle around the 3m mark like GNO, but then on the other hand I think The Job Lot could possibly appeal to a broader audience than GNO and therefore stand a better chance. It being a straight sitcom rather than a comedy drama could help too as so long as the scripts are good it should be more consistently funny. Meanwhile, Vicious has a stellar cast so probably has the best chance of getting a decent opening episode audience at least, what with it starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Again it's a straight 30 minute sitcom as opposed to a comedy drama and is written by a guy that has written for shows such as Will & Grace and Family Guy so should be funny. It is also a studio sitcom which seem to be back in fashion these days what with Miranda and Mrs Brown's Boys, so I wouldn't write it off. I hope one of them at least does reasonably well and that they stick at it, although I can see why you aren't too optimistic about it.”

Everytime I read about The Job Lot I keep thinking about Pay And Display, the really awful James Bolam sitcom set in a car park back office that was on ITV in 2000. And Vicious makes me think of BBC1's The Old Guys which was one of those comedies that looked like it should have done well but never quite gelled.

But fingers crossed I'm wrong. Maybe Vicious will be ITV's answer to Mrs Brown's Boys.

D.M.N.

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by iaindb:
“Everytime I read about The Job Lot I keep thinking about Pay And Display, the really awful James Bolam sitcom set in a car park back office that was on ITV in 2000. And Vicious makes me think of BBC1's The Old Guys which was one of those comedies that looked like it should have done well but never quite gelled.

But fingers crossed I'm wrong. Maybe Vicious will be ITV's answer to Mrs Brown's Boys.”

I do wonder if we'll see in the next year or so ITV throwing a lot of comedies onto screen in quick succession in an attempt to find the next Miranda or Mrs Brown's Boys? I can't imagine that they are too impressed at seeing both take off in the manner they have...

C14E

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by jake lyle:
“ Wow I missed that originally. Not too far ahead of Father Brown Imagine how low it would have rated if there had been no snow!”

Not a huge amount worse, there wasn't a big uplift in the 9pm audience last night, just over a million higher than last week and I'm pretty sure we've seen higher 9pm audiences on "normal" nights this week.

Originally Posted by SamuelW:
“I dont like the arrogance Itv showed. They made a big announcement about them getting back into comedy and acted as if all their new comedies deserve big ratings and by just showing a few comedies they acted as if they automatically deserve a better reputation. But these ratings for Great night out are a wake up call that Itv cant just produce any old generic comedy and expect good ratings. Their reputation with comedy, particularly among critics, is still very bad. This whole project by Itv was very misguided, they dont know what makes a hit comedy, and theyve turned this new show into yet another flop.”

There really are no words...

Originally Posted by Georged123:
“I wouldn't call it arrogance but ITV made the decision many years ago to stop bothering with comedies and catering to male viewers and target pretty much only women and families with more reality and lifestyle programming. So winning back a section of viewers that have been alienated by the channel for the best part of a decade is going to be tough.”

ITV1 perhaps - the launch of ITV4 has obviously been designed to reach male viewers - although it was a few years ago that Michael Grade spent a fortune on getting more football rights to bring in the very audience you speak of. Across the board, even with shows you might think are more male skewed, women dominate TV viewing. It's so much the norm that I wouldn't be surprised if Game of Thrones turned out to have a 50/50 split!

Great Night Out is doing poorly by any measure, of course. But on the more general point, I'm not sure ITV made such a conscious decision in terms of male viewers. I mean, there's no reason why a detective drama should appeal 60/40 to female viewers, but it often will.

Targeting males with drama and scripted might be a bit like the challenge ITV have going for 16-34's - by doing it they chase of the "regular" audience (female/older) but they can never push up the demo skew high enough to compensate for the lower ratings. So they end up with a low rated show that doesn't really get that many male or young viewers.

I guess the obvious solution is to "piggyback" on what does well in those demos. So launch a new 16-34 show or comedy in Q4 and promote it heavily through X Factor and I'm A Celebrity. Or launch a new male show the night after some football and promote it heavily during that. But this is far from a foolproof plan either.

Chris1964

19-01-2013

Re regional news, I just think people have a guilty pleasure of sitting in their warm cosy armchairs and watching other peoples snow induced dramas. And counting how many outside broadcast crews there are reporting the snow-live!
Didnt catch why, but somebody was even at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire-all it was was a blanket of snow. Nobody there but the crew as far as I could tell.

C14E

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by Chris1964:
“Re regional news, I just think people have a guilty pleasure of sitting in their warm cosy armchairs and watching other peoples snow induced dramas. And counting how many outside broadcast crews there reporting the snow-live!”

It is a bit of a mystery - it's snow. It happens every year. You get a day off work and sit and watch lunchtime "snow news" so as you know... it snowed a bit, some schools and roads are closed. Then in the evening - 2 hours more news saying "it snowed". Do people spend hours on the motorway getting home then get in and think "I wonder why it was so slow, must watch the news" ?!!! We Brits are an odd bunch - or at least a few million of us are!

Digital Sid

19-01-2013

This series CBB ratings so far compared to CBB9's, all ratings include +1:

CBB9:
Thurs - 3.54m
Fri - 2.61m
Sat - 2.1m
Sun - 2.23m
Mon - 2.33m
Tues - 2.17m
Wed - 2.24m
Thurs - 2.75m
Fri - 2.3m
Sat - 1.86m
Sun - 1.62m
Mon - 2.16m
Tues - 2.26m
Wed - 2.14
Thurs - 2.36
Fri - 2.64

CBB11:
Thurs - 3.55m
Fri - 2.05m
Sat - 2.07m
Sun - 2.2m
Mon - 2.2m
Tues - 1.98m
Wed - 2.27m
Thurs - 2.15m
Fri - 2.29m
Sat - 2.09m
Sun - 2.39m
Mon - 2.23m
Tues - 2.33m
Wed - 2.25m
Thurs - 2.08m
Fri - 2.56

CBB9 average at this point = 2.33m
CBB11 average so far = 2.29m
Difference = 0.04m

(2.25m and 2.21m with a 0.04m difference not including launches)

NeilVW

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by Brekkie:
“...Plus there was the risk of Nick Grimshaw popping up in between breaks - talking of which anyone know when the next radio figures are due out?

(God, imagine this thread if we only got TV figures every 3 months!)”

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“Can't wait to see "Grimmy"'s RAJARs...”

The RAJARs are out a week on Thursday, 31 January. I really cannot get to grips with Grimmy either; but then I'm 33 so I've also slipped out of the 18-29 target audience. I'm not supposed to "get" him I suppose

Originally Posted by D.M.N.:
“Friday 11th January 2013 - Demographic Breakdowns
Children 4-15
05 - 466k (23.9%) - The Dumping Ground (17:00, CBBC)”

Am I looking at my figures wrong? I've got 279k kids (13.7%), 429k people (2.4%) for TDG. Good rating in either case, whipping CITV's repeats 10:1.

iaindb

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by D.M.N.:
“I do wonder if we'll see in the next year or so ITV throwing a lot of comedies onto screen in quick succession in an attempt to find the next Miranda or Mrs Brown's Boys? I can't imagine that they are too impressed at seeing both take off in the manner they have...”

i don't like Benidorm as a viewer, but I do like that it proved to ITV that it's still possible for then to produce a hit sitcom. (They might call it a comedy-drama, but it'll always be a sitcom in my eyes.)

We can only speculate at how some of the hit ITV sitcoms of the past would have fared if they'd launched now with all other things equal - Rising Damp, A Fine Romance, Man About The House. I see MATH repeats sometimes and think that it still comes across as a funny, compotent series today.

Or what about On The Buses?

We might think that would flop it it started today but look at Mrs Brown's Boys. Like OTB it's as subtle as a soda syphon down the trousers, yet it's a huge hit.

D.M.N.

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by NeilVW:
“Am I looking at my figures wrong? I've got 279k kids (13.7%), 429k people (2.4%) for TDG. Good rating in either case, whipping CITV's repeats 10:1.”

Don't forget I'm looking at the consolidated data for Friday 11th January.

Which was 466k (23.9%) for kids and 684k (4.4%) total.

RobbieSykes123

19-01-2013

They can probably console themselves with the fact that like Gavin and Stacey when that became a massive much loved smash, neither MBB nor Miranda are likely to appear on BBC1 again for a considerable time, and possibly only as xmas one offs if at all.

And they can try to poach Miranda and Brendan in some big money deal to present travelogues or do ill fated sketch shows in order to make sure they don't appear on BBC1 again.

Hassaan13

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by PaulRobinsonFan:
“Anything for Neighbours? ”

13:45 - 833k (7.3%)
17:30 - 1.11m (5.5%).

The Full Sparky

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“They can probably console themselves with the fact that like Gavin and Stacey when that became a massive much loved smash, neither MBB nor Miranda are likely to appear on BBC1 again for a considerable time, and possibly only as xmas one offs if at all.

And they can try to poach Miranda and Brendan in some big money deal to present travelogues or do ill fated sketch shows in order to make sure they don't appear on BBC1 again.

”

Depressingly predictable - Miranda Hart for a new studio based You've Been Framed?

James J

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by rzt:
“It's been a good series for Celebrity Big Brother so far especially the last week. The CBB11 overnight average is currently 2.36m (inc +1), which is up slightly from the CBB9 average at the same stage last year (2.34m inc +1). It's comfortably ahead (+20%) of CBB10 which had an overnight average of 1.96m (inc +1) by this stage of its series.

I had a feeling Great Night Out would drop even with the current weather condititions. Its audience eroded -18% last week between the first quarter and final quarter, and with the usual 2nd week trends I would've expected a -18% drop for the yesterday's episode which would've left it at 2.8m. The increased number of viewers watching tv last night artificially boosted it slightly to 3.0m. Comedy is a terribly difficult genre to get right - for every hit there generally are 4 or 5 flops. For every Outnumbered, Mrs Brown's Boys and Not Going Out that originated on BBC1 in the last 5 years, they must've had 10-15 sitcoms in that time which didn't do well. C4's hit rate is worse and comedy is one of their most important genres. ITV will have to be patient and go through a lot of comedy flops to find that elusive hit.

And usually finding that hit won't come instantly in the first series anyway. Outside of Christmas period, hardly ever in recent years has a brand-new BBC1/ITV peak time comedy rated well right from the first series. It's mostly been comedies in bad slots which rated quite well (above slot average) in their first series, got a lot of people saying that they were better than expected because expectations were low, repeats and DVD sales got more people into them, and then better slots and promotion in future series helped ratings grow - and obviously being funny helps! ITV will have to play a similar long game to find their successes. And for ITV in particular it'll be even harder because their ratings for new scripted shows nearly always collapses outside of period and crime dramas which isn't the case with BBC1 - the problem ITV have is that pretty much all of their 4/5/6m dramas are mainly due to 55+ year olds making up the bulk of their audiences. Whenever they show any scripted show remotely young-skewing/relationship-based/edgy/quirky/comedic, their normally bulk 55+ year old audience collapses and even though these shows might get more of the younger viewers watching than the traditional crime dramas, they're usually no way near enough to compensate for the drop in older viewers. So in order to get those young viewers watching their comedies in the magnitute ITV needs to compensate for the significantly fewer older viewers and get respectable ratings, either ITV need to have big marketing campaigns for these new comedies pre-launch so that more young people are aware of these shows starting and more likely to tune in but obviously this has a high risk of the comedy rating well initially and then losing viewers each week (i.e. what they did with Moving Wallpaper a few years ago). The long route as described earlier is the alternative, with the hope that lots of young people end up catching repeats of a show or the DVD they may have missed initially when the first series was broadcast and then these extra viewers start tuning into future series. Obviously though that doesn't always work out if the shows aren't strong enough, but that seems to be the way in which most of the current hit comedies have come through.

With Great Night Out, 3m is obviously poor. But if it does stay stable at that mark for the rest of the series (which in all likelihood probably won't be the case but let's say if it does), I don't think ITV should write it off straight away. They should repeat it a few times on ITV2 and in some late night ITV slots just to see if it does pick up decent rerun audiences, many of those viewers could end up being new viewers who didn't catch the series initially. And then make a decision on its future. In all likelihood, the chances are ITV's other two comedies launching this year will not rate well either, such is the low hit rate in the genre. Unless it's obvious something should be cancelled straight away (losing many viewers over the course of the series), they should at least see what kind of repeat audiences they are capable of, before making renewal decisions.”

You are by far my favourite poster on DS.

So insightful, so unbiased and so positive yet realistic in everything you write.

I adore your contributions, thank you so much.

You exist beyond the politics, beyond the bias, beyond the nonsense and serve to be THE definitive voice of this thread, always backing yourself up with accurate figures and thoughtful word and never coming across with a whiff of arrogance. I salute you rzt, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Hassaan13

19-01-2013

Predictions for tonight?

6m+ for Splash I presume.

big dan

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by James J:
“You are by far my favourite poster on DS.

So insightful, so unbiased and so positive yet realistic in everything you write.

I adore your contributions, thank you so much.

You exist beyond the politics, beyond the bias, beyond the nonsense and serve to be THE definitive voice of this thread, always backing yourself up with accurate figures and thoughtful word and never coming across with a whiff of arrogance. I salute you rzt, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.”

Long-term lurker of this thread, and gotta say I love this post. It's so good to see some positivity here once in a while, and I definitely agree with you on rzt. Great contributor to the boards.

Brekkie

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by NeilVW:
“Am I looking at my figures wrong? I've got 279k kids”

You've been busy then!

The trouble is ITV throw them straight into the heart of primetime, while almost without exception the BBC's biggest comedy hits of the last decade have launched quietly either later at night or on BBC2 or BBC3.

If ITV are serious about this comedy game rather than throwing shows in at 9pm on ITV they might be better off trying a few out at 10.35pm.

rzt

19-01-2013

Thanks James J and big dan, that's very kind of you. I don't have as much time these days to contribute anymore but still manage to read the thread everyday because it's still very addictive, the best on DS by a mile and everyone makes it what it is. A lot of thanks must go to D.M.N., Dancc, NeilVW, cylon6, ronant, Hassan13, Score, dave01, Mike Teevee and others for all the data they continue to post every day as well as all the regulars for their contributions (too many names to mention!). We might all argue and disagree about things day to day, year after year, and get a bit too emotionally involved soemtimes but we're all one big ratings-loving family and long may it continue

James J

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by rzt:
“Thanks James J and big dan, that's very kind of you. I don't have as much time these days to contribute anymore but still manage to read the thread everyday because it's still very addictive, the best on DS by a mile and everyone makes it what it is. A lot of thanks must go to D.M.N., Dancc, NeilVW, cylon6, ronant, Hassan13, Score and others for all the data they continue to post every day as well as all the regulars for their contributions (too many names to mention!). We might all argue and disagree about things day to day, year after year, and get a bit too emotionally involved soemtimes but we're all one big ratings-loving family and long may it continue ”

Here here, this soap opera could run longer than The Archers...

Who wants to make a cast list?

I'm more of a recurring artist, though I wonder who the longest-serving regular still is?

Digital Sid

19-01-2013

Some corrections:

CBB9:
Thurs -3.54m
Fri - 2.61m
Sat - 2.11m
Sun - 2.24m
Mon - 2.34m
Tues - 2.17m
Wed - 2.24m
Thurs - 2.75m
Fri - 2.30m
Sat - 1.86m
Sun - 1.70m
Mon - 2.16m
Tues - 2.26m
Wed - 2.14m
Thurs - 2.36m
Fri - 2.64m
CBB11:
Thurs - 3.55m
Fri - 2.05m
Sat - 2.07m
Sun - 2.20m
Mon - 2.20m
Tues - 2.02m
Wed - 2.27m
Thurs - 2.15m
Fri - 2.31m
Sat - 2.09m
Sun - 2.40m
Mon - 2.23m
Tues - 2.33m
Wed - 2.25m
Thurs - 2.08m
Fri - 2.56m

CBB9 average at this point = 2.34m
CBB11 average so far = 2.30m
Difference = 0.04m

(2.26m and 2.21m with a 0.05m difference not including launches)

Though CBB9 is still leading it's worth noting that the last week of CBB11 (2.28m) has rated 120k higher than the same week of CBB9 (2.16m) when everything's rounded.

Agent F

19-01-2013

Maybe "Itv" should hire you Sam to resolve this ongoing crisis as you obviously seem to know what you're talking about...

NeilVW

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by Andy23:
“Indeed, talking about RAJAR's, I wonder if they will ever introduce a BARB style daily rating system.”

I'm sure they were talking ages ago about having a wrist-watch-type device using audio-matching to track radio listening automatically. If they ever get round to doing that, we might get daily ratings and have to set up a new thread. Imagine: "Oooh, Grimmy was down yesterday!".

Originally Posted by D.M.N.:
“Don't forget I'm looking at the consolidated data for Friday 11th January.

Which was 466k (23.9%) for kids and 684k (4.4%) total.”

Aha, thanks; it would help if I looked at the right week!

Ratings so far for The Dumping Ground:

All individuals
04/01/13: 593k (4.2% share), consolidated to 625k (4.3%)
11/01/13: 615k (4.1%), consolidated to 684k (4.4%)
18/01/03: 429k (2.4%)

Children 4-15
04/01/13: 378k (20.3% share), consolidated to 404k (20.9%)
11/01/13: 424k (22.6%), consolidated to 466k (23.9%)
18/01/03: 279k (13.7%)

The premiere was a double-header which has been recorded by BARB as one programme.

It seems a drastic drop-off for ep 3 after a nice rise for ep 2 - did the snow have any effect, I wonder, with more adults at home and more adults wanting to watch news updates instead?

Each show is repeated twice during weekend daytime where they have so far been performing fairly well: into the 200s in total viewers, and 2-3% overall shares. Last Sunday's fell below the slot average for the first time however.

NightmareAbbey

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by James J:
“Here here, this soap opera could run longer than The Archers...

Who wants to make a cast list? I'm more of a recurring artist, though I wonder who the longest-serving regular still is?”

Speaking as a very new bit-player (one line in an episode, perhaps bringing news of an agricultural fair or a badger cull), I want to second the thanks to rzt and the Ratings Thread regulars.

James J

19-01-2013

Found the synopsis for Christmas Day Ratings Thread episode.

Spoiler

SamuelW

19-01-2013

Originally Posted by Agent F:
“Maybe "Itv" should hire you Sam to resolve this ongoing crisis as you obviously seem to know what you're talking about...”

Oh no, I wouldnt take the risk. Just think of the potential backlash I would get from some maniac soap fans following the implementation of my ideas

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