BBC1 don't seem to have as well a defined 'summer' as ITV do.

In ITV's case all the big stuff finished in June, we've then had a proper summer season of summer programmes which will all nicely finish at the end of August and then the really big stuff starts in September.

BBC1 had some slots in Summer mode in June/July and some slots still in Spring mode. Now they've just launched 'summer' programmes like That Puppet Game Show and I Love My Country that will run way into September.

Having said that traditionally didn't BBC1 autumn mainstays like Noel's House Party, Generation Game, the Saturday morning shows etc usually start late September rather than at the start of September?

The Sun refers to its readers as natural ITV viewers. However, the Daily Star and the Daily Express own Channel 5 and somehow the television reviews in the Daily Express are comical, always giving Big Brother five stars and yet the same paper 3 years ago was referring to it as tired old rubbish. Not forgetting the almost forgotten soap Home and Away being called quality drama from down under, probably the journalist would probably want to say a soap no one has watched since 1995.

The Sun has been obsessed with EastEnders virtually ever since it began so perhaps its readers are natural soap viewers rather than ITV viewers. The Express Newspapers/C5 tie-up is absolutely ridiculous but I guess most readers are aware of it.

If anything, I think it's the other way round. BBC shows are advertised right across their own TV channels, radio channels and website.

Crap is crap, no matter what channel it's on.

ITV has to work harder for its promotion, they don't have 59 radio stations, the reach of the BBC TV channels, or any group owned newspapers to cross promote their output.

I don't think this adds up. The papers love Strictly for example and last year it was getting heaps of positive coverage alongside the 'X Factor in crisis' headlines. I don't think tabloid coverage has anything to do with it tbh.

Kay would be hopeless on the Gen Game, where's the evidence he's any good at fronting a big interacting with people show? Stand up is totally different, I think Kay is actually quite an introverted unconfident performer.

Manford might be better, but would probably be focused more on getting the contestants phone numbers so he could sext them later...


More utter nonsense from Brekkie. 28c by the end of the week and a glorious bank holiday upcoming!


Mirror readers are the core ITV demographic. Sun readers are beloved of their Sky dish or cable box, and more amenable to watching the BBC.

Channel 4:

Mission: Impossible 710k (3.7%)
Knight and Day 1.46m (7.8%)

Channel 5:

Big Brother 983k (5.6%) (81k +1)
Big Brother's Bit on the Psych 427k (3.8%)



Great rating for Knight and Day, quite surprised by it since its been aired a few times now.

I could have sworn a little watched, tedious, old skewing BBC lottery show with Nick Knowles was gracing the front pages of national newspapers this time next week. Even Simon Cowell's PR team would be proud to get a show like that any coverage.

We all saw the incredible hype and media excitement around The Voice last year. And Strictly doesn't exactly struggle for media coverage, particularly in print versions of The Daily Mail and Daily Express where contestants like Ann Widdecombe have become newspaper favourites.

The shows which get huge press coverage tend to get it because they are huge anyway, generate higher levels of involvement for viewers, provide continuing stories and scandals, big characters and appeal to younger audiences (particularly important for online these days). There's a reason The Sun will run a front page on BGT, XF or I'm A Celebrity and not I Love My Country.

The BBC launched the new series of Doctor Who in August 1975 to boost their summer ratings, which tended to lag behind ITV's. In fact then there was only really Seaside Special and TOTP to keep the ratings alive for BBC1 in the summer as they tended to fill the schedule with repeats.

Presumably no-one was watching ITV at all last night

Potter: 4.04m (20.6%) / 4.69m (23.9%)
Americans: 920k (5.0%) / 1.03m (5.6%)

Big +1 rating there for Potter.

Potter ratings from DS:

ITV showed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to 4.04m (20.6%) at 7pm (650k/3.3% on +1). The latest episode of The Americans was seen by 920k (5%) at 9.50pm (110k/0.8%).

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...d-episode.html

Great to see Top of the Lake get a boost for its finale, 1.19m (5.9%), highest since episode 2. It settled where I expected it to, just under a million, for most of the series, yes it would have done better on a weekday but not by much imo and as I've said before it would have only disappointed in a bigger slot, as it's just not the type of drama that pulls in a big audience.

I wonder if Harry Potter being on ITV actually does it's live ratings a favour as with the films being so long people are happy to accept the breaks.


I think it might have been even later than that - mid to late October IIRC. The likes of Live and Kicking and Going Live usually returned late September too rather than at the beginning of the month.

Absolutely. Which sums up why talent shows/elimination shows are so still so valuable to both BBC and ITV.

In an era where big numbers don't come by default for an entertaining show, but tend to have to be won by turning something into a big 'national event', those formats that are bespoke designed for press coverage will always have an advantage. It's difficult to see where weekly Generation Game/Blind Date/House Party style shows could hope to compete with that. Ant and Dec's Takeaway did pretty well this year and got some attention with the raid on the music charts, but even that is still firmly in the second division of entertainment shows on TV.

So looks like The Americans' series average would be between 950k-1.5m, as a rough estimate.

Good rating for Harry Potter - again rating better than all but one of BBC1's offerings.

Just one more week of that, then X Factor (seemingly) returns the week after. I don't think ITV really have anything to worry about that night as long as they schedule it right. 19:45-21:00 seems right, however.

Amazed The Americans has kept it's slot throughout and not been bumped to after the news or another late night slot. Can't help but think repeats of something like Alright on the Night (used many a time to fill a slot vacated by an underperforming show) would have faired better.

If ronant is still around, do you have ratings for the following shows (I only ask as DS' ratings reports have been quite flimsy this week);

Kirstie Fill Your House for Free (C4, Tues 8pm)
Celebrity Masterchef (BBC1, Wed 8pm)
How Not to Get Old (C4, Wed 8pm)
24 Hours in A&E (C4, Wed 9pm)
The Dealership (C4, Thu 8pm)

If you don't have access then it's absolutely fine, but if you can, it would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

The Sun did promote the soap in its early, less successful days and saw it as a younger, edgier alternative to Coronation St.
Yet who really is bothered about Home and Away now, which struggles to get a million viewers and should have been ditched when ITV dropped it? Quality drama from down under, the Daily Express's forced support for Channel 5 is comical.

You've really got it in for H&A, Glenn! I think it's on a lifetime deal. It struggles to attract a share in line with Channel 5's average, so it must be very cheap or else they would have axed it by now. Any lead-in it provides is dissipated by the 1%-rated news at 18:30 anyway.

I rarely if ever watch C5 - does it actually have any quality drama (or any quality programming at all ?)

How many national radio stations are there? Not many, and the bbc has a monopoly on them. Many programmes are promoted on beeb radio stations, and heard by millions of listeners every day.

The tabloids are in the business if trying to sell as many copies as possible and will cover more popular programmes to sell more copies, hence why Strictly gets mass newspaper coverage. The fact the bbc light entertainment programmes get less media coverage says more about the bbc's efforts lately than any agenda you seem to think there is!

Some good US imports, and a lot of their factual is quite high-quality. All a matter of opinion of course, but they've been snapping at Channel 4's heels over the summer, ratings-wise.

The Beeb is very far from having a monopoly in national radio.