The cricket highlights have always been produced well, its the same team who did Channel 4s coverage with the same presenting team too, I think extending the highlights to an hour was a great decision. I remember when they acquired the highlights, people weren't happy Channel 4 didn't get it but 5 have proven they can produce a good highlights,

*shrugs* It was up 150k on the equivalent show last series and in line with its performance the past 4 Saturday nights:

http://www.bbspy.co.uk/bb14/ratings

But it was moved to 10pm from week 4 onwards which has boosted audience share considerably.

I'm genuinely thrilled with the trajectory for this series so far. Particularly how it battled back from such an unpromising beginning to post its strongest retention ever on night two and climb every week from week 2 onwards.

I still think that despite it's higher ratings that killing off Celebrity Big Brother and focusing on the main series would be the best thing C5 could do for the show in the long run - 12-13 weeks at 1.5m is surely better for them than 6 weeks at 2.5m, and creatively it's a no brainer.

As for the cricket - underwhelming to be honest and proof the ECBs strategy isn't really working. For it to be justified that the flagship cricket event be behind a pay wall the highlights really need to be well over 1.5m. It's not C5's fault - they do an excellent job with them and are probably more hampered by the enforced 7-8pm window than anything else - can't help but feel that an hour later they'd probably fair better.

Ultimately though in just a few years The Ashes has gone from being watched by an average of 3-4m, peak of 7-8m (even for early tests) on C4 to struggling to peak above 1.5m on Sky.

Never going to happen. Both shows are stable anyway so nothing currently to suggest that the number of weeks the shows are on air for is excessive or damaging.

The only change I would make is switching BB and CBB around from next year so that CBB leads in to BB. It just makes more sense to do it that way around. There's also the small matter of the World Cup, so ideally they will launch in July as opposed to June.


FTA competition included golf on BBC2 and cycling on ITV4, so I consider the 1.1m/7% a pleasing result. Bigger episodes are pulling in 1.5m. What did the highlights show used to get on C4 as I can't find it in their top 30's looking back?

I do take your point though that the evidence isn't compelling enough to convince the right people that live coverage of the Ashes should also be FTA, and that's a real shame.

Convinced that itv1 could have had a peak audience of 5m+ for the conclusion of the Tour and if they had broadcast say 7pm to 9.30 (with itv4 going from 4pm for purists) then an average of over 3.5m

So if tonight's 7/8/9pm offerings get 4m+ each, then fair enough. If they get 3m or less, you'd have to think they screwed up.

I'm sure the "live tv event" nature and one of Britain's finest sporting achievements of 2013 would have pulled people in simply by being on the nation's second channel than on its 11th, or wherever itv4 ranks.

Rumours intensifying on various forums that Virgin Media may carry the BT Sport channels for no extra charge as part of their XL package, in the same way they used to do with ESPN.

If this happens (and I'm skeptical) I will be taking TV with Virgin for the first time.

the Frenchies copying on the Arc de Triomphe what we did on Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee is pretty impressive "event tv" too...

if the Beeb had the rights, I doubt Froome's speech now would be playing out on the equivalent of the red button

I bet it wouldn't be on BBC1 though, BBC2 at most.

It was a pretty tricky call, I think. And they'd be reluctant to bump L&O in its second week.

The cycling generally doesn't rate particularly well and even Wiggins' win last year didn't set the world alight in a daytime slot. That said, the nighttime finish and presentation in front of the Arc de Triomph (not to mention the British anthem ringing around the centre of Paris ) was genuinely great event TV.

Might have been worth gambling on, though I can personally well understand why they didn't. Perhaps they may get another chance if we're in the same situation next year.

It's nothing to worry about, just the crippling heat last night would have sent people to the nearest pub or barbecue. BB seems to have found its niche now and Channel 5 has saved it. I think if it was still on Channel 4, they'd have milked it dry by now and it would have ended up as low as Countdown in the ratings.

With the heatwave over in large parts of the UK here's hoping L&O bounces up

Despite its consistent ratings now on Channel 5 I think Channel 4 was right to move its audience away from Big Brother. It should have parted company with the show after a couple of series and has become entangled with axing it and the channels ratings decline at the same time. If it had dropped the series after two runs it still would have had other successful shows such as Shameless throughout the mid noughties Graham Norton The Friday Night Project etc. But its going through a ratings desert with or without Big Brother. Channel 4 had always had innovative ideas and its this that the channel lacks currently. It probably held on to the Big Brother brand too long for fear that nothing else would bring in audiences and advertisers but it needs to keep creating shows that are refreshing and new and not give in to media pressure on it to deliver ratings.
constantly. BBC Two is a good example of a channel that is not afraid to let a successful show go because it will create another one to replace it. It has redifined itself and perhaps Channel 4 should have head Hunted the other J.H.

As i'm just reading through the thread thats exactly what i'm wondering,were the ratings dismal that release would be an embarrassment for all concerned?

I predict the 6 o'clock news will get 9 million tonight.

That's worth bearing in mind when the ratings come out, because it was actually won at about 5.50 but they carried on with interviews and analysis until the scheduled 7pm finish, so much of the audience would have drifted away.

Highly unlikely - unless it snows all day across large swathes of the country. It said 33c max on the radio - so I doubt it will.

Yes, there will be an uplift for the 6 and 10 assuming there is happy news delivered today. But not that much.

ITV's all day share on Saturday will probably have seen an improvement on the past few weeks as Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone averaged 2.16m (21%) across nearly 3 hours for them in the afternoon, way above the slot average. A great result for such a long movie in the heatwave. That film always delivers in the ratings.

The Ashes peaked with 1.48m (9.6%) and 2.1m (9.3%) saw Chris Froome triumph in the Tour de France. The golf drew 3.4m (24.9%). #tellyratings

Cloudy and sun-free across large parts of UK

slight change of tact

Countryfile BBC1 Inc HD 20:00 4518000
BBC News BBC1 Inc HD 22:00 4296000
Law & Order: UK ITV 21:00 4280000
Top Gear BBC2 Inc HD 20:00 4147000
The White Queen BBC1 Inc HD 21:00 3506000
All Star Mr & Mrs ITV 20:00 3379000
Tipping Point: Lucky Stars ITV 19:00 3235000
ITV News & Weather ITV 18:45 2810000
BBC News BBC1 Inc HD 19:30 2804000
Golf: The Open Championship BBC1 Inc HD 12:45 2504000
ITV News London ITV 18:30 2315000
ITV News & Weather ITV 22:00 1968000
Nick and Margaret: We All Pay Your Benefits BBC1 Inc HD 22:30 1849000
Celebrity Mastermind BBC1 Inc HD 19:00 1721000

yes ITV does include HD

Brilliant peak for ITV4.

Makes me think it would easily have had 5m+ on ITV1.

Bore de France rates higher than French Open

this depresses me

Anything for Uri Geller to decide the Ratings Game?

1412 - the man's a fraud

Incredible peak for the Tour De France. Aside from that though a pretty 'meh' night all round. The White Queen dropped again and even Countryfile was on the low side compared to where it normally is. Celebrity Mastermind did appallingly at 7pm. Over on ITV Law & Order did OK, it'll be c4.5m with +1 so not a bad result, though nothing to shout about either. Tipping Point and Mr & Mrs continue to do reasonably. The numbers aren't great but they're acceptable for those slots in the Summer. +1 will add on a couple of hundred thousand to make them look slightly more palatable. Top Gear isn't doing too well this series. The numbers are still excellent for BBC2 but they're quite a way down on recent series and are its lowest since before Hammond's crash. It seems to be looking a bit tired.