The above is 100% correct.

Bottom line is that like for like (ie with the same opposition in the same slot on the same channel) Liverpool remain the 2nd most popular team on TV.

That is why BT chose them over Arsenal. Nothing to do with quotas - they simply wanted the most attractive game available to them.

Let's see how Fulham v Arsenal and Man City v Hull rate over the next two weeks. In theory they should rate higher due to more BT sign-ups and increased VM XL awareness.

But as the games are actually less attractive, I think if anything they will rate slightly lower. I certainly wouldn't expect them to rate higher pro-rata in line with the increased sign-ups and VM XL awareness.

No, it's not more accurate, it's just a different measure. 3 figures have been reported:

- programme average
- match average
- peak

The peak is obviously always the highest of the 3 figures. The programme average is obviously always the lowest of the 3 figures.

Because of the particular media interest, all 3 figures have been reported. But week in, week out the only figures we generally get are the figures on the BARB website which are the programme averages.

BT Sport 1 top 10 ratings per BARB for its first full week - ie w/e 11/08/13 - all figure are obviously in 000's - so highest programme got 100,000:

1 PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY (SAT 1645) 100
2 PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY (WED 1730) 63
3 JP MORGAN RUGBY 7S (FRI 1845) 36
4 SCOTTISH PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (SAT 1201) 24
5 JP MORGAN RUGBY 7S (WED 2030) 21
6 FA WSL (SAT 1929) 19
7 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (SUN 1846) 15
8 BT SPORT LIVE (SAT 1501) 14
9 PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY (SUN 1000) 11
10 BT SPORT LIVE (WED 1700) 10

No figures reported for BT Sport 2.

Interesting that 2 pre season friendlies got rated higher than any competitive match. What were they?

And also is there any ratings available for Cambridge United v Halifax from the conference?

BARB viewing figures for w/e 11/08/13:

Reach:
BTS 1 - 766,000
BTS 2 - 433,000
ESPN - 310,000

Average viewing across all UK homes:
BTS 1 - 1 minute
BTS 2 - 1 minute
ESPN - 0 minutes

Sky Sports figures for comparison:
SS1 - 12 minutes
SS2 - 20 minutes (NB SS2 = SS Ashes)
SS3 - 2 minutes
SS4 - 1 minute
SSN - 11 minutes

Estimate of average length of time spent watching BTS1 for those who did watch it:
Reach - 766,000
UK TV reach - 52,428,000

So 1.46% of people who watched TV at all watched BTS1.

So those who did watch BTS1 watched on average 1/.0146 = 68 minutes

NB Calculation only approx as average viewing is only given to the nearest minute - ie the 1 minute figure could actually be anywhere between 0.51 and 1.49 so it's only a very rough estimate.

The Sat 4.45pm game which got 100,000 was Celtic v Liverpool.

Not sure what the Wed 5.30pm game was.


No. But if it isn't listed in the top 10 then all we do know is it must have got below 10,000 (assuming it was on BTS1).

Re all of the above ratings it should be remembered that they relate to a period before BTS was available on VM XL.

Other than the two pre season friendlies, the figures generally don't look great though I think the Rugby Sevens figure of 36,000 is a very good rating.

It just confirms really what we already know - that after high profile English football everything else will rate very low comparatively, including European football.

But the figures will generally improve going forwards - both due to VM XL and a continuing increase in BTS specific sign-ups.

Anyone else having difficulty getting the BT Player to work on an iPad ??

It takes me to the BT site , I add all my details but then it says they are unable to add this to my account or something , time after time !!

I'd have thought that match popularity would be the decider here, so if it's simply popularity, and not in any way quotas, both teams would be taken into account, would they not?

If so, the comparison is Liverpool+Stoke versus Arsenal+Villa and I wonder which combination is more popular? Villa are likely to attract more viewers than Stoke, I suspect.

I agree Villa will draw more than Stoke.

But Liverpool will outdraw Arsenal by a wider margin.

Having signed up a few weeks back I decided today that, as I watch most of my sport on the upstairs TV, I would get it changed from the downstairs SKY box.

I did know about not being able to have BT Sports on a multi room package and both boxes.

Well, for some bizarre reason, I now have BT Sports upstairs and downstairs. Praise the Lord for the multi room package!

Also the fact BT are showing Arsenal next week would also be a factor.

Someone else reported they were paying £6pm for BT Sport multiroom using their Sky equipment so I don't know if this was a trial or if it's something they are planning to do.


http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=6289

I was mentioning an offer I was given to sign up to BT Sport BEFORE the 1st of August 2013, yes I did take their offer up as my team Aston Villa are going to play on BT Sport soon

Everyone with a Sky box BUT WITHOUT BT Broadband or Virgin Size XL TV pack will now get charged the full price for the channels

£12 a month for BT Sport SD for each box
£15 a month for BT Sport HD for each box

Including the one off £15 connection fee for each box

So if say you have two boxes and BT Sport is on both boxes you will now get charged £30 a month for BT Sport HD - they will bill you an extra £30 for the first month to cover the two connection charges,
so in total your first bill will be a one off fee/charge of £60 then it will go down to £30 a month

Dunno if it makes a difference but I got it free on SKY by being a BT Broadband customer and was told then that they could only install it on one box.

When I rang this morning I made it quite clear that I wanted it upstairs only, we'll have to wait and see if I get billed.

Valerenga v Liverpool I think.

Read quite a few comments in the papers today about BT's opening game and I have to say the only person really to come with good comment's is Ian Darke.

BT clearly choose very well there now what needs to be done is for the rest of them to show improvement...Owen and even David James both didn't get good reviews.

I was quite confused tonight that Mark Halsey said Anthony Taylor gave the 2nd Aston Villa penalty because he couldn't see from his position that the Arsenal defender won the ball, that the assistant should have helped him but that the referee somehow actually made the right decision?!

I also find that Darren Fletcher tends to take a bit too long asking questions (though I do like him) so it all becomes a bit long-winded and sometimes the question isn't specific enough to get an appropriate answer.

I sense that Halsey hasn't been given enough direction/training as to what BT are looking for from him. He seems to not quite know when he can speak, a bit like on BT live today when he barely said anything when Fletcher said 'lots to talk about tonight Mark' but then when Fletcher had finished the referee segment Halsey suddenly started speaking as Fletcher had handed on to the next item.

I still think BT could get a bit more use from their studio pitch.

Some detail in the FT this morning around the BARB figures for Saturday:

43% of the 629,000 viewers were on Virgin Media

Of the 441,000 match average, 51% were paying BT subscribers (I take that as free viewers of the channel) of which 30,000 used BT, the remainder the Sky platform.

It took me several goes, over two or three days, before I was able to get it going. When I finally got it to work I did so via the laptop, having to reset my user name and password multiple times. At one point I was on the "MyBT" page, waiting for a new tab to be added which shows I have signed up for sports. The first time that didn't work, the same message kept coming up that my account was being updated. I then tried again a day or two later, and as if by magic, there it was - the sports tab.

So, keep at it. I cursed BT a few times, but eventually it got there, on both laptop and iPod.

Apologies to bring it back to this but I'm still confused over how the "first pick" rules work. BT are advertising "half of the first pick matches" yet if I've read your post right above, they have, well, zero. There are no weekends where they get to pick the first match, and Sky always pick at least one match, sometimes three, before BT get to choose?

Edit: I read your post again and I've interpreted it wrong. It's too early

So Sky have 20 of 38 "first picks", BT have 18. In weekend rounds, Sky have control over when to take a first pick - in simple terms, they're asked first and can either make a pick, or decline; if the latter, BT get the first pick.

But Sky also have all second picks and all but two third picks, which means if they do take a first pick, they also get the second and in most weekends third picks.

In midweek and bank holiday rounds, BT have all first picks.

It also quotes


That's pretty low for a subscription channel sold on 38 EPL matches.

I would say the BARB panel hasn't picked up enough BT Sport subscribers. Last week's reach figures were in my opinion on the low side. Next week's include VM. Shame there wasn't one week with and EPL match and no VM.

edit: The FT article says the 441,000 match average is households. So we now know that the average number of viewers per household is 1.42 (629/441)

I think there may be errors in that FT article.

For starters the match average was 629,000.

The 441,000 figure looks suspiciously like the programme average which was previously reported as 447,000. It may have changed slightly due to "tape-checking".

The % splits also look very odd.

I know the % figures are referring to different things - ie one to the 441,000 and one to the 629,000 but the % splits of each must be very, very similar.

If 43% are VM, that implies 57% are other platforms. But if 51% are BT customers watching for free that implies the other platform viewers split 51:6 as none (or certainly almost none) of the BT can be VM.

That 51:6 split simply cannot be right.

So I'm afraid it looks as if the FT article doesn't stand up.

EDIT: Is it actually the other way round - ie paying BT subscribers are people paying the £12? That would still imply a 51:6 split but the other way round - ie 51 paying : 6 watching for free?

That still doesn't look right - BT said that the majority of the 1m sign-ups were free customers though we would expect people paying to be more likely to watch. So I would expect the non-VM to split at least roughly 50:50 between paying and free - it simply can't be 8:1 either way.

EDIT 2: I suspect the 441,000 splits 225,000 specific orders (whether paying or free), 216,000 VM. That would make sense - implying VM are 49% of the 441,000 which would be reasonable (and close to the 43% quoted above).

EDIT 3: I think it's most likely that it is the specific orders that actually split 51:49 pay/free (or vice-versa)!!!!

I'm getting a headache now!!

Also from the article


Trouble is BT sport is sold on 38 EPL matches and they've haven't got much else to generate big numbers. Can't really compare with Sky Sports.


How many of the 1m sign-ups don't have Sky or BT TV?