There are other channels?

yes.

Brilliant.

Well it would seem that for w/e 23/11, Channel 4 only had one programme in the entire top 100 rated programmes (actually at number 100) meaning that all C4 output for that week did not exceed 2.80 million viewers. Thats grim!

Actually I find that hard to believe.

Source: Broadcast.

It's actually a long job going through the BARB website extracting the information and typing it all up.

I was replying to a post about ITV and showing that ITV's performance in the last 4 months (July - October) is significantly worse than it was in the first 6 months of the year.

Going for Gold was commissioned for a three month run but I think it designed to be make money through the phone in rather than ratings. But I do think they would be better to air something else to lead in for Neighbours.

I imagine that will be some changes in 2009 with the arrivial of Richard Woolfe as controller of Five. He brought entertainment and homegrown to Sky1 with Hogfather, Colour of Magic and Gladiators and he was responsible for turning Living into the channel we know today.

I'm not really a big fan of Woolfe to be honest. Yes he did some good things at Sky but he made some pretty awful decisions as well, including commissioning Cirque De Celebrité. That programme should never have been given the green light as far as I'm concerned as it is did not represent what the channel is about at all and just served to make it look cheap and tacky, which is ITV2's specialty normally. Also when he joined he promised a remake of The Prisoner which sounded really interesting and then didn't deliver. He had his reasons for abandoning this project of course but it was still disappointing.

Hopefully he'll be a positive influence at Five. Certainly he ought to be a breath of fresh air which is something that is desperately needed at the channel at the moment.

I agree about Cirque Due Celebrite but most controllers make mistakes and thankfully it was axed. I admire the fact he wanted Sky1 to be up there with the big channels and I have to admit their upcoming drama slate is quite impressive with Going Postal, Skellig, The Take and Strike Back.

I really think he will turnaround Five but I think it cut back on factual in favour of entertainment and drama which I don't think is actually a bad thing.

Cheers for that info mlt11. I can remember doing it a couple of months ago and it took me a good while.

I'm actually quite surprised by the numbers. We were all aware ITV struggled through the summer, facing much stronger competition from BBC One than usual (sports events and higher profile shows than usually seen that time of year). But I'm surprised the figures for the last couple of months are so low. Just going off a gut reaction, I thought things were getting a bit better with some decent shows that were finding good reviews and solid ratings. Clearly thats not affected the overall trend though surely November should benefit from the strong I'm a Celebrity performances.

I can't get onto the Barb website at the moment, but when I can I'll see if I can work out the numbers for BBC One by way of comparison.

I expect Woolfe to make some mistakes at Five. He seems to be very ambitious with the scale of the shows he commissions for smaller channels and I think it was the scale of Cirque that attracted him even though it was rather tacky. He might want to get in someone with some real drama experience though.

But really, he's ideal for Five at this point. They need to do something and he certainly isn't someone to try and maintain the status quo.

EDIT: Predictions for tonight:
Strictly Come Dancing - 9.9m
X Factor - 10.6m
X Factor Results - 8.8m

I haven't attempted to do any detailed analysis of where ITV has lost most viewers. But my guess would be that if certain high profile shows (particularly XF) have done well in September and October then there must have been fairly significant falls in the general day to day output.

One other point for the future. It's only very marginal but the return of Sky basics to VM will not help ITV. VM is only about 15% of TV homes so not a significant effect but in those homes ITV will now be competing against Sky 1 (and Sky 2) for the first time for over 18 months.

The audiences for Sky 1 (and Sky 2) are only tiny compared to ITV1 but I suspect Sky 1 is more likely to take viewers from ITV1 than the other 4 terrestrial channels.

Sky 1 will probably only gain around 0.3% of overall share due to its return to VM. But even so, if most of that comes from ITV1 it's another bit of adverse pressure on ITV1's numbers.

Predictions:
SCD - 9.8m
TXF - 11m
TXFR - 9.1m


Note that the RWC was on ITV last year in September and October.

After just watching the XF and seeing how dead everywhere was last night I can see the XF getting its highest ratings of the series surpassing 11m.

LAST WEEK's RATINGS (23/11) - FOR COMPARISION WHEN THE OVERNIGHTS COME OUT!
18.20- Strictly Come Dancing: 10.16m (42.6%)
* peak: 11.74m (47.2%) at 19.20
19.25- Merlin: 6.42m (25.6%)

19.25- The X Factor: 10.64m (43.2%)
* peak: 12.2m (49.8%) at 20.20
20.55- I'm A Celebrity...: 8.8m (37.2%)
21.55- The X Factor - The Result: 9.15m (41.1%)

Have any of the papers today got new Christmas TBA schedules? When are they going to be confirmed online?

Predictions for last night:

Strictly Come Dancing - 10.1m
Merlin - 6.4m
The X Factor - 11.2m
I'm a Celebrity - 8.9m
The X Factor Result - 9.9m

Nothing round the media sites yet.

I'm hoping The X Factor can get 12m+ for the final this year because this series has been as fantastic as series 3 or even better.

Also SCD this year has been amazing

so lets hope for at least 11m

I've just been looking at ITV's schedules after IAC finishes and there seems to be a lot of filler shows and repeats of Midsomer, Foyles War & quite randomly The Old Curiosity Shop. Filler shows including Cops With Cameras, Real Crime and... Fat Teens In Love

Last year ITV wheeled out new stuff like Blue Murder, but it seems they are saving all the good stuff for next January where they can start again with a strong schedule, but there seems to be so much lined up for Winter/Spring I'd have thought they would have lined some of it up for December. Also I think it would have been a good idea to show something new (maybe a one off?) against SPOTY because it could get a decent rating. Though starting The Royal against it was a good idea imo, with no SCD in the way.

It's quite poor really, although at least they have new Taggart episodes on the Mondays. The Old Curiosity Shop was aired on Boxing Day last year and got about 4.7m; whether it'll do any better on the Sunday I don't know.

How do you think Fat Teens In Love will do?

14m+ peak for The X Factor Final I think.

Still no ratings.

I refuse to wait until Monday for Saturdays ratings.

Midsomer & Foyles should pull in a solid 4m on a Friday evening which is good...and Taggart should pull in a solid 5m.

Cops With Cameras, Police Camera Action & the doc about sleep should pull in around 3.5m.

The Old Curiosity Shop should pull in around 3.5/4m I would say.

Real Crime will perform poorly and obviously ITV have nothing else to show as they know this won't get any more than 3m. Also with Apparitions on the same night I can see CH4 winning the slot with The Pregnant Man...4m?

And that just leaves Fat Teens In Love...why ITV commissioned this I don't know and I can't see it getting any more than 2.5m tbh. Though it is on Thursday evening with poor competition from Apparitions.

I agree with all of this, although remember, Too Fat To Toddle got nearly 4m earlier in the year, so Fat Teens In Love has an outside chance of breaking 3m.

What a ratings battle, Apparations vs Real Crime. On Saturdays, BBC1 and ITV1 can pull in up to 17-18m combined at the same time, whereas on that night, it'll be about 5m.

Well on The Doctor Who Forum somebody has linked to a review of the new ITV Saturday night family drama Demons which starts in January. That looks like it'll be a hit.

It's the sort of fantasy show in a contemporary setting that I think BBC1 should have done. And I do prefer contemporary to costume dramas. That said I'm enjoying Merlin but Robin Hood can get lost.

Saturday overnights: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1371...ings-high.html