BBC1
5.15pm Blue Peter's 50th 1.2m 9%
8pm Panorama Britain in the Red 2.9m 13%
9pm Silent Witness 6.0m 27%

ITV1
5pm Britain's Best Dish 2m 16%
8pm The Bill 5.8m 26%
9pm Real Crime 2.4m 11%
10.40pm Natural Born Sellers 1.2m (10.6%)

Channel 4
5pm The Paul O'Grady Show 1.9m 15% [77,000 Channel 4 +1]
6.30pm Hollyoaks 2.0m 10 [98,000 on Channel 4 +1]
8pm River Cottage Autumn 3.1m 14% [292,000 Channel 4 +1]
9pm Cutting Edge: Bobski the Builder 2.0m 9% [195,000 Channel 4 +1]

BBC2
5.15pm Escape to the Country 1.4m 11%
8pm The Restaurant 2.4m 11%
9pm Never Mind the Buzzcocks 2.4m 11%
9.30pm Beautiful People 1.1m 5%

Five
5pm Channel Five News 700,000 6%
5.30pm Neighbours 1.6 million 11%
8pm Apollo 13 700,000 3%
9pm Danger Men 1.1m 5%

E4
7pm Hollyoaks 1.5m 8.4% [408,000 E4 +1].

ITV2
9pm Katie and Peter: The Next Chapter 1.1m 5.5% [259,000 ITV2+1]
10pm Secret Diary of a Call Girl 581,000 (3.45%)

More4
11pm US presidential election debate 44,000 0.7%

BBC3
10pm EastEnders 660,000 (3.91%)

Sky 1
9pm Bones 601,000 (3.05%)

BBC4
8pm Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine 606,000 (3.20%)
8.30pm Railway 629,000 (3.16%)
9pm The Last Days of Steam 721,000 (3.66%)

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2...e_viewers.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...ngs-television

Any news on the soaps? And special mention for Blue Peter, the fact it got 1 million viewers suggests to me that the BBC made a mistake in stopping showing kids programmes on BBC1 until 5.30pm.

Amazing Hollyoaks ratings this week.

6.30pm Channel 4
2.1m (incl. +1)

7.00pm E4
1.9m (incl +1)

Incredible for E4.

Mixed night for ITV1 and BBC One with Silent Witness retaining all of its previous night's viewer but The Panorama Special did poorly which goes to show that people don't really want to watch stuff about the credit crunch while The Bill did very well but Real Crime did poorly, perhaps they should show a drama as it would pull in more viewers.

Channel 4 did well with River Cottage and Cutting Edge and the Restaurant and Buzzcocks did good business for BBC Two. Five's Thursday schedule is doing poorly in comparison to the rest of its weekday schedule but I guess they can't really do anything about it as they can't show a regular series due to UEFA Cup football.

Another strong performance for Silent Witness at 9pm. Could ITV's replacement show, 'Real Crime' now find itself being replaced next week?

Good night for multichannel and C4. The Bill did well but the rest of ITV's peaktime did poorly. A bad night for Five and fairly good for BBC2.

Good series which has managed to reinvent itself well - compared to Frost which is now so dated. The latter pulls viewers in due to David Jason but it is beyond credibility that someone of his age would be doing his job.

Mixed results last night with all terrestrials failing in at least one key slot.

BBC1 performed very poorly at 8pm, although I didn't feel the schedule change was needed really.

BBC2 have another 9.30pm comedy flop with nothing performing in that slot, and ITV also have another flop, however Real Crime should increase next week because it wasn't advertised in any magazines. Also after 3 weeks ITV should be able to start a brand new programme again to fit in, as that would be when Natural Born Sellers would have finished.

CH4 have made a huge mistake putting 8OTC on a Thursday after a documentary. It needs to be in a schedule with entertainment around it.

Poor showing for FIVE in the 8pm slot, but Danger Men gets off to a decent start.

Another great Thursday night for the multichannels with some huge audiences for ITV2 and E4!!

Five News at 7pm does really poorly and I think they should consider moving it to a later slot perhaps 11pm and have the factual entertainment and/or documentaries in the 7pm hour and have a serialised drama in the 8pm slot to lead in the US dramas.

Ratings for the terrestrials as to be expected really. ITV have just got to muddle by in the former Natural Born Sellers slot now and wait for a new series to take its place.

Panorama didn't pull in the numbers but then it never does (though its usually against Corrie). I really don't think the half-hour format in Primetime has ever suited it. It dilutes the investigations and its in the wrong slot. Don't suppose we'll ever see that change though cause its needed to fufill the stupid quota of Current Affairs in Primetime.

Great night for the multichannels again. Quite how Katie and Peter are so popular I'll really never know but they pull in strong numbers. Hollyoakes has taken off this week and built great momentum - will be interesting to see how that sustains. Another very strong night for BBC Four. The themed nights are superbly successful and bring in a crowd for the entire evening - who'd have thought there would ever be an audience for programmes about railways? Thats why we need BBC Four.

Interesting that Britains Best Dish continues to shade it in the 5pm battle. It's a much more open slot now.

Wonder if Golden Balls can keep up the momentum when it returns in a few weeks ?

Australian Overnights: Thursday 16th October 2008

ABC
19:00 ABC News 1,014,000
19:30 The 7.30 Report 948,000
20:00 Catalyst 864,000

Seven
17:30 Deal or No Deal 738,000
18:00 Seven News 1,356,000
18:30 Today Tonight 1,246,000
19:00 Home and Away 1,189,000
19:30 Make Me a Supermodel 1,038,000
20:30 The Amazing Race 1,021,000
21:30 Heroes 706,000
22:30 Prison Break 401,000

Nine
17:00 Antiques Roadshow (R) 438,000
18:00 Nine News 1,090,000
18:30 A Current Affair 1,058,000
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 1,202,000
19:30 Getaway 1,053,000
20:30 The Strip 1,041,000
21:30 RPA 1,008,000

Ten
19:00 Friends (R) 492,000
19:30 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? 788,000
20:30 Law & Order: Criminal Intent 1,060,000
21:30 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (R) 1,029,000

Sources: OzTAM, TribalMind

Evening shares
ABC: 16.6%
Seven: 27.6%
Nine: 29.2%
Ten: 22.0%
SBS: 4.6%

A poor night for Seven. Beaten by Nine and even Ten for much of primetime.

Heroes in particular struggled; way behind the ever reliable RPA on Nine and even a repeat of L&O on Ten.

I'm a little surprised most of Natural Born Sellers' audience actually stayed despite the late timeslot!

Thursday 16th October 2008

8:00
CBS Survivor: Gabon 12.88m
ABC Ugly Betty 8.21m
NBC My Name is Earl 6.54m
CW Smallville 4.15m
FOX Hole in the Wall 3.62m

8:30
NBC Kath & Kim 6.01m

9:00
CBS CSI 18.84m
ABC Grey’s Anatomy 14.57m
NBC The Office 8.07
FOX Kitchen Nightmares (R) 3.45m
CW Supernatural 3.06m

9:30
NBC SNL: Weekend Updata 8.61m

10:00
CBS Eleventh Hour 12.04m
NBC ER 8.81m
ABC Life on Mars 8.47m

What happened to Life On Mars!?! It plummeted in the ratings!!!

I doubt all of it is the same audience.
I'd probably put it on in the background if I happened to be watching TV at 10.35, however there is often something else I want to see at 9pm.

i wonder if Natural Born Sellers will tumble below 1 million before the end of its run, its not as bad a show as the ratings suggest

Looks like life on mars is dead... Supernatural a bit low, but its over 3m smallville also did well!

I really hope Corrie manages to break the 10m barrier in both episodes tonight. Maybe a peak of over 11m?

corrie best get over 10m.. the whole week has been really good very sad now though lol!

It shed 500,000 from last weeks ep though

What an awful night for Fox. Beaten by The CW!

How many more years are left in Smallville? I bet they'll try and drain as many out as they possibly can!

16th October UK Overnight Ratings Thoughts:
No channels dominating peaktime yesterday. Silent Witness as usual performed very well for BBC1, completely outperforming the other channels. Despite pre-series questioning about Silent Witness' move to Wed/Thu, it's performed very well consistently. In saying this, BBC1 hasn't attracted many viewers in the Monday or Tuesday 9pm slots so it's pretty much evened out. On the negative side for BBC1, Panorama didn't attract as many viewers as I expected (it often has rated better against Coronation Street).

BBC2 had a pretty strong 8-9.30pm with their reliable programmes. But the 9.30pm slot is a bit of a worry- all the shows in that slot have underperformed recently. And also, I think programmes that start 30 mins past the hour should do better at hanging onto their lead-in audiences because most other channels are showing 1 hour programmes, and so it's a bit odd tuning into another programme half-way through.

ITV1 had mixed results, with The Bill getting one of its best ratings of the year, however Real Crime ratings quite badly. The Thursday 9pm slot for ITV1 has been a bit of a disaster in recent months with T&S, NBS, RC, and others rating quite badly.

I think ITV can address this problem next year when they start showing the Wednesday night football. They could possibly move The Bill back an hour to 9pm on Thursdays to accomodate the Wednesday night soaps. In saying this, I don't expect ITV to take this option because the move to post-watershed would possibly disgruntle some fans and get some criticism, but I think it would perform far better ratings-wise than any other Thu 9pm programme. Added with a possible 8-9pm soap hour, Thursdays (which is currently ITV's worst day) could become one of their best.

Channel 4 corporation had some great ratings yesterday. Hollyoaks getting a total audience of 4m is fantastic; in fact the entire week has been a big success for Hollyoaks. Also, River Cottage Autumn started really well.

Five had a pretty ordinary night with nothing really impressing. Danger Men did fine, but it's not too good that ITV2 got more viewers in the slot.

It seems Thursday is the best night for the multichannels, with quite a few channels enjoying some success. Hollyoaks and the ever-reliable Friends gave E4 early evening success. Then later on, ITV2 dominated with Katie and Peter. Secret Diary of a Call Girl's ratings are down on last year's, but still got a good multichannel rating. And let's not forget BBC4, which had a wonderful performance between 8-10pm.

Thoughts about tonight: I think Coronation Street will get more than 10m viewers for both showings, with the first one attracting slightly more. The big ratings for Corrie will probably help EastEnders increase its audience (the two soaps do compliment each other), especially since Corrie didn't finish late for its first episode tonight. I'm expecting 5.5-6.0 for HIGNFY on BBC1, with LBUSA seeing a slight rise from last week due to a better lead-in.

2008 'Big' Programmes - Official Averages
Let's start with the soaps:

Coronation Street's current 2008 average is 9.51m, therefore maintaining its status as the nation's Number One soap (based on first-showing). However the negative is that, it has seen the biggest drop in viewers out of the 3 main soaps. The programme has lost 491,000 (-4.9%) since the equivalent point last year.

Despite this, Corrie is still well ahead of EastEnders based on first-showings. EastEnders's current 2008 average is 8.35m. It has lost 314,000 (-3.6%) since this point last year. To put a slightly positive spin on the drop, this year EE has had 1/4 of its episodes clash up against Emmerdale whereas last year clashes were far less often. Therefore a 314,000 drop is fair taking the circumstances into account.

Now moving onto ITV's No. 2 soap, Emmerdale currently has a 2008 average of 6.94m, so it has seen a drop of 470,000 (-6.3%). It has actually lost the biggest % of its audience from the soaps. Emmerdale really suffered in Q1 and Q2, but has done quite well in Q3 so far, not much down on last year. The One Show, Hollyoaks and Neighbours are affecting Emmerdale's ratings, as well as the weekly EastEnders clashes (but not to much of an extent). It's currently outside the top 10 most watched programmes of the year, like last year.

Now lets move onto the talent/reality shows:

Dancing on Ice was the first major talent show this year. DOI 2008 was a success, averaging 8.93m throughout its run. This was 927,000 up on last year's series. The performance shows have always been the stronger one, with these averaging 9.35m whereas the results shows averaged 8.47m. The 2008 series, however, was slightly down on the first series of 2006, which had an official average of 9.11m.

Britain's Got Talent returned this year for its second series, and was possibly the biggest success for ITV in the last 5 years at least. The series was an absolute ratings smash, averaging 10.21m for its entire run. The programme was up a massive 1.8m on last year. It is currently the most watched talent show series of this decade (the only one to surpass the 10m average mark). The final episode attracted a whopping 13.88m and is currently the most watched programme of 2008. The BGT Finals week is the only week this year where ITV have beaten BBC in the All-Hours shares. An absolute ratings belter.

Perhaps not a 'big' show, but I'll include this because of the huge interest in it on these message boards: Big Brother returned for its 9th summer series, and it brought in its lowest figures ever. The series (including C4+1) averaged 3.6m, which is 300,000 down on last year's previous low. [Big Brother's most watched series was BB3 (2002) which averaged an impressive 5.8m]. For the first time in years, Big Brother is not the most watched Channel 4 programme of the year (this accolade currently goes to Britain's Got The Pop Factor). In terms of the positives, the programme was one of the top perofrming shows in the 16-34 demo (often only beaten by EastEnders). Big Brother also this year won its slot more often than previous series, suggesting the ratings were down for all channels during the summer.

The X Factor returned in August for its 5th series, and what a brilliant series it has been in the ratings. As of the latest official ratings, the current series is averaging 9.8m. This is a massive 1.66m up on the equivalent point last year. If trends continue for the remainder of the series, this will not only be the most watched series of TXF ever, but it may end up averaging more than BGT2008's record average of 10.2m. The final is possibly set to be the most watched (or 2nd most watched at least) programme of 2008.

And finally: Strictly Come Dancing (the BBC's premiere entertainment show) has returned for its 6th series and impressed in the ratings. As of the latest official ratings, the current series is averaging 8.80m. This is 1.1m up on last year's average at this same point. Like previous series, the performance shows have been the better rating one, with these averaging 9.1m so far. The results are currently averaging 8.55m. Despite its rise in the ratings, it has lost its Number One Entertainment show spot to The X Factor. After 2 years in a row of winning the 'ratings war', the ITV1 show has surged ahead of Strictly. Still, this year's Strictly is set to be the most watched series of the dance show yet (which is brilliant considering it is now in its 6th series)!

So to summarise with averages:
10.21m..Britain's Got Talent
9.83m...The X Factor*
9.51m...Coronation Street
8.93m...Dancing on Ice
8.80m...Strictly Come Dancing*
8.35m...EastEnders
7.17m...Emmerdale
3.6m.....Big Brother

*note: These shows are still on-going, so averages will change. Also SCD average does not include preview show.

Soaps and Big Brother are down. The 'talent' shows are hot at the moment and their ratings are through the roof!

What would EE and Emmerdale average if you take out the Tuesday night episodes where they stupidly run head to head?