With a 10m(ish) lead-in and a better time slot than last week, Britannia High should rate far better than last week (around 5m). But you never know.

I think it will do better, but more like 4 million. It's a good lead-in, but the F1 audience and Britannia High audiences won't necessarily be a great match up. Still, due to the size of the audience, it ought to make a difference.

Yeh, 5m was a bit of an optimistic prediction. It should do better this week - as you say, around the 4m mark.

If Britania High started at 7pm it would have rated well, but as it was delayed 15 minutes, a lot of viewers who might have stayed which switch over for the start of AR.

I think you're right, though there should be quite a spike in the ratings for BH from 8pm till the end since people will have been tuning in to Heartbeat and probably staying to watch the last 15 mins of BH.

So what are we predicting for the F1?

I still stand by my 8.5m prediction.

It could be that Antiques Roadshow is the beneficiary of the F1.

Whilst the F1 thrilling conclusion will no doubt have got 11m, 12m, maybe more - it was after all one of the greatest sporting moments of all time, and the crowning of a British champion on prime time telly - by the time the ad break came on at the end of the coverage, people will have started flicking around and found AR having just started. And given how few people wanted to watch Britannia High last week despite it being the most over-promoted TV show in recent years, a good number more will have started flicking around when the opening titles to BH came on.

Wouldn't be surprised if AR breaks 9m in the overnights tonight.

Fair play to ITV1 for giving us 15 minutes of post-race coverage. I genuinely thought they were going to go straight to BH at 7pm when James Allen did his "well that's it, goodnight" wrap-up at 6.59pm! But that was just the end of the commentary.

They were complete muppets though for scheduling BR at 7pm, even if there's been no rain delay, they'd have never done it justice in the slot it was given.

But, the BBC should be very happy tonight. It sets up their coverage nicely for next year, and ITV1 did a great 'thrills and spills' promo for them at the end of the coverage, to 12m viewers, many of them not normal F1-watchers.

And Steve Rider, who noted at the end of the live coverage that the Beeb will do a very good job next season, has just cheekily signed off the highlights coverage by noting that we can all look forward to watching F1 without ad breaks next season! Well, he certainly will be...

My EPG kept to the original timings all night. I assumed they'd just cut 15 mins out of Britannia High to make it up, it's not as if anyone would have been watching it after all.

My recordings list has Sharpe at 9.02-10.30pm. Does that mean I've not got the last 10-15 mins then?

Surprised Casualty didn't pick up more. Maybe it's just run its course? After all, every show has a shelf-life and it's been going 22 years. That said, around 6m isn't bad of course. A former ratings juggernaut like Heartbeat, which also used to get 16-17m like Casualty at one point, now languishes with a milky cocoa band of 5m loyal viewers.

The Beeb should keep Casualty where it is, but I do think BBC1 needs to stick to a regular start time for its Saturday line-up and not keep changing it every week. Perhaps if people knew what time stuff was on, they'd make more of a commitment to it. The largely same schedule did a lot better against XF last year.

I think the big question is where has XF suddenly got its extra viewers from? Where have they been for the last 5 years or so? I said weeks ago that Britain's Got Talent - which inevitably hooked to an "event" piece of telly millions of viewers who wouldn't normally tune in for a Saturday night singing competition - may have introduced a new audience to the "Cowell format", and they (somewhat baffingly, but there's no accounting for taste) liked what they saw.

Just looking at some things ITV have coming up next year and wondering if they might use BGT to launch 2 other shows. The Wish List will be hosted by Amanda Holden and is actually being made by Gallowgate Productions, owned by Ant and Dec. Then there is the Piers Morgan chatshow. His shows are surprisingly good, but he is the kind of person people desperately don't want to like so he might need a ready audience to give him a push at the start.

Possibly:
6pm - You've Been Framed
7pm - Britain's Got Talent
8pm - The Wish List
9pm - Piers Morgan Show

At least they don't seem to have gone ahead with the Blind Date idea from Syco, unless they did something significantly different, I just don't think it would have had any legs.

That said, the BBC's Eurovision search sounds like a true nightmare.

BGT may have contributed, but the talent show format seems to have been thriving this year. Even the most desperate formats like The One and Only or Last Choir Standing have pulled solid audiences. Only I'd Do Anything seems to have disappointed.

I think Cheryl Cole has made a difference, more to the auditions than the live shows. Last year they had a big launch episode but the audience dwindled to a mid series low. This year, it has generally held that audience and even built on it. Also, people like something light amid the serious issues of the credit crunch (hence media hysteria over a prank phonecall). Ordinary people doing well and turning their lives around is a good TV thing just now.

IMO the show has just been better. The "search" was better edited to show off the eventual finalists and the finalists are stronger. Sharon's contrived tantrums are done with as well. And so it holds more of its potential audience which has always been pretty big.

Fair enough, but it was just a poor Saturday night for them - and Saturday is not their strong-point. I agree with whats been said earlier to just stick films on from 7pm (put some money into Film-Four Commissions which has made some excellent films in the past on pretty small budgets.)

Channel 4's schedule as a whole isn't too bad really. They do have an awful lot of lifestyle programmes in the 8-10pm slots (I wouldn't say these programmes are daytime), but C4 (intentionally or not) manage to make unknown names become relatively big with these type of shows and this helps with ratings because people will watch for the hosts as much as the programme. They've made names of Gok Wan, Aggie and Kim, Kirsty Allsopp, Gillian McKeith, Jo Frost and Nicky Hambleton-Jones to name a few.

I think C4 have it spot on at 8pm particularly, for the audience, like me, who don't want to watch soaps or Holby/The Bill.

I think what Channel 4 lack is some decent drama series and one-off dramas. I think this is what C4 did really well at one point (No Angels, Queer As Folk, Sugar Rush, Teachers) but now they don't seem to churn much out. There's only really Shameless which should be put out of its misery.

They'd also do well to probably let Desperate Housewives go and spend that money on something else from the US (probably too late now to chuck DH) and also put some meaningful effort into creative comedy formats and snatch Friday nights back. I remember around the 1999-2001 time when I could watch Channel 4 from 9pm until sometimes 3am on a Friday night, their schedule was excellent. Admitably they had Friends, Sex And The City, South Park (before it went crap) and Frasier at the time as well as Big Brother when it was at its peak in the Summer.

I think there's a general lack of willingness to take risks at Channel 4. I wish they would go back to how they were when they seemed to simply not give a sh1t, let the complaints roll in and carry on regardless.

They've become a bit stuffy and 'safe' over at Channel 4 of late, whereas I think they should actively seek to broadcast controversial even if somewhat 'tacky' programming. I don't think they do themselves any favours with a lecturous Jamie Oliver telling people how to eat but they still have moments of [subjective] brilliance with things like Come Dine With Me, Secret Millionaire and The F Word.

I agree that they need some drama and comedy. E4 seems to actually have the greater focus on drama and sitcoms.

I'm sure I saw somewhere that C4 said they were effectively closing down on Saturday nights because they can't afford to produce the documentaries in those slots anymore. I actually think it's time C4 was made purely commercial, but that is another argument!

I pitched this idea to Channel 4, 'Celebrity Shit In A Bucket'. I reckon it'd be a ratings winner. Jonathan Ross hosts it while Russell Brand prances about and says 'Citing, ain't it?'

The BBC were well up for it until last Wednesday, anyone know what went wrong?

By the way, I can't believe there's a 'ratings' thread on this forum... Ain't ya got nuffink better to do?

Can't wait to see what the F1 gets. I've just watched it on sky+ (avoided absolutely everything that might have told me the result ), that really must have been the most dramatic ending to any sporting even I've ever seen... still think Glock was told to slow down but thats for another thread

Well done Lewis!

Has it really taken you this long to notice a 21,000 post thread?

7.0 Million

Poor Massa, and Rafaela and Luis + his Mum and Brother looked so sad

Does anyone know how well some kids shows like 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' and 'Dani's House' are doing when they are broadcast on BBC ONE

Robbie, there is a lot more than just "no ad breaks" next year I can tell you that now...

Maybe it's time for me to "predict" the way BBC will schedule things for next year:

Typical European Race
12:30 to 14:30 - Qualifying
12:15 to 15:15 - Race

That's how I'd expect the Beeb to do things for European races - if you remove ad breaks from ITV's coverage you'd find only about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes of actual coverage instead of blah blah blah.

For Asian races with it being on BBC, we thank god no longer have the "GMTV Problem". I'd expect similar scheduling for the races when in Asia, possibly a little reduced output for Brazil, the only Americanzone race, although with over eight hours on the Red Button on Friday and Saturday - this is a very good deal.

My Prediction at BBC1 scheduling for Round 1 Race
06:00 - Grand Prix: Australia
09:15 - Match of the Day
10:30 - Countryfile
11:00 - The Politics Show
12:00 - BBC News
12:15 - Random Repeat
13:00 - EastEnders
15:00 - Grand Prix: Australia
18:15 - BBC News
**Normal Schedule from 18:30 onwards**

BBC2
21:00 - Grand Prix: Australia
22:00 - Match of the Day 2

IMO, BBC's Sunday schedule next year will be focused around the F1.... there's nothing else the Beeb really put on in daytime on Sunday's.... they tended to have repeats on against the F1 while it was on ITV.

BTW, I hope F1's ratings increase next year on the Beeb - with "The Cock" leaving and "The Chain" coming back persuade viewers to return?

Big peak for ITV, according to Broadcast...

12.5m (48.8%) at 18:45.

K

According to someone on the Doctor Who Forum, the Grand Prix didn't help Britannia High as it only got 4.4 million against Antiques Roadshow's 8.9 million. And Strictly's results show got 8.5 million with Top Gear getting 7 million.

So Jeremy was only a few noughts out with his prediction!

K

Great peak there!


Higher than last week for BH though!

8.8m Average!!

Sunday 2nd November 2008
BBC1
17:20 - Little Dorrit Repeat - 2.3m (10.1%)
19:15 - Antiques Roadshow - 8.9m (34.7%)
20:15 - Strictly Come Dancing - 8.5m (30.1%)

BBC2
20:00 - Top Gear - 7m (24.8%)
*Peak: 7.6m (26.9%) at 20:45.
*150% above channel slot average of 2.8m (11.1%).

ITV1
16:00 - F1: Brazilian Grand Prix Live - 8.8m (41.7%)
*Peak: 12.5m (48.8%) at 18:45.
*238% above channel slot average of 2.6m (16.6%)
*Highest ever Formula One race broadcast on ITV.
*Started with 3.9m (25.9%) at 16:00.
*8.8m (43.1%) were watching at 17:00.
*10m (45.8%) were watching at 17:30.
*Race Average: 10.3m (45.6%)
19:15 - Britannia High - 4.4m (17.1%)
*Up 1.1m on last week's launch of 3.3m (14.4%)
*Below slot average of 4.7m (24%).
20:15 - Hearbeat - 5.5m (19.8%).



Channel 4
19:00 - Bremner, Bird and Fortune - 1.2m (4.8%)
20:00 - Wife Swap USA - 1.1m (3.8%)

five
19:05 - FILM: A Fistful of Dollars - 1.3m (4.7%)

All hours shares for Sunday 2 November 2008: ITV1 – 22.5%, BBC1 – 19.1%, BBC2 – 9.2%, C4 – 9.2%, Five – 4.3%, multichannel – 38.7%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: ITV1 – 26.8%, BBC1 – 24.1%, BBC2 – 11.7%, C4 – 5.1%, Five – 4.5%, multichannel – 27%.

Source: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2...m_to_itv1.html

Glad to see Britannia High increase, it deserves it. I think thats about the figure it will settle at now.
Brilliant for the F1, I didn't think it would do so well as there wasn't as much hype compared to last year. BBC will be pleased, Hamilton champion can only help the ratings for next season