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The Ratings Thread (Part 59)


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Old 19-04-2014, 17:53
yorkie100
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That's the case for every show though. The soaps aren't individual in this regard; the system is the same to measure Coronation Street, EastEnders etc. as it is Strictly Come Dancing, Britain's Got Talent etc.
All the soaps down in the last couple of months is different though and not what we have seen before so thats what we are trying to get our heads round I suppose.
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Old 19-04-2014, 18:10
Fudd
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All the soaps down in the last couple of months is different though and not what we have seen before so thats what we are trying to get our heads round I suppose.
EastEnders' 'struggles' are just natural progression from poor autumn/winter figures. The share has remained relatively consistent.

Coronation Street is in the same place as EastEnders a couple of years ago; the decline due to poor quality has started but isn't unstoppable yet. ITV will be hoping the big upcoming storyline and subsequent scheduling gives it a lift.

Emmerdale is erratic. It struggles to make as much of an impact on a Tuesday and Thursday when it has poor lead outs and the 8pm Thursday episode is cut adrift; especially when BBC One airs something as hardy as MasterChef there.

Up until yesterday Hollyoaks had been rating well and Neighbours has been pulling in better figures than quite a few primetime Channel 5 shows.
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Old 19-04-2014, 18:42
Glenn A
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The thing is though that we dont actually know what is the truth about the current soap ratings and so the discussion is likely to go one until we do.
Obviously using ratings from the eighties isn't a good guide as there were only four channels, but using ten years ago, when the majority of homes were multichannel, the big three have seen a drop of about 33 pc in their ratings. Nowadays it's extremely rare for the soaps to go above 10 million, while this was common until the late noughties. I think we're seeing a shift away from the soaps and in the case of CS and Emmerdale their ageing audience doesn't bode well for the future.
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Old 19-04-2014, 18:52
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Old 19-04-2014, 19:09
Hildaonpluto
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Obviously using ratings from the eighties isn't a good guide as there were only four channels, but using ten years ago, when the majority of homes were multichannel, the big three have seen a drop of about 33 pc in their ratings. Nowadays it's extremely rare for the soaps to go above 10 million, while this was common until the late noughties. I think we're seeing a shift away from the soaps and in the case of CS and Emmerdale their ageing audience doesn't bode well for the future.
Agreed.I think we are seeing a shift and some of it is quite natural in terms of there being so many channels hence fragmentation.But two metaphors spring to mind in addition to that.One is theyve overmilked the soaps and maybe thus speeded up or worsened their demise ie killing the goose that laid the golden egg.ITV in particular has become too reliant on soaps and there could be serious implications for them as the genre declines.

The other metaphor is theres a time and a season for all things.In other words everything has their heyday nothing lasts forever.Theres no imminent danger existence wise but I think its crazy how some peoples logic is empires can rise and fall,monarchys can end cultures and societies can fizzle out but individual tv soaps made in 2014 can never end??
People need some sense of historical perspective tbh
I'd agree. Had DS been around 15 years ago the discussion would have been about how popular they were and how Emmerdale had doubled its audience in five years. Now it seems they're in a slow decline and are behind BGT, SCD, IAC, MBB and TXF in the ratings.The endless misery and hopeless acting are turning people away.
Yep I think complacent writing and taking the audience for granted has cost them.
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Old 19-04-2014, 19:36
Glenn A
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I agree with Hildaonpluto, I think the soaps are going into a long decline now. Also this could have huge implications for ITV, whose 7-9 schedule is so dominated by them now. I think should the soaps fall to 5 million and continue to fall, I think the number of episodes will be cut, and the ultimate sanction would be as in America, they move into daytime. Actually since a lot of Coronation St and Emmerdale viewers are elderly, this wouldn't be a bad move if the soaps become too small for peak time( it might kill off the odious Jeremy Kyle).
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Old 19-04-2014, 19:53
Hildaonpluto
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I agree with Hildaonpluto, I think the soaps are going into a long decline now. Also this could have huge implications for ITV, whose 7-9 schedule is so dominated by them now. I think should the soaps fall to 5 million and continue to fall, I think the number of episodes will be cut, and the ultimate sanction would be as in America, they move into daytime. Actually since a lot of Coronation St and Emmerdale viewers are elderly, this wouldn't be a bad move if the soaps become too small for peak time( it might kill off the odious Jeremy Kyle).
Long decline being the key to understanding this.People pouncing on the fact that individual soaps have peaks and troughs and recover are missing the point.
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Old 19-04-2014, 20:12
Andy23
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Obviously using ratings from the eighties isn't a good guide as there were only four channels, but using ten years ago, when the majority of homes were multichannel, the big three have seen a drop of about 33 pc in their ratings. Nowadays it's extremely rare for the soaps to go above 10 million, while this was common until the late noughties. I think we're seeing a shift away from the soaps and in the case of CS and Emmerdale their ageing audience doesn't bode well for the future.
Ratings from the eighties are not a good guide, yet you constantly bring them up in almost all your posts. Everything on TV has dropped massively since those days so its a waste of time even mentioning it.

You say there is a shift away from soaps, but there isn't really a shift towards anything else. If the ratings for the soaps slide down individual channel's top 20s then your extreme story may come true, but at the moment besides a few event tv programmes and one or two stand out dramas, the soaps are still dominating the top spots, even with their current lacklustre ratings.
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Old 19-04-2014, 20:13
Glenn A
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Long decline being the key to understanding this.People pouncing on the fact that individual soaps have peaks and troughs and recover are missing the point.
Obviously should Ken Barlow " die" in Corrie, then ratings would jump to 13 million as he is the face of the show, but this would be a one off and the soap would fall back to 7-8 million a week later. I think what we're seeing is a slow decline in the fortune of the big three soaps as EE seems stuck around 7 million, where two years ago it would attract 9 million. It wouldn't surprise me by the end of the decade on the trends of the last ten years that all three are down to 4-5 million and on less often.
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Old 19-04-2014, 20:32
Hildaonpluto
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Ratings from the eighties are not a good guide, yet you constantly bring them up in almost all your posts. Everything on TV has dropped massively since those days so its a waste of time even mentioning it.

You say there is a shift away from soaps, but there isn't really a shift towards anything else. If the ratings for the soaps slide down individual channel's top 20s then your extreme story may come true, but at the moment besides a few event tv programmes and one or two stand out dramas, the soaps are still dominating the top spots, even with their current lacklustre ratings.
Their shrinking big fish in a declining fragmenting small pond (tv aint as popular as it used to be) Its going to pose a huge challenge for soap bosses and tv bosses as it continues.
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Old 19-04-2014, 20:36
Hildaonpluto
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Ratings from the eighties are not a good guide, yet you constantly bring them up in almost all your posts. Everything on TV has dropped massively since those days so its a waste of time even mentioning it.

You say there is a shift away from soaps, but there isn't really a shift towards anything else. If the ratings for the soaps slide down individual channel's top 20s then your extreme story may come true, but at the moment besides a few event tv programmes and one or two stand out dramas, the soaps are still dominating the top spots, even with their current lacklustre ratings.
I think your kinda confirming that the tv industry is in decline and soaps are a genre declining within that context.I think theres going to be lots of crunch moments for the tv industry with seismic changes ahead I believe.
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Old 19-04-2014, 20:53
aberdaberdonian
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Ratings from the eighties are not a good guide, yet you constantly bring them up in almost all your posts. Everything on TV has dropped massively since those days so its a waste of time even mentioning it.

You say there is a shift away from soaps, but there isn't really a shift towards anything else. If the ratings for the soaps slide down individual channel's top 20s then your extreme story may come true, but at the moment besides a few event tv programmes and one or two stand out dramas, the soaps are still dominating the top spots, even with their current lacklustre ratings.
while certainly the soaps still rule supreme in the top 20s, the gap does seem to the dropping between them and other dramas
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:00
ftv
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EE lost its way last year because no-one had a grip on the production, there was some poor writing, directing and acting.The BBC also stopped promoting it (but to be fair there was little of interest to promote).The whole point of soaps is they are a fixed point in the schedule with familiar characters the viewers either love or hate.Each episode should end with a bit of a cliff-hanger. I wonder how different things might have been if the BBC had ever replied to that letter Coronation Street creator Tony Warren sent them suggesting a soap set in the suburbs of Manchester and originally called Florizel Street ?

Incidentally I've just dug out some ratings from 1962 when there were two episodes of Corrie a week - the Monday one averaged 20.218 million viewers a week in November that year and the Wednesday one 19.925 million
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:02
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Britain's Got Talent will undoubtedly be down tonight (due to the earlier schedule and no big lead in - YBF of all things again, a blank screen would give more of a lead in) These are my predictions inc+1

BGT - 9.5m inc+1
Amazing Greys - 4m
Law & Order UK 1.4m

Pointless 4m
The Guess List - 3.5m
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:03
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I think more people are just really watching TV after 21:00 unless there is a event or sport on.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:03
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I wonder how different things might have been if the BBC had ever replied to that letter Coronation Street creator Tony Warren sent them suggesting a soap set in the suburbs of Manchester and originally called Florizel Street ?
How interesting. I never knew that.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:04
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The endless misery and hopeless acting are turning people away.
The soaps forum would lynch you (It's true on the whole, of course)
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:06
SamuelW
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Britain's Got Talent will undoubtedly be down tonight (due to the earlier schedule and no big lead in - YBF of all things again, a blank screen would give more of a lead in) These are my predictions inc+1

BGT - 9.5m inc+1
Amazing Greys - 4m
Law & Order UK 1.4m

Pointless 4m
The Guess List - 3.5m
That would make it Britains Got Talents worst rating 2nd episode since 2007. 5 of the last 6 second episodes have rated above 10.3m.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:23
Fudd
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That would make it Britains Got Talents worst rating 2nd episode since 2007. 5 of the last 6 second episodes have rated above 10.3m.
From an all time high for the first episode to nearly a low for the second. Very possible though - I don't think many of the other second episodes have aired on Easter weekend. Last year Easter was out of the way before Britain's Got Talent launched.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:25
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Without wanting to 'get involved'... 3 million down year on year? What figures are you using to get to that conclusion?

Meh, best remember to unsubscribe again.

Anyway - outta here - was auto subscribed again when I posted earlier and I've been enjoying not being a part of this dilapidated thread where all the best posters from the past are mostly gone or lurking.

Happy Easter everyone.
No need to flounce twice.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:28
H of De Vil
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That would make it Britains Got Talents worst rating 2nd episode since 2007. 5 of the last 6 second episodes have rated above 10.3m.

Call it Easter weekend effect. I suspect it will be down a couple of million, but make up for it in rpt's and consolidated figures. Next week it will bounce back again.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:31
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Call it Easter weekend effect. I suspect it will be down a couple of million, but make up for it in rpt's and consolidated figures. Next week it will bounce back again.
The last time BGT aired on Easter Saturday, it averaged 10million viewers. And that was with a partial clash against the Voice series 1 blind audition show. So with it facing much weaker competition today, there's no reason why it shouldnt get over 10m considering 10m is what it managed last time.
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Old 19-04-2014, 21:53
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Think a lot of people were busy in there back gardens until sunset tonight, Expect ratings to be low.
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Old 19-04-2014, 22:01
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Think a lot of people were busy in there back gardens until sunset tonight, Expect ratings to be low.
Why?!

It was bloody freezing. UK average was 10c

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Old 19-04-2014, 22:03
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The last time BGT aired on Easter Saturday, it averaged 10million viewers. And that was with a partial clash against the Voice series 1 blind audition show. So with it facing much weaker competition today, there's no reason why it shouldnt get over 10m considering 10m is what it managed last time.
That was at 8pm though not at 7pm. The 7pm slot will dent it more than anything else. The share will be very high but a fairly low total audience. Probably 9.0-9.5m. Maybe even slightly lower as the weather's been good. It'll look like a brutal week to week drop.
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