The only match average I've seen so far is the 11.2m (50%) inc +1 in MediaGuardian for Brazil v Croatia. ariusuk in the World Cup thread said it was 11.4m. Possibly he stripped out half-time, not sure.

We all know BBC One will win and at quite a margin.

Part of me wonders why ITV bother to simulcast but I guess commercially it makes sense even if it does pick up a poor figure.

Always the case, the BBC take at least 75 per cent of the World Cup audience when this happens. However, even with 4 million viewers, this is acceptable for ITV as the audience will be mostly male.
Apart from largely abandoning simulcast football with the BBC, low ratings and a lack of experienced presenters has meant ITV has dropped out of covering the Olympics since 1988.

Also ITV knocking off one game early would look daft. They might as well show it to give their coverage a comprehensive tone.

Yes there is that too.

Not that they cared much about that with Euro 2008!

I have this one for Spain v Netherlands from Overnights TV.

"Coverage overall averaged 8.2m from 7.30pm: 9.2m excluding 30min pre-match. Peak was 11.4m at 9.45pm."

Disappointing for Weatherview at 1.30am.

Expected more given the lead in.

I've resisted the temptation to comment on ITV's World Cup build-up being beaten 2:1 by a weather forecast and (we think) a simulcast of a news-channel travel show, because:

(a) the BBC One lead-in was massive;
(b) it was just build-up;
(c) frankly, it was just Ivory Coast v Japan.

But it would be interesting to see the full rating tomorrow for 25:30-28:15 (01:30-04:15) . Hope we get it.

It's taken five months but this thread has finally surpassed the horror show that was New Year's Day, well done all.


People were so excited about EastEnders' poor rating yesterday that the football was barely mentioned. I think the football talk is slightly more preferable, but really it's like deciding which excruciating death you'd prefer.

The day after this year's Britain's Got Talent final surpassed that. I'll never forget New Year's Day on here, that was something else!

Weatherview just pissed away that lead-in! Doctor Who should have launched the new series there instead!

Not to mention high production costs and the general perception that the BBC coverage was ''better'' despite the fact that most of the time they were both taking exactly the same host feed.ITV did share some of Wimbledon in the 60s but dropped out for exactly the same reasons and the BBC's massive ratings advantage by comparison with theirs.Simulcasting a sporting event just does not work in ITV's favour.

What happened on New Year's Day? I can barely remember what happened last week!

Maybe you have repressed the memory?

New Year Live getting top show of 2013 on the last day of the year. I mostly remember being impressed by Neil VW's maths in saying how it would top the year.

I've good a brilliant memory (even if I do say so myself) Four words - New Year's Eve Fireworks. And a 13 million rating.

I just remember the carnage and how there should be fireworks displays throughout the year.

Samuel called it first; I just did additional calculations and seconded his prediction.

I remember a long debate about whether a fireworks display was a proper programme.

Yes - many an ITV supporter were not happy that day.

Samuel believed when nobody else did! It was a miracle!

Didn't the Fireworks end up subsumed in the Gary Barlow figures officially in the end after all the brouhaha and mathematical wizardry on here?

Nope.

Submitted as a separate programme.

http://www.barb.co.uk/resources/tv-f...981/2013/top10

Although in the weekly top 30s it's shown as one long programme:

So that was never amended in the 6-week amendment cycle? Interesting.

Well, as Samuel says - he follows BARB and they don't incorporate +1's in their charts and if it's not been amended this must mean that the fireworks didn't top the year after all. It was BGT.

Yes it was as explosive as the fireworks themselves.

Mind you, its going to take some fireworks display to be the top rating this year. They will have to blow up the eye rather than use it as a prop

BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce is being criticised here and on Twitter for a major cock-up involving goal line technology. Poor for the ratings *this post is not serious*