The BBC was a comedy factory in the mid eighties. You had huge hits like Allo Allo, In Sickness and In Health, Bread, Just Good Friends and Only Fools and Horses attracting at least 16 million viewers and peformers like Jasper Carrott and Kenny Everett who were good for 13 million. Even Terry and June once went ahead of Coronation St in the summer of 1987. Also massive in this era, and they were to split up in 1987, were The Two Ronnies who, unlike Morecambe and Wise in their last few years, were still churning out excellent comedy and attracting 16 million a show.
The Ratings Thread (Part 61)
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Originally Posted by Chris1964:
“I think there was. Steve Williams will probably know for certain.”
“I think there was. Steve Williams will probably know for certain.”
I still have all the BBC1 and ITV Top 30s from 1992 in my attic. I just need a volunteer to dig the box out for me!
Originally Posted by Jaycee Dove:
“Thanks for that speedy reply....that sounds pretty reasonable in context for Sky 8 years ago. I imagine pro rata better than 3 million for BBC 1 today???
The format wasn't perfect and could have been improved. Problem is BBC's format took the idea and made it worse.
But with these kind of shows, host, judges and contestants all matter a lot.
You can forgive the slowness of the format if the bits in between are fun because of the people contracted to fill the air time in between the performances.
That was where Tumble failed - though practice might well improve things next week. We should give them all another chance. Sadly I just feel that this is not an Alex Jones style show IMO.”
“Thanks for that speedy reply....that sounds pretty reasonable in context for Sky 8 years ago. I imagine pro rata better than 3 million for BBC 1 today???
The format wasn't perfect and could have been improved. Problem is BBC's format took the idea and made it worse.
But with these kind of shows, host, judges and contestants all matter a lot.
You can forgive the slowness of the format if the bits in between are fun because of the people contracted to fill the air time in between the performances.
That was where Tumble failed - though practice might well improve things next week. We should give them all another chance. Sadly I just feel that this is not an Alex Jones style show IMO.”
Well, apparently we are going to see different apparatus which is good as another week of hoops and floor would have killed it imo. Why they started with floor I have no idea-it was a poor version of Strictly with a few cartwheels and didn't do it (an maybe Strictly as well) any favours.
If I can Il give it another go next week to see how the other stuff works, but I don't hold out that much hope.
Originally Posted by Pizzatheaction:
“ I still have all the BBC1 and ITV Top 30s from 1992 in my attic. I just need a volunteer to dig the box out for me!”
“
I still have all the BBC1 and ITV Top 30s from 1992 in my attic. I just need a volunteer to dig the box out for me!”
I think its going to have to be a family member as the rest of us might find it a bit impractical
Originally Posted by Chris1964:
“
I think its going to have to be a family member as the rest of us might find it a bit impractical”
“
I think its going to have to be a family member as the rest of us might find it a bit impractical
”
I'll have to get it sorted soon. Every BBC1 and ITV Top 30 from 1990 to the end of 1992! I'd love to see them again.
Originally Posted by Glenn A:
“I'm a product of the seventies and eighties and Bruce's Big Night was considered a big flop because it was only getting 9 million. These days this is similar to what IAC gets and that's classed as a big hit. Very few shows now break the 10 million barrier and if this was the case in the seventies, ITV would probably have gone bankrupt and the BBC director general would have resigned.
Also the name Salv, does this suggest an Italian link in your family as it looks like a shortened version of Salvatore?”
“I'm a product of the seventies and eighties and Bruce's Big Night was considered a big flop because it was only getting 9 million. These days this is similar to what IAC gets and that's classed as a big hit. Very few shows now break the 10 million barrier and if this was the case in the seventies, ITV would probably have gone bankrupt and the BBC director general would have resigned.
Also the name Salv, does this suggest an Italian link in your family as it looks like a shortened version of Salvatore?”
Yes, I can speak Italian fluently, both my parents were born there and I have an Italian passport
Originally Posted by Chris1964:
“Well, apparently we are going to see different apparatus which is good as another week of hoops and floor would have killed it imo. Why they started with floor I have no idea-it was a poor version of Strictly with a few cartwheels and didn't do it (an maybe Strictly as well) any favours.
If I can Il give it another go next week to see how the other stuff works, but I don't hold out that much hope.”
“Well, apparently we are going to see different apparatus which is good as another week of hoops and floor would have killed it imo. Why they started with floor I have no idea-it was a poor version of Strictly with a few cartwheels and didn't do it (an maybe Strictly as well) any favours.
If I can Il give it another go next week to see how the other stuff works, but I don't hold out that much hope.”
As far as I'm aware next week is still floor and hoop, just swapping over from who did what this week. It'll be week 3 before new apparatus is introduced. Unless you count "the vault" which looks to be a bit of a dull moment designed to be their version of "the dance off".
Originally Posted by jonnyblack:
“As far as I'm aware next week is still floor and hoop, just swapping over from who did what this week. It'll be week 3 before new apparatus is introduced. Unless you count "the vault" which looks to be a bit of a dull moment designed to be their version of "the dance off".”
“As far as I'm aware next week is still floor and hoop, just swapping over from who did what this week. It'll be week 3 before new apparatus is introduced. Unless you count "the vault" which looks to be a bit of a dull moment designed to be their version of "the dance off".”
I see, I don't think that will help.
Originally Posted by jonnyblack:
“As far as I'm aware next week is still floor and hoop, just swapping over from who did what this week. It'll be week 3 before new apparatus is introduced. Unless you count "the vault" which looks to be a bit of a dull moment designed to be their version of "the dance off".”
“As far as I'm aware next week is still floor and hoop, just swapping over from who did what this week. It'll be week 3 before new apparatus is introduced. Unless you count "the vault" which looks to be a bit of a dull moment designed to be their version of "the dance off".”
Well that's disappointing. They really need to add variety to it. Two week's running of hoop and floor could be a bit dull.
Originally Posted by Salv*:
“Yes, I can speak Italian fluently, both my parents were born there and I have an Italian passport”
“Yes, I can speak Italian fluently, both my parents were born there and I have an Italian passport
”
Thought so
On a different note, I wonder what we would be talking about if this forum was around in 1984. Popular topics would be the ratings slump at BBC 1 and how Bill Cotton and Michael Grade would fix it( which they did), Coronation St falling to 10 million viewers and rumours of its cancellation, and the rise of Channel 4 and its effect on BBC 2.
Indeed looking through the history of BBC1, and the BBC Television Service before it, they have suffered four ratings slumps. The longest was from 1956 to 1960 when ITV took over 70 per cent of the audience, 1983-84, 1993-94 and 1998-99. Indeed the two slumps in the nineties, under the infamous Birt regime, were put down to a run of very poor dramas and falling standards in entertainment.
Channel 5 Programme Information w/c 23 August
New and Returning:
Under the Dome (New Season)
Rob Brydon Live (New) <--- no info on this, assume it's a TV screening of one of his standup DVDs
www.channel5.com
New and Returning:
Under the Dome (New Season)
Rob Brydon Live (New) <--- no info on this, assume it's a TV screening of one of his standup DVDs
www.channel5.com
Well the standard of light entertainment definately has fallen over the last couple of years and we need the new wave of shows to come in and take over from reality/celebrity challenge shows. We as the audience are now rejecting the same idea over and over.
By the looks of "The Great British Bake Off: An extra slice" would have done better than "Tumble" in that 7 - 8 pm slot. I'd have insisted on having the sister show too in order to prop up the weekend and mop up excess viewers. It could easily do the business for BBC one. You could be looking at 3 - 4 million for that show at half of the cost of "Tumble". It should come over now right away to exert some interest to BBC one Saturdays
By the looks of "The Great British Bake Off: An extra slice" would have done better than "Tumble" in that 7 - 8 pm slot. I'd have insisted on having the sister show too in order to prop up the weekend and mop up excess viewers. It could easily do the business for BBC one. You could be looking at 3 - 4 million for that show at half of the cost of "Tumble". It should come over now right away to exert some interest to BBC one Saturdays
Originally Posted by D.M.N.:
“I'm a Celebrity - 2013 - Consolidated figures
- Total = 11.13m (40.3%)
- Male = 4.40m (35.2%)
- Female = 6.73m (44.6%)
About a 40/60 split. You'll be lucky if you find many shows that skew in favour of men outside of sport and Top Gear.”
“I'm a Celebrity - 2013 - Consolidated figures
- Total = 11.13m (40.3%)
- Male = 4.40m (35.2%)
- Female = 6.73m (44.6%)
About a 40/60 split. You'll be lucky if you find many shows that skew in favour of men outside of sport and Top Gear.”
Originally Posted by Glenn A:
“On a lighter note, are 20 per cent of its audience transgendered according to the pecentage split.”
“On a lighter note, are 20 per cent of its audience transgendered according to the pecentage split.”
I imagine you may have guessed, but those percentages are the shares not the skews. For example, I'm a Celebrity averaged a 35.2% consolidated share of males who were watching any TV in that timeslot (including timeshift of that timeslot).
Quote:
“Also as a male, I would say channels like BBC Four with their more serious programming would skew heavily ABC1 and male.”
“Also as a male, I would say channels like BBC Four with their more serious programming would skew heavily ABC1 and male.”
Here are the channel demos for the week ending 3 August, from Broadcast (overnight figures, all hours): http://i58.tinypic.com/32zrgav.jpg.
BBC Four is quite male-skewing (51.2% male compared with BBC One's 48.9% and ITV's 35.3%), but not to the same degree as Yesterday (61.0%), Dave (61.6%) or ITV4 (65.5%), the three most male-skewing of the 19 top channels by overall share. Interestingly BBC Three (53.6%) was more male than BBC Four.
BBC Four is, though, the most upmarket channel in the list. With a 55.25% skew to ABC1 Adults, it and BBC One (53.1%) are head and shoulders above the other 17 channels on this score, the next one being BBC Two with 47.2%.
Originally Posted by Steve Williams:
“I'm sorry to bring this up again (although if it distracts from Tumble chat, maybe it's a good thing), but if the whole point of the argument is to decide which of 'stEnders and Emmerdale does better when they're shown at the same time, you cannot include +1 figures because if you're watching it on +1 you are blatantly not watching it at the same time. Yes, people are perfectly within their rights to include +1 figures, but if you're arguing "which show did better when they were shown simultaneously?", you clearly cannot.”
“I'm sorry to bring this up again (although if it distracts from Tumble chat, maybe it's a good thing), but if the whole point of the argument is to decide which of 'stEnders and Emmerdale does better when they're shown at the same time, you cannot include +1 figures because if you're watching it on +1 you are blatantly not watching it at the same time. Yes, people are perfectly within their rights to include +1 figures, but if you're arguing "which show did better when they were shown simultaneously?", you clearly cannot.”
But here we run up against the fact that all overnights include PVR/VCR viewing up to 2am the same night, so if you regard +1 channels as a form of timeshift (as some do) then it's logical to include +1. The trouble is when you're comparing one channel which has a +1 and one without. Roll on autumn 2015 (if BBC One +1 actually happens then; it's by no means certain).
Originally Posted by johnnymc:
“Well the standard of light entertainment definately has fallen over the last couple of years and we need the new wave of shows to come in and take over from reality/celebrity challenge shows. We as the audience are now rejecting the same idea over and over.
By the looks of "The Great British Bake Off: An extra slice" would have done better than "Tumble" in that 7 - 8 pm slot. I'd have insisted on having the sister show too in order to prop up the weekend and mop up excess viewers. It could easily do the business for BBC one. You could be looking at 3 - 4 million for that show at half of the cost of "Tumble"”
“Well the standard of light entertainment definately has fallen over the last couple of years and we need the new wave of shows to come in and take over from reality/celebrity challenge shows. We as the audience are now rejecting the same idea over and over.
By the looks of "The Great British Bake Off: An extra slice" would have done better than "Tumble" in that 7 - 8 pm slot. I'd have insisted on having the sister show too in order to prop up the weekend and mop up excess viewers. It could easily do the business for BBC one. You could be looking at 3 - 4 million for that show at half of the cost of "Tumble"”
Problem is they will most likely move with the times and we will get something like:
'Those are My Drugs': A new game show where contestants from NHS Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland compete to win the entire drugs allocation for the sponsor towns. To win this potentially life saving haul the representative for that nations town must prove their worthiness in front of a live studio audience by facing a series of wacky challenges without requiring CPR.
Who said earlier there are no new formats!
I can see Channel 5 commissioning it as I write.
Originally Posted by Glenn A:
“Thought so
On a different note, I wonder what we would be talking about if this forum was around in 1984. Popular topics would be the ratings slump at BBC 1 and how Bill Cotton and Michael Grade would fix it( which they did), Coronation St falling to 10 million viewers and rumours of its cancellation, and the rise of Channel 4 and its effect on BBC 2.
Indeed looking through the history of BBC1, and the BBC Television Service before it, they have suffered four ratings slumps. The longest was from 1956 to 1960 when ITV took over 70 per cent of the audience, 1983-84, 1993-94 and 1998-99. Indeed the two slumps in the nineties, under the infamous Birt regime, were put down to a run of very poor dramas and falling standards in entertainment.”
“Thought so
On a different note, I wonder what we would be talking about if this forum was around in 1984. Popular topics would be the ratings slump at BBC 1 and how Bill Cotton and Michael Grade would fix it( which they did), Coronation St falling to 10 million viewers and rumours of its cancellation, and the rise of Channel 4 and its effect on BBC 2.
Indeed looking through the history of BBC1, and the BBC Television Service before it, they have suffered four ratings slumps. The longest was from 1956 to 1960 when ITV took over 70 per cent of the audience, 1983-84, 1993-94 and 1998-99. Indeed the two slumps in the nineties, under the infamous Birt regime, were put down to a run of very poor dramas and falling standards in entertainment.”
Birt instructed the producers of Casualty (which then was extremely popular) that they should not have story lines which were in any way critical of the NHS because he feared it would upset the (Tory) government.That put paid to most of their plots at the time. He also banned the use of opinion polls on BBC News programmes for the same reason.When the BBC started making programmes for other broadcasters in their studios he decreed that there should be no mention of the BBC on the credits (tonight I saw a programme on BBC2 credited to STV).
Originally Posted by Big-Arn:
“Seeing as these 'ratings' are just fanciful extrapolations from a very limited 'sample' of the population, I have no idea why people put so much stock in them, especially citing precise numbers or claiming 'victory' of one show over another with a difference of just a few thousand, or even hundred thousand. Surely the margin for error must be pretty wide.”
“Seeing as these 'ratings' are just fanciful extrapolations from a very limited 'sample' of the population, I have no idea why people put so much stock in them, especially citing precise numbers or claiming 'victory' of one show over another with a difference of just a few thousand, or even hundred thousand. Surely the margin for error must be pretty wide.”
The margin of error is, IIRC, less than 3%, akin to that of a large opinion poll (over 5,000 households are sampled). The advertising industry appears to be happy enough to allocate billions of pounds of spend with reference to BARB's "fanciful extrapolations".
Originally Posted by ftv:
“Birt instructed the producers of Casualty (which then was extremely popular) that they should not have story lines which were in any way critical of the NHS because he feared it would upset the (Tory) government.That put paid to most of their plots at the time. He also banned the use of opinion polls on BBC News programmes for the same reason.When the BBC started making programmes for other broadcasters in their studios he decreed that there should be no mention of the BBC on the credits (tonight I saw a programme on BBC2 credited to STV).”
“Birt instructed the producers of Casualty (which then was extremely popular) that they should not have story lines which were in any way critical of the NHS because he feared it would upset the (Tory) government.That put paid to most of their plots at the time. He also banned the use of opinion polls on BBC News programmes for the same reason.When the BBC started making programmes for other broadcasters in their studios he decreed that there should be no mention of the BBC on the credits (tonight I saw a programme on BBC2 credited to STV).”
I'm confused. Casualty began in Autumn 1986. It replaced Juliet Bravo which ended in Autumn 1985. So, how could he instruct the Casualty producers in 1984? It wasn't even commissioned until 1985.
Thanks to Neil for that link, I think ITV would be rather worried by it, as it shows they clearly aren't appealing to male viewers and ABC1s and even the supposedly female oriented ITV2 has more male viewers. BBC One's demos are good with over half of viewers being ABC1 and only a slight tilt to female viewers, this is how ITV should be.
Originally Posted by wizzywick:
“I'm confused. Casualty began in Autumn 1986. It replaced Juliet Bravo which ended in Autumn 1985. So, how could he instruct the Casualty producers in 1984? It wasn't even commissioned until 1985.”
“I'm confused. Casualty began in Autumn 1986. It replaced Juliet Bravo which ended in Autumn 1985. So, how could he instruct the Casualty producers in 1984? It wasn't even commissioned until 1985.”
Originally Posted by johnnymc:
“Birt was appointed to the BBC in the 1990's not the 1980's.”
“Birt was appointed to the BBC in the 1990's not the 1980's.”
As far as I can see, ftv made no reference to the 1980s.
Originally Posted by NeilVW:
“ As far as I can see, ftv made no reference to the 1980s.”
“
As far as I can see, ftv made no reference to the 1980s.”
Yeah that's what I'm saying to Wizzywick Birt is from the 1990's
Originally Posted by NeilVW:
“ As far as I can see, ftv made no reference to the 1980s.”
“
As far as I can see, ftv made no reference to the 1980s.”
Originally Posted by johnnymc:
“Yeah that's what I'm saying to Wizzywick Birt is from the 1990's”
“Yeah that's what I'm saying to Wizzywick Birt is from the 1990's”
Told you I was confused! Cheers for making it clearer guys!
Originally Posted by Glenn A:
“Thanks to Neil for that link, I think ITV would be rather worried by it, as it shows they clearly aren't appealing to male viewers and ABC1s and even the supposedly female oriented ITV2 has more male viewers. BBC One's demos are good with over half of viewers being ABC1 and only a slight tilt to female viewers, this is how ITV should be.”
“Thanks to Neil for that link, I think ITV would be rather worried by it, as it shows they clearly aren't appealing to male viewers and ABC1s and even the supposedly female oriented ITV2 has more male viewers. BBC One's demos are good with over half of viewers being ABC1 and only a slight tilt to female viewers, this is how ITV should be.”
Interesting too to look at 16-34s. Obviously ITV's big hitters in this demo are off air, but even allowing for that the skews seem very similar to BBC One's:
BBC One: 11.4%
ITV: 11.9%
[Channel 4: 26.4%]
And when you factor in BBC One's much higher viewing levels the share of 16-34s' viewing looks like this:
BBC One: 14.4% (#1 in demo)
ITV: 8.7% (#2 in demo)
[Channel 4: 7.6% (#3 in demo)]
12.5% of all viewing (inc HD & +1) must be one of the lowest weekly shares for ITV since the Olympics. Nine full points behind BBC One!
Originally Posted by Glenn A:
“Thanks to Neil for that link, I think ITV would be rather worried by it, as it shows they clearly aren't appealing to male viewers and ABC1s and even the supposedly female oriented ITV2 has more male viewers. BBC One's demos are good with over half of viewers being ABC1 and only a slight tilt to female viewers, this is how ITV should be.”
“Thanks to Neil for that link, I think ITV would be rather worried by it, as it shows they clearly aren't appealing to male viewers and ABC1s and even the supposedly female oriented ITV2 has more male viewers. BBC One's demos are good with over half of viewers being ABC1 and only a slight tilt to female viewers, this is how ITV should be.”
It's worth pointing out that those numbers for BBC1 and BBC3 are seriously skewed by the Commonwealth games. IIRC their audience profile is considerably more female in an average week.
Originally Posted by C14E:
“It's worth pointing out that those numbers for BBC1 and BBC3 are seriously skewed by the Commonwealth games. IIRC their audience profile is considerably more female in an average week.”
“It's worth pointing out that those numbers for BBC1 and BBC3 are seriously skewed by the Commonwealth games. IIRC their audience profile is considerably more female in an average week.”
That's a good point, I'd forgotten that. Conversely, BBC Two looked far more female than normal - that would be because EastEnders, Holby and the like were moved over to that channel. Presumably the Commonwealths stole some of ITV's young viewers, not that their schedule was particularly appealing anyway to that (or any other demo) in that week.
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