I love your Thursday schedule, because from 9pm, there's lots of Politics, which is good. Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week, the News, Question Time, This Week, etc.

Would be nice to have a night especially for politics.

This is pretty deluded really.

Britain's Got Talent is on for one week. It makes commercial sense for ITV to advertise some Britain's Got Talent news for the 'And Finally...' item. It's not the second story? It just makes commercial sense.

The rest of the ITV News coverage is not fluffy & lightweight...and you just assume it is from your previous blind assumption that ITV News = Daily Mail.

Look away now, the BBC have a 2 minute clip of Holly's little BGT breakdown on their news website.

Currently the most viewed article on their website.

Oh, the BBC!?!?!

I didn't think the mighty BBC would even put it on their website & it's on the front page.

Bloody hell, the comments tonight have been ridiculous, especially from Dancc and RobbieSykes.

The final stages (and talking point) of Britain's Got Talent only lasts a week, that's why ITV are being talked about, and that's why BGT have had all the 'And Finally...' items.

Yeah, ok! Sky News & BBC News!?! Big deal. They've done poor things in the past, just watch Charlie Brooker's Newswipe for details. Incidently, hardly any of ITV's news coverage is on Newswipe!

That what you get studying for a politics degree

Well obviously, BBC and Sky have 24 hours news channels, ITV has 2 hours of news a day.

Large public interest surrounding the show. Once again, to expect NaT to completely ignore it would be beyond stupid.

Oh come on. Are you for real?????

You'll usually find a few videos under the "being watched right now" bit on YouTube from various shows around the world. Certainly none of them have come close to Susan Boyle.

America's Got Talent might see an improvement this year. Though NBC, in their infinite wisdom, haven't pushed up the start date which remains June 23rd. Last years overnight average was 11.7m. The show peaked during the auditions with 13.8m.

Actually the skateboarding duck was on Nationwide, which was the ancester of The One Show.

BGT was genuine car crash TV tonight. I don't find crying 10 year olds entertaining.

I thought it was quite a cynical move to put her in the final and I'm actually glad that I'm going to be out tomorrow night, because if it happened again would they let her sing again? I really don't like exploiting scared children.

Yeah, unfortunately this poster is for real. At it for the last week, really pedantic.

OK, can we now stop having a pop at each other - please?

We know that we all have differing opinions of the situation - some ultra pro-BBC, some ultra pro-ITV, some having slight bias, some none at all. But as a whole we were making this thread an interesting place to be, I've got to admit I always wait to see how some FMs explain the ratings away. But then it was always in a fun manner.

Why have we lost this all of a sudden? Why has it all become serious and point scoring? When did we become The X Factor judging panel, in other words?

If someone wants to have a dig at a channel or a programme, let them. Argue the point, but not the poster who's just displaying an opinion. It's not going to affect ratings after all, no matter how many times something is said.

Sorry, rant over.


I think News at Ten is in a tricky predicament at the moment. We've been saying that it needs to take advantage of it's lead in since it's been back at 10, and hasn't. Now it is, and we're criticising it. I do wonder how it would've done without the numerous Britain's Got Talent articles it's been reporting though. In the long run, it may have been better if it'd left the Cowell circus well alone.


As I understand it in this situation, protocol says that the producer has control, and Simon is merely a judge, so the producer takes the first decision. Of course, he canot do much if his wage payer then decides to over-rule him.


I can't remember seeing a Mumbai Calling advert. That is strange considering they've given it a big slot.

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Last night (Thursday) ratings: Great again for Briatin's Got Talent - the share is excellent. The other channel's are just treading water now, waiting for the behemoth to end so normality can be restored. The documentary was always going to suffer on BBC1.

Unarguably, the posts have been ridiculous, sorry to say, by a few particular posters.

Back to ratings, News at Ten will undoubtedly fall as most viewers would have turned over to BBC1 in time for Jonathan Ross, then again, he did have bad guests?

I'm thinking Britain's Got Talent will get its highest rating for last night. Last year, the Friday episode beat the Final Performance Show. On the other hand, last year's did air at 9:00pm following on from an explosive Corrie episode which bagged over 9 million viewers. And this year, Tonight has probably given BGT less than half of that audience.

Are you suggesting they were crocodile tears


ITV need as much exposure to NaT as possible during its big week(s?). If that means trailing the and finally story then so be it. Anyway surely the 'teaser' tonight was not an unknown story, and viewers must be used to having to watch all the news before the BGT story.


Of course it will clear last years ratings, it had a peak of 15.6million on Monday so the results at least will see a peak above this. The actual final itself maybe not as high but I don't think Robin Hood (unfortunately) is the ratings puller that Doctor Who is.


Because BBC don't split their screens 3 ways at the end of a programme and talk all over them, do they .


I'm sure with it being a family show some people could have been turned off by this and having adverts at just before 9 O'clock was not ITV's plan, so I think HIGNFY may have got some extra viewers.


Yeah I've seen 2 adverts for Mumbai calling this week, and apart from BGT and GMTV I haven't watched anything else on ITV this week, so i presume it must have been during BGT. In comparison Benidorm, Ladette to Lady and Benidorm have been trailed much more heavily.


I haven't seen them fluff up this week, they must be hiding it well. Dec seems to have been getting a little bit excited around some of the acts but I don't think they have proved useless without autocues.


I think you maybe right about the cup final, unless it goes to extra time with the weather and notorious poor coverage it will be lucky to get figures similar to BBC last year with onl Portmsmouth and Cardiff playing.


ANyone seen BBC breakfast this morning. Guess which programme is being mentioned on a half hour loop.

Are you suggesting they were crocodile tears


ITV need as much exposure to NaT as possible during its big week(s?). If that means trailing the and finally story then so be it. Anyway surely the 'teaser' tonight was not an unknown story, and viewers must be used to having to watch all the news before the BGT story.


Of course it will clear last years ratings, it had a peak of 15.6million on Monday so the results at least will see a peak above this. The actual final itself maybe not as high but I don't think Robin Hood (unfortunately) is the ratings puller that Doctor Who is.


Because BBC don't split their screens 3 ways at the end of a programme and talk all over them, do they .


I'm sure with it being a family show some people could have been turned off by this and having adverts at just before 9 O'clock was not ITV's plan, so I think HIGNFY may have got some extra viewers.


Yeah I've seen 2 adverts for Mumbai calling this week, and apart from BGT and GMTV I haven't watched anything else on ITV this week, so i presume it must have been during BGT. In comparison Benidorm, Ladette to Lady and Benidorm have been trailed much more heavily.


I haven't seen them fluff up this week, they must be hiding it well. Dec seems to have been getting a little bit excited around some of the acts but I don't think they have proved useless without autocues.


I think you maybe right about the cup final, unless it goes to extra time with the weather and notorious poor coverage it will be lucky to get figures similar to BBC last year with onl Portmsmouth and Cardiff playing.


I started reading this thread over an hour ago, I dread to think how much there will be to catchup on in th enext couple of days BTW anyone seen BBC Breakfast this morning, guess which programme is on a 30 minute loop.

If the lack of comments in the HIGNFY and RP threads are anything to go by, BBC1 got 0% from 9-10pm!

K

Since 6am, BBC Breakfast has been plugging an interview with Piers Morgan. We now find out its scheduled for just after 9am. The BBC know how to milk BGT for ratings too! At least NaT only make you sit through 25 minutes of news.

Is 'Countrywise' the new 'One Show' ? Thursday night's ratings:

Countrywise: 3.8m
One Show: 3.5m

Also Corrie hasn't been getting a boost from BGT in its new slots this week. It's been obtaining a stable average throughout the duration of the episode - no surges at the end due to people tuning in for BGT:

20:00= 7.4m
20:05= 7.8m
20:10= 7.1m
20:15= 7.9m
20:20= 8.3m
20:25= 7.3m

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ careful!

Has BGT figures out yet

The One Show's definitely falling flat of late, though I think it will get better into the winter months - it's hardly compulsive viewing, and when the weather keeps people in anyway I think ratings will rise. Countryside themed programmes are certainly quite popular lately.

To add to the News at Ten debate I disagree that exploiting BGT's fantastic ratings in this way is a good move - next week all the people who have merely had it on to hear about BGT will be gone, and ITV have even run the risk of alienating viewers who don't appreciate what they've been doing. There is a line between what is valid entertainment news, examples including Susan Boyle's initial emergence and the winner of BGT being announced, and what is not, such as the stories they have put on this week. I think it may damage News at Ten's reputation, which is a shame as they can produce some excellent reports.

To GeorgeS, trying to compare News at Ten to the weekend BBC Breakfast is pointless - News at Ten is supposed to be the flagship bulletin, whereas weekend BBC Breakfast spends most of the programme as a lifestyle/consumer/entertainment programme. If News at Ten is showing similarity to that then it is in trouble.

Incidentally I felt the BBC's documentary on Tuesday night seemed to have been put together in a rush. Couldn't they have spent longer on it and shown it at a later date when more people would be watching without the competition from BGT? I think it had the potential to be much better than it was.

How do people think Benidorm will do tommorow? I'm hoping it performs well.

I think its the %share that matters for One Show in the Summer months where it could go under 3 million.

News is what are people are talking about. how could core viewers of News at Ten who dislike BGT be upset by trailers in the niddle of BGT promoting NaT? Why would they be watching BGT?

I think all this sniffy attitude to NaT is way over the top. 6m sitting through 25 minutes of news about MP expenses, the economy, foreign news, etc to get to a 90 second story about BGT- big deal.

Btw Breakfast now have a live promo for Saturday Kitchen on now. Also funny how BBC "News" has suddenly lost interest in the FA Cup Final. And they seemed sooo interestred in it last year. There must be new editorial priorities from on high telling them what to cover.............

Share is well down too!!!

That's interesting. EE gets one of its lowest figures for a non clash episode in months and Countrywise increases by around 0.5m. Corrie, particuarly on a Thursday could easily work I think.