Ah, you're right! I was looking at the 9pm figures instead of 8pm. That's even more impressive than I first thought.

Unfortunately British TV channels will barely risk taking off a single episode, but I wonder if in ratings terms whether they could attract a similar audience by taking a summer break, and instead airing classic episodes instead, which surely would appeal to the soap audience.

Merlin debuted to about 5 million viewers on NBC last night. Bit 'meh' - just like everything else.

Australian Overnights:
Monday 22nd June

Seven:
17:30 Deal or No Deal 0.97m
18:00 Seven News 1.8m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.62m
19:00 Home and Away 1.17m
19:30 How I Met Your Mother 0.81m
20:00 Scrubs (R) 1.01m
20:30 Desperate Housewives 1.31m
21:30 Brothers & Sisters 1.02m

Nine:
18:00 Nine News 1.4m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.27m
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 1.12m
19:30 Two and a Half Men (R) 1.07m
20:00 You Saved My Life 0.74m
20:30 Sea Patrol 1.31m
21:30 Missing Persons Unit 0.92m

Ten:
17:00 Ten News at Five 1.09m
18:00 The Simpsons (R) 0.88m
18:30 Neighbours 0.93m
19:00 MasterChef Australia 1.78m
20:00 Recruits 1.35m
20:30 Good News Week 1.14m
21:40 Supernatural 0.62m

ABC1:
20:00 Australian Story 1.23m

SBS:
19:30 Top Gear Australia 0.51m

Seven narrowly wins Monday with 26.0% share.

Good for Neighbours, the second highest rated episode this year I think by my reckoning. A stinker for Nine yet again with their 8pm factual doing particularly badly. Seven edged a win this Monday but Ten won't lose too much sleep over Seven's 1.2% lead. (25.7/26)

Deal or No Deal worthy of a mention here also. To come within 120k of a national news bulletin is no mean feat given how much aussies love their news & current affairs.

It was doomed as soon as it was moved to the summer. Nothing has really caught on at all. The Listener on NBC on Thursdays is under 4m (and 1.0 in the 18-49 demo). ABC tried out their second mini-series which is bombing as well. Mental on FOX is probably doing the best of the lot so far, but even it isn't up to much.

Speaking of shows that aren't up to much, I'm A Celebrity's first 3 weeks of ratings:

Mon: 2.6 (6.35m)........2.0 (5.21m)......1.8 (4.94m)
Tue: 2.2 (5.50m).........1.8 (4.71m)......1.7 (4.65m)
Wed: 1.8 (4.78m)........1.7 (4.61m)......1.5 (4.17m)
Thur: 1.9 (5.18m)........1.8 (5.08m)......1.8 (4.98m)

I suppose it's not bad. It's generally difficult to tell what the networks expect of their summer series. I'd have thought NBC would have hoped for a bit more, but the demographic ratings don't seem disasterous. Hard to say if it'll be back for 2009.

Other series:

So You Think You Can Dance? (FOX) is doing pretty well as usual. It's averaging a 3.2 rating and a bit over 8 million viewers. On both measures, it has a slight edge over Wipeout (ABC).

ABC are doing OK on Mondays. The Bachelorette slipped sharply in its second week without a DWTS lead-in but seems to have stabilised at about 2.5 and 7m viewers. Their couples based gameshow, Here Come The Newlyweds hit a series low last week of 1.6 and 4.17m.

Outside that, CBS repeats dominate. Sport on CBS (US Open), NBC (Ice Hockey) and ABC (Basketball) has been propping up ratings. Though the golf isn't doing too great with the bad weather.

America's Got Talent is back this week. NBC are total idiots for not bringing it forward to cash in on the Susan Boyle hype. But NBC being idiots is nothing new. It'll be interesting to see if that interest brings any new viewers or if NBC left it too late.

An interesting article below about how to create awareness for new shows. By far the most important are "on air promotion" and "word of mouth". Perhaps this is why US networks start promoting their new fall series months in advance. I noticed that last summer when I was over but this year FOX have gone to a new level by actually previewing Glee in the last TV season!

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/06/19...ew-shows/21098
_________________________________
CONAN VS LETTERMAN - THE LATE NIGHT WARS (WEEK 2)

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 1.5 rating, 6 share
CBS “Late Show,” 0.9/3
ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/4

12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.6/3*

12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.9/5
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.5/3

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 3.8 million viewers
CBS “Late Show,” 3.7 million viewers
ABC “Nightline,” 3.4 million viewers

12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.7 million viewers*

12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.9 million viewers
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.7 million viewers*

*Monday and Wednesday “Kimmel” telecasts were encores.

Naturally, the CBS and NBC spin machines have gone into overdrive.

Apparently viewers were supposed to be enticed in by exclusive Harry Potter previews airing during Merlin's ad breaks - but only one was aired, even though they showed the first 2 eps back to back over 2 hours.

Merlin's ratings would be very poor indeed on any other major network at any other time of the year - but on NBC in the summer it's not "that" bad - triple the ratings for example of Kings, another new NBC series which aired in that slot earlier this year.

The jury is thus still out on whether NBC will bother to buy season 2 of Merlin, which is of course currently in production for BBC1.

BBC1
13.45- Wimbledon 2009: 1.54m (17%)
* 14.00- 1.08m (15.51%)
* 16.00- 1.73m (20.28%)
* 17.30- 2.4m (18.38%)
20.30- Panorama: 2.07m (9.7%)
21.00- Waking the Dead: 3.47m (16.2%)

BBC2
12.00- Wimbledon 2009: 1.0m (14%)
* 150% up on slot average
20.00- Today at Wimbledon: 1.5m (8.2%)
* actually started at 20.10
* DS say: 1.75m (8.2%)
* 1m female viewers
* 300,000 16-34 viewers
21.00- Supersizers Eat...: 2.0m (9.3%)
* last week: 2.5m
* last series average: 1.8m (7.9%)
* 2009 slot average: 1.5m

ITV1
20.00- Tonight: 2.29m (11.2%)
21.00- Real Crime: 4.11m (19.2%)

C4
20.00- Dispatches: 780,000 (3.7%)
21.00- The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies: 840,000 (3.9%) [ +1 : 69,000 (0.4%) ]
22.00- Big Brother: 1.84m (11.1%) [ +1 : 138,000 (1.7%) ]

Five
20.00- Fifth Gear: 880,000 (4.2%)
21.00- Build A New Life...: 1.29m (6%)

Sky1
21.00- Ross Kemp on Pirates: 596,000 (3.1%)

ITV2
21.00- King Kong: 421,000 (3.3%)

Primetime shares:
ITV1 - 23.4%
BBC1 - 19.4%
BBC2 - 9%
C4 - 5.3% [ +1 : 0.4% ]
Five - 4.4%

Source: Broadcast / DS

Nice win for ITV at 9pm. That'll teach the BBC for lazily scheduling a repeat of Waking The Dead that was first shown less than 14 months ago.

Bad for the current affairs shows, particularly Dispatches. They are all suffering sharing the same slot. Why not spread them out a bit across the week? I'm sure they would benefit. This isn't Australia where you can schedule two current affairs shows opposite eachother and still get good ratings for both.

Glad Real Crime won its slot. Last night's in particular was really good, much better than last week's.

Looks like BB has flattened out at around 2m, I thought(was hoping ) it would completely crash, it'll probably last the Summer now, don't you think?

Yeah, I think it's levelled off now. I'd be surprised if we saw much more downward movement.

That said, I think we could potentially see a record low on Wednesday night for the 11pm show due to the late slot.

Didn't Wimbledon score less than Diagnosis Murder normally does in that BBC1 arvo slot?

The mystery about the Torchwood scheduling is now resolved.

Next week's Radio Times (out today) says on the radio pages (at the end of a piece plugging the three Radio 4 Torchwood dramas airing on 1/2/3 July):

"Torchwood makes its BBC1 debut next week, Mon-Fri 9.00pm". [That means 6-10 July].

So the speculation that it would be Sunday to Thursday, or a slot other than 9 pm, goes out the window.

MG say: 0.9m (19%)

BBC1's coverage peaked at 2.7 million at 17.45.

In addition, BBC2's review of last year drew just 100,000 and 2% at 10.30am!

Look out for my report on last year's tournament later on today.

Surely Hotel Babylon is scheduled for Friday 10th july at 9pm.

It is on DigiGuide while Mon-Thu 9pm are "TBA."

I'm guessing it will be rested for a week.

quoted from Thebenster :

BBC1
13.45- Wimbledon 2009: 1.54m (17%)
* 14.00- 1.08m (15.51%)
* 16.00- 1.73m (20.28%)
* 17.30- 2.4m (18.38%)
20.00- Eastenders : 8.24m (40.1%)
20.30- Panorama: 2.07m (9.7%)
21.00- Waking the Dead: 3.47m (16.2%)

BBC2
12.00- Wimbledon 2009: 1.0m (14%)
* 150% up on slot average
20.00- Today at Wimbledon: 1.5m (8.2%)
* actually started at 20.10
* DS say: 1.75m (8.2%)
* 1m female viewers
* 300,000 16-34 viewers
21.00- Supersizers Eat...: 2.0m (9.3%)
* last week: 2.5m
* last series average: 1.8m (7.9%)
* 2009 slot average: 1.5m

ITV1
19.00- Emmerdale: 5.89m (32.3%)
19.30- Coronation Street: 8.12m (41.2%)
20.00- Tonight: 2.29m (11.2%)
20.30- Coronation Street: 8.98m (41.7%)
21.00- Real Crime: 4.11m (19.2%)

C4
18.30- Hollyoaks: 1.59m (9.1%)
20.00- Dispatches: 780,000 (3.7%)
21.00- The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies: 840,000 (3.9%) [ +1 : 69,000 (0.4%) ]
22.00- Big Brother: 1.84m (11.1%) [ +1 : 138,000 (1.7%) ]

Five
17.30- Neighbours: 1.33m (10.2%)
18.00- Home and Away : 1.12m (7%)
20.00- Fifth Gear: 880,000 (4.2%)
21.00- Build A New Life...: 1.29m (6%)

Sky1
21.00- Ross Kemp on Pirates: 596,000 (3.1%)

ITV2
21.00- King Kong: 421,000 (3.3%)

Primetime shares:
ITV1 - 23.4%
BBC1 - 19.4%
BBC2 - 9%
C4 - 5.3% [ +1 : 0.4% ]
Five - 4.4%

Source: Broadcast / DS

_________________________________

Just fleshed it out with the soap ratings.

Corrie grew it's audience between 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

Quite possibly, which really just highlights how daytime viewers seem to prize familiarity above all else. Still, the overall effect on the BBC One share will be positive as Wimbledon far outstrips what the kids shows usually attract between 3 and 5.

Andy Murray predictably last on Centre Court today, so it looks like it'll be BBC Two that gets the boost from it.

ITV2 repeats:

12:40 113,000 (3.6%)
01:10 136,000 (6.1%)

If BBC2 get it - we all know the BBC's history in believing viewers can't managed to switch over from BBC1 to BBC2.

Those ratings for Wimbledon look very poor to me, but I can't actually remember what it got previously, maybe it is in line with what it got last year.

Good night for ITV1, surprisingly winning the 9pm slot. It just shows people will watch Real Crime if it is about an intriguing case. They should actually win Wed/Thu/Sun and possibly Fri 9pm slots this week aswell which I don't think many people expected ITV would do with their schedule this Summer. Just shows how BBC1's Summer schedule is just as bad!

Coverage of the Wimbledon 2008 tennis tournament featured in BBC1 and BBC2’s schedules between 23rd June and 6th July, and proved that year after year viewers return and enjoy the annual sporting contest.

BBC2’s Today at Wimbledon aired on 12 occasions over the two-week period, averaging 1.38 million viewers and a share of 6.5% in a regular 8pm weekday slot, but moved to post-10pm 4 times, often when live coverage over-ran. In late night slots the highlights programme averaged just 0.75 million and 5.8%. Furthermore, repeats of the highlights, entitled Yesterday at Wimbledon, peaked with 132,000 on BBC2 at 10.30am, and 430,000 on BBC1 in a 6am slot.

On weekdays, BBC2’s live coverage ran between 12-3.25pm and 5.50-8pm, with a 1.45-6pm slot on BBC1. Lunchtime BBC2 coverage moved to 1-3.25pm on Wednesday week 1, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of week 2, and on that second Wednesday, live action moved to BBC1 at 7pm running through to 8.30pm as Andy Murray crashed out to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, watched by a peak of 7.7 million viewers. On Monday week 2, evening BBC2 coverage was extended by 30 minutes and then moved to BBC1 at 8.30-9.35pm, which peaked at 10.4 million. The hour on BBC1 averaged 8.6 million and a 37% share, with BBC2 averaging 4.3m (23%) and peaking at 5.5m (27%).

On Saturday week 1, the schedule differed with 45 minutes of action on BBC2 at noon, then moving to BBC1 until 5.25pm, and back to BBC2 until 8.30pm. Meanwhile, BBC2 aired Wimbledon between 2-4.15pm which pulled in 377,000. The BBC1 action averaged 2.6 million and a 29% share for almost 5 hours, with BBC2 lunchtime coverage averaging 0.8 million and 12%. The evening action from SW19 managed 1.6 million and 10% for 3 hours.

One week later, live coverage began at 1.25pm on BBC1, averaging 3.9 million and 35% until 5.35pm. It switched to BBC2 and averaged 2 million and an 11% share.

The final day of the tournament was an 8-hour marathon on BBC1, covering the men’s final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. From 1.30pm, the whole coverage averaged 7.4 million viewers with 39% of the available audience. The final peaked with 12.7 million, and then a lowly 1 million watched the BBC2 highlights.

In 2009, with British tennis star Andy Murray in with his best chance of a win to date, we could see some record breaking or increases in viewing figures. He crashed out on day 10 last year, and viewers should sustain interest if he progresses further in this year’s competition.

Previous report
Top Gear

As Zoe says, the ratings at first glance look poor, but in fact, it is in line with the first day last year: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...postcount=3216

I think it's a bit like what happens with the Snooker in May on BBC Two, it starts off slowly then shoots up.


Ah, but he's due out at 16:00, about now, but it looks like he'll be out shortly. If it goes past 18:00, I think it'll stay on BBC One.

And the expected has happened, I guess.

It's up on last year, at least.


If the Roddick game goes to a 4th set, Murray will have to wait until at least 5pm.

I'll probably be wrong, but I reckon it will move to BBC2.