http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009...le-youtube-itv

Interesting article Youtube and BGT

Yup, which is fair considering the quality of the episodes has increased greatly with the last 2. That's more like the ratings it should be getting. Also it's biggest share of this series so far. Rightly beating TTN on BBC1 which is utter rubbish!

BGT just gets better and better. It wouldn't surprise me if the rating for the final is somewhere near 15m. If not that, then it should peak around that figure.

Bloody hell at BGT! I expected a fall after last weeks ratings but both the figure and share are awesome!

I think it may be better for the BBC to find a way to re-jig their schedule so that Robin Hood goes up against BGT.

They're throwing it under the bus at the moment with the scheduling - it's simply on too early to get high figures even though the share's good.

It did well up against BGT a few weeks back so perhaps it would be worth trying for them.

How does BGT keep managing to increase??! I would have thought things would have calmed down slightly after last week, but obviously not. The fact the show is over 3m above the next top rated show of the week and will be over double the next rated programme on Saturday shows how much it is much see TV. I thought last year was the peak for the show, but now some of the audition shows are up around 3/4m on last year! It really is amazing and with new viewers every week I can easily see an average of 15m for the finale in a good slot . BGT must be ITV's biggest breakthrough success of the 21st century surely.

Nice to see the gap between Tonight & Primeval increasing, but I'm surprised Hells Kitchen is lower than last Saturday.

BBC1 seemed to rate low all night it seems with ITV1 ruling the schedules and there's not that much BBC1 can do to change because ITV now have a fixed schedule. Putting Tonight up against BGT would see it slump below 3m and if Robin Hood went against BGT, then the lottery would need to fit somewhere else. BGT right in the middle of ITV's schedule has buggered up BBC1.

52% share of the audience in primetime for effectively a clip/audition show is fantastic and noone can deny that.

The end of may is probably going to be one of ITV's biggest weeks in a long time with huge football matches and BGT reaching its peak.

Huge for BGT!

That is the highest non-final overnight of any of this century's talent shows ever.

Primeval also did better, and that 26% share shouldn't be overlooked. Hopefully it'll get a recommission now, and it disposed of Barrowman with ease.

Hell's Kitchen did well too, but it seems as though most people are only watching TV for BGT on Saturdays, considering how it towers over everything else.

Astonishing figures, especially considering the warm weather.

Glad to see Tonight's the Night lose some of its audience but it certainly doesn't deserve the 4 million it got.

That's a fantastic rating for Britain's Got Talent. It has good word of mouth, is scheduled well and for a show of its type is well made. This will definitely be a contender for most watched show of the year.

Quite frankly, the final should get 15 million, maybe even 16 million depending on how the weekday semi finals rate.

At the start of the series I thought it could get 15m for the final at a complete push but now I think I expect it at around that figure. It just keeps on getting better and better figures reach week- surely it can't go even higher than that next week? Well we think that every week and it does.

I have to watch BGT later. I missed it last night but by god I need to catch up it's a fantastic show.

Only just noticed RH poor figure, and i totally agree with those who say it should be put up against BGT where it appeals to a different audience, and would no doubt improve on it's current poor ratings.

Funny the old argument was the charts are too fast for a chart show, now apparently they're too slow.
MTV barely shows music these days
Jools Holland is not mainstream music
'music shows don't deliver big audiences'... Eurovision 40% audience share, X Factor even higher. TOTP at Xmas got many millions.
The BBC decided years ago it wanted rid of TOTP (like it did Dr Who) so scheduled it against soaps as the first step in its demise.

Did anyone else see Sue Barker just go into a 'diva strop' at the end of the London Marathon coverage?

The camera went to the ground and she shouted at some young producers "I NEED TO HEAR MYSELF!!!"

Smiley Sue? I think not.

I did!!

No doubt it'll be on You Tube soon!

ITV must be delighted with BGT topping 12m. Even Robbie will struggle to explain away that.

And the BBC unable to get above 4m (unless Casualty attracted the stockbrokers & bankers looking for a bit of early evening gore in the Home Counties...)

And I think that's a great point. TV is calling out for a weekly chart show, as people have gone off music channels. People just want a weekly round-up in a good place in the schedule.

I'd love to see a youthful, mainstream (and a little bit nostalgic) BBC1 schedule on a Thursday night.

7:00pm The One Show
7:30pm EastEnders
8:00pm Top of the Pops
8:30pm Grange Hill
9:00pm Gavin & Stacey
9:30pm That Mitchell & Webb Look *
10:00pm BBC News at Ten
10:35pm Question Time

* As with my previous Thursday night BBC1 schedules, I've moved BBC2 shows for BBC1. I think if BBC1 went ahead with this Thursday night move, only a couple of BBC2 shows should be moved at the most. But I love That Mitchell & Webb Look and it's the sort of thing that'll pick up the Gavin & Stacey audience.

Then again, I also know a lot of families that watch Gavin & Stacey, so maybe it would be a better idea to have it on Friday nights with My Family or something like that.

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About the ratings last night, I think it was the weakest 'Britain's Got Talent' so far, despite the unbelievably brilliant figures. I can see it going down a tiny bit next week maybe back into the 11 million range. The peak will be interesting, it might be above 13 million viewers.

Nevertheless, I can see the final pulling in near to 17 million viewers, let alone 15 million viewers. If the proportions go with last year, where the auditions got around 9 million and the final got around 13 million viewers.
Surely, an average of 11 million viewers should equate to 15 million viewers already, and the peak could be higher.

But even more importantly, BGT is building in the same way it did in Series 1, as in Series 2 the show went up & down.

I don't think that Top of the Pops or Grange Hill would work there. Top of the Pops could do OK on a Saturday at 6pm, but that's about it, really, as there just isn't a market for it. As for Grange Hill, I doubt it would do as well as Waterloo Road, which is fine as it is, so there is no real need for it.


I actually thought that BGT was better than last week's, but either way, it will probably dip next week, maybe to about 10.5-11m, depending on the weather, although the later start will help it.

As for the final, I think it's too early to make a real judgement, bit I'm hoping for 14-15 million, what with the way it's gone so far.

For real nostalgia try this:

6.55 Tomorrows World
7.20 Top Of The Pops
8.00 The Kenny Everett Tv Show
8.30 Butterflies
9.00 Nine O'Clock News
9.30 Tenko
10.20 Question Time

Those were the days.

Before EastEnders you could get a 40 minute edition of Top Of The Pops and look at that variety.

The problem with a show like TOTP is what level do you pitch it?

If it is too mainstream, people with a deep interest in music won't tune in, if it is too specialist, it won't get large ratings.

Do you go for a young 'Fearne and Reggie' type audience meaning nobody over 15 would be seen dead watching, or a Jools Holland type programme which wouldn't get young girls tuning in to see McFly?

The only place it would work would be on the edge of the schedule, such as 5.30pm on Saturdays where it would pick up casual viewers with little competition

at BGT! 12.2m is unbelievable!!

Series average so far stands at 11.5m.

Does anyone know what the soap dramas got on Friday Night ?

I hope EastEnders got over 8m as it was the best episode of the week and miles better than any of Coronation Street's offerings.

I only watch BGT whilst switching around other shows, but its success I guess is that it is the greatest exponent of the reality idea. Its not stuck to just singers like the X Factor, its got Simon Cowell who has been the face of Light Entertainment this decade (curiously he does not do anything which is traditionally LE),Ant and Dec, daft people, brilliant people, and all this mix has just caught on. There is no other show on which does what it does.
On the other side its probably defined the art of manipulation. A team of people who know exactly how to draw people in are at the top of their game. Each week we have the contestant who makes Amanda Holden open mouthed as though Christ has returned to Earth. Given that there must be thousands of people who are seen for BGT I cant belive that the judging team are not aware to some degree of what is being set up.
It is hardly surprising that the BBC are powerless to provide an effective response. TTN is itself trying to be a happy bright Saturday night show, it has elements of BGT within it.The problem is the BBC does not have anyone with sufficient clout to present it (there isnt anyone).The BBC cannot ape BGT as it would open itself up for more criticism. And yet it gets criticised for most of the LE it provides.Its a tough place to be in.