Why concentrate on just the last couple of years?
Because it put CS in a worse looking state than the others?
CS's decline has been no steeper than EE - it just came at a later stage than EE.
ED has less to fall so it looks less in raw numbers, but I'd guess it's not so different in terms of % of viewers.

ALL tv has seen steep declines in viewership - the soaps have only paralleled that.

But that wasn't really the point of my post.

Is CS simply only rating better because it has a bunch of mindless old fogies who don't know how to change a channel or find something else to watch and are simply only watching it because they've "always" done
That seems to be the interpretation of a largely social media based fraternity who have "issues" with the show and are "railing" at these stupid old fogies who continue watching it, because if it wasn't for them, the ratings would be worse and something would be done to make the show more appealing to the social media fraternity who are constantly complaining about it.

As someone who is an outsider and doesn't watch the show - this is the message that comes across to me from social media fans.

This argument - to my mind - does a huge disservice to a viewing population that isn't encompassed by those with a social media mindset.

Im 30 and I watch it too. I know people younger that me too.

Soap's Average Compared With Last Year (So July 2014 compared with July 2015)

Coronation Street: 6.42m - Up 0.16m on 2014 (up 2.5%)

EastEnders: 5.93m - Up 0.74m on 2014 (up 12.5%)

Emmerdale: 5.41m - Up 0.36m on 2014 (up 6.7%)

All soaps in July were up.


And overall for the year so far: (So January-July 2014 compared with January-July 2015)

Coronation Street: 6.86m - Down 0.56m on 2014 (down 7.5%)

EastEnders: 6.52m - Up 0.01m on 2014 (up 0.2%)

Emmerdale: 5.74m - Down 0.27m on 2014 (down 4.5%)

Except for Corrie overall the soaps aren't doing badly.

Does anyone have any figures for "Two Tribes"?

The older audience, particularly the baby boomer generation in their sixties and early seventies, is the most affluent this country has ever known and even many older pensioners still drive, go abroad, own their own homes. It is quite an attractive demo to go for and no longer is the older demo regarded as undesirable due to lack of money. Also they tend to have longer attention spans than teenagers and lap up well made dramas, documentaries and comedy. I'm sure something like Vera, which skews older, is vastly more attractive in the long term than something like Life on Marbs, whose audience will grow out of it quickly and appeals to a much narrower demo.

I am only 19 so will still be alive when the last episode air's where Manchester gets blown up in a Nuclear Explosion.

Im not making the "mindless old fogie" argument. If Coronation Street was consistently 3 or 4 million ahead then I would be looking for reasons why. As it is it averages about 700,000 more I think. That's not enough to be saying its doing something much much better than the others imo, irrespective of demographics. It may have a slightly more loyal audience watching through the ups and downs of quality that all soaps pass through.

Fair enough - but to clarify - I've never said it was doing much better either.

I was commenting on the mindless old fogie argument - and the constant use of it from social media fans who complain CS isn't exciting enough for them and constantly use it to justify their argument.
i.e - it's only rating (marginally ) better because..........old fogie argument add infintum

Too much is made of who the judges are. I don't think punters make a choice of watching based on the judging panel.

I think people like the format and are a lot more accepting of changes in judges etc for this type of program. XF did not shoot up last year with the arrival of the dream team and TVUK didnt drop because Kylie left. It also seems to me that there have been constant moans about various judges over the years but people still tuned in.

and the 1st and 3rd Sep too

Thanks lewi

Mountain Goats low for the BBC's usual standards. Did anyone watch it last night and what did you think?

BBC2 had such a good evening, particularly from 8pm onwards.

ITV. Now that rating for BBQ Champ is now even lower than Flockstars. Its lower than all other channels at 9pm, bar Ch5. Really, really awful. So many new shows, just one series. They really are running out of ideas on new shows.

Drama is strong, but entertainment is weak.

Mountain Goats had no promotion. What do BBC1 expect when they throw comedies out with no promotion. Will watch later and see if it improved from the pilot. Thought it was the weakest of the Comedy Playhouse series and it got a series!

Ripper Street is slipping. Won't be long before Extra Slice or Gogglebox overtakes it.

BBQ Champ hasn't caught on. That rating is very poor. ITV would be better off putting a drama there.

It's very likely as I was 19 in 1987 and the soap is still going now. CS obviously is well down on its ratings heyday, but the world of 17 million viewers is almost completely gone now as there are so many more alternatives. While CS trends older, I'd think it has a fair percentage of younger viewers as well.

It's amazing how shows like BBQ Chumps get on air.

Clearly, 18 months ago, ITV said they wanted shows that appealed to blokes.

Some bright spark/idiot says: Hey, I know, a Blokey Bake Off! Barbecuing! We can get that blokey bloke off of that blokey show on that blokey channel Dave. He could host it...No wait. He's American. Let's get some top British totty in to host it, and the lads will come flocking!

The end result is something so niche, that even blokey channel Dave wouldn't touch it.

Got to say, it has been fantastic to see the return on the full daily ratings round up these past few weeks.

Thanks very much to lewiep93

Hi, does anyone know how Aircrash (C5, 8pm), BBC News at Ten (BBC1, 10pm) or Rick Stein from Venice to Istanbul (BBC2, 9.30pm) did last night?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-CEL0mUxjQ new trailer for Doc Martin series 7

I agree and have to say the same argument gets used on here a little too much as well.

Yes. Thanks Lewie!

Doc Martin ratings will be interesting as it has dipped a bit in the last couple of series but will it have any competition?

Depends where ITV schedule it. If its Monday is should stay strong (over 7m). But if its another day it will be lower.

Although it was only last series the ratings dropped to around 7.6m av from the previous series of 8.6m. This I think is mainly due to Corrie's decline, where is 2011 for series 5 it was riding high from the Tram Crash. This is likely to affect it again this year.

I think Doc Martin will surprise us and return a good 8m+ figure. It is one of those series which stands out and draws in the viewers. There has been very little drama on ITV for quite a while. They have given us the odd one scattered through the summer months, but people love the return of a familiar quality show.

The National Lottery - Five Star Family Reunion: 3.08m (17.7%)
Casualty: 4.20m (23.1%)
Match of the Day: 3.32m (26.1%)

Edwardian Farm (r): 0.97m (5.9%)
Dad's Army (r): 1.50m (8.4%)
VE Day - Remembering Victory (r): 1.12m (6.4%)