The Ratings Thread (Part 68)

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derek500

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by welshfoxy:
“The price of the Radio Times Won't be doing that again. Nice month of free Netflix though, thanks for the heads up whoever mentioned the offer.”

Only read it on here too. Got the code off my father-in-law's copy and have received a £7.49 credit towards my £8.99 sub this month.

Thanks for the heads up.

sunbeam007

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by Dancc:
“I was thinking 0.8m minimum.

Next UCL rights auction will be fascinating. Surely BT won't be able to justify the kind of sum they bid last time.”

If BT offers £1bn for three years than sky and ITV/5 should offer around £750m. BT should be talking to ITV/5 too of course. Sky can now throw SSMix in to the err mix and know that last night could have got double that audience with more also watching Arsenal and Celtic.

But money talks and BT has all that Open Reach money and some controversial 'funding' from taxpayers - rather like West Ham. Maybe the trick is to be based on the Olympic Park.

cylon6

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by lewiep93:
“I've posted this before but here's my take on the top 30 most watched of all time which includes films, sport, etc. I haven't included BBC 1 shows from the 1979 ITV strike period as the list would be full of shows from that period (unfair maybe?). I said on Monday that these lists are often polarising as people shout "well what about World Cup 66?". These are SINGLE showings only and only one highest rated edition per series. Of course, there's no set ratings method pre-1981 so I guess there'll always be debates on this.

Royal Variety most watched show of all time? WHAT? According to an article from November 1967 in The Stage Archive it is, was amazed at that one. It had 11.6m homes which multiplied by 2.2 (how the BFI convert these figures) equates to 25.52m. And it is interesting that the other list and the BFI have the 1965 Royal Variety as the highest. More star guests than 1967?

It really is incredible to see which shows were popular.

Code:

Rank Programme Audience Broadcast Date Channel 1 Royal Variety Performance 25.52m 19 November 1967 ITV 2 Olympics 2012: Closing Ceremony 24.47m 12 August 2012 BBC 1 3 Only Fools and Horses 24.35m 29 December 1996 BBC 1 4 Olympics 2012: Opening Ceremony 24.25m 27 July 2012 BBC 1 5 To the Manor Born 23.95m 07 November 1979 BBC 1 5= Olympic Ice Dance Championship 23.95m 21 February 1994 BBC 1 7 World Cup 1998: England v Argentina 23.78m 30 June 1998 ITV 8 Miss World 23.76m 19 November 1967 BBC 1 9 Film: Live and Let Die 23.50m 20 January 1980 ITV 10 Film: Jaws 23.25m 08 October 1981 ITV 11 Film: Dr. No 23.10m 28 October 1975 ITV 12 Film: The Spy Who Loved Me 22.90m 28 March 1982 ITV 13 Panorama Special: Princess Diana 22.78m 20 November 1995 BBC 1 14 This is Your Life 22.22m 27 April 1977 ITV 15 Film: Diamonds are Forever 22.15m 15 March 1981 ITV 16 The London Palladium Show 21.89m 03 December 1967 ITV 17 Film: Crocodile Dundee 21.77m 25 December 1977 BBC 1 18 The Benny Hill Show 21.67m 24 March 1971 ITV 19 Dallas 21.60m 22 November 1980 BBC 1 20 Eurovision Song Contest 21.56m 07 April 1973 BBC 1 20= Film: Goldfinger 21.56m 03 November 1976 ITV 22 Steptoe and Son 21.54m 18 February 1964 BBC 23 The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show 21.40m 25 December 1977 BBC 1 23= Coronation Street 21.40m 02 January 1985 ITV 25 The Generation Game 21.34m 11 December 1976 BBC 1 26 The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show 21.30m 25 December 1977 BBC 1 27 Sale of the Century 21.15m 22 December 1978 ITV 28 Boxing: Ali v Frazier 21.12m 09 March 1971 BBC 1 29 Survival Special 21.10m 22 December 1978 ITV 30 Mrs Thursday 21.01m 14 March 1966 ITV 30= Love Thy Neighbour 21.01m 01 April 1974 ITV

”

I like this list more.....but what an unexpected number 1!!!!

Bond premieres were a big deal on ITV back then as were movie premieres in general. In the 70s films couldn't be shown on TV for 10 to 12 years, this then dropped to 5 years then 3 years. Now it's 2 years more or less.

Also look how many popular sitcoms that ITV had. They hated that BBC sitcoms dominated the BAFTAs when they had so many hits. TV now worries so much about critical approval that they forget that viewers are the ultimate critics.

david_leeward

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by dennisboy:
“That 'Emmerdale is certainly the second soap' nonsense lasted long, didn't it?”

Did you not notice that emmerdales ratings hasnt been tape checked?

sunbeam007

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by cylon6:
“I like this list more.....but what an unexpected number 1!!!!

Bond premieres were a big deal on ITV back then as were movie premieres in general. In the 70s films couldn't be shown on TV for 10 to 12 years, this then dropped to 5 years then 3 years. Now it's 2 years more or less.

Also look how many popular sitcoms that ITV had. They hated that BBC sitcoms dominated the BAFTAs when they had so many hits. TV now worries so much about critical approval that they forget that viewers are the ultimate critics.”

I've heard it said that Rising Damp is the only great sitcom ITV have ever had whereas the BBC have had lots. Mind Your Language and Love Thy Neighbour are like Benny Hill and will get 0/10 in the Guardian. Mega hits like Duty Free are mocked these days rather like My Family in recent years.

Certainly BBC is the king of sitcoms but few sitcom characters were as loved as George and Mildred.

davies88

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by sunbeam007:
“If BT offers £1bn for three years than sky and ITV/5 should offer around £750m. BT should be talking to ITV/5 too of course. Sky can now throw SSMix in to the err mix and know that last night could have got double that audience with more also watching Arsenal and Celtic.

But money talks and BT has all that Open Reach money and some controversial 'funding' from taxpayers - rather like West Ham. Maybe the trick is to be based on the Olympic Park. ”

It's strange though, because despite BT being more rich and more privileged, it's seen as the favorite compared to Sky, and it's Sky that's usually hated.

But then again, the BBC is also privileged, yet I thought Britons preferred an underdog and usually go against people or companies who are born with a silver spoon?

Obviously not, double standard and all that. And now I wait to be savagely attacked by BBC and BT supporters, despite me being accused of being anti ITV and Skh just a few weeks back...

cylon6

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by sunbeam007:
“I've heard it said that Rising Damp is the only great sitcom ITV have ever had whereas the BBC have had lots. Mind Your Language and Love Thy Neighbour are like Benny Hill and will get 0/10 in the Guardian. Mega hits like Duty Free are mocked these days rather like My Family in recent years.

Certainly BBC is the king of sitcoms but few sitcom characters were as loved as George and Mildred.”

I feel that if you ask people to name the greatest sitcom on ITV, most would say Rising Damp. With best BBC sitcom you'll hear Dad's Army, Porridge, Only Fools, Steptoe, One Foot, Fawlty Towers, The Good Life and several others. It's an embarrassment of riches. That makes it sound like ITV had no sitcom hits which is not true. In fact many ITV sitcoms rated better than some classic BBC sitcoms. They aren't repeated often and many cases don't repeat well which is why they haven't reached classic favourite status. But people liked Never The Twain, Selwyn Froggitt, Man About The House, Please Sir, On The Buses, George & Mildred. The BBC still has the edge for memorable and well loved sitcom characters. I don't think George & Mildred get mentioned in the same breath as Basil Fawlty, Victor Meldrew, Norman Stanley Fletcher, Arkwright, Delboy or Frank Spencer now. But back then those ITV sitcom characters were talked about regularly. This is why it's a crying shame that ITV gave up on popular sitcoms, they were good at them.

sunbeam007

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by davies88:
“It's strange though, because despite BT being more rich and more privileged, it's seen as the favorite compared to Sky, and it's Sky that's usually hated.

But then again, the BBC is also privileged, yet I thought Britons preferred an underdog and usually go against people or companies who are born with a silver spoon?

Obviously not, double standard and all that. And now I wait to be savagely attacked by BBC and BT supporters, despite me being accused of being anti ITV and Skh just a few weeks back...”

ITV has often outbid the BBC so is seen as the overdog. Yes the BBC has seen lots more £ pour in due to the boom in households and ITV has suffered due to sky and 5 launching (plus the recessions and arrival of the internet) but it's never going to have Bafta campaigning for it.
And to be fair - ITV has always been more Sun whereas BBC1 has been more.... Mail.

As for sky and BT - sky has been the overdog buying up stuff for years so there's some karma there too. Easy to forget how hated BT was a generation ago.

cylon6

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by H of De Vil:
“I think it will launch with 5m-5.5m. But I can see it settling in 4-5m ballpark, but consolidating well.

It will be interesting to see how its sits alongside the BBC's older skewing line-up. Will it appeal to this demographic as AR does, to give it its big ratings.

It'll certainly dent TXF which I think will be under 6m. But tbh, I would pefer TXF to be knocked than IAC.”

Planet Earth and Frozen Planet did well until I'm A Celebrity came along, it knocked 1/2m off them. X Factor is down on its glory ratings days but still gets 6m on a good day for results which puts it ahead of Antiques Roadshow. I'm not sure that a big opening rating is guaranteed for Planet Earth 2 opposite The X Factor.

Originally Posted by burbe:
“The problem of McIntyre v BGT is that they're both variety shows. I think it would sit better against X Factor and would grab a few viewers from Strictly as well than it did against BGT.”

That's a good point actually. Michael McIntyre's Big Show is more different to X Factor than BGT. But it still could potentially face X Factor where the audience for that might also be watching McIntyre on another day.

sunbeam007

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by cylon6:
“I feel that if you ask people to name the greatest sitcom on ITV, most would say Rising Damp. With best BBC sitcom you'll hear Dad's Army, Porridge, Only Fools, Steptoe, One Foot, Fawlty Towers, The Good Life and several others. It's an embarrassment of riches. That makes it sound like ITV had no sitcom hits which is not true. In fact many ITV sitcoms rated better than some classic BBC sitcoms. They aren't repeated often and many cases don't repeat well which is why they haven't reached classic favourite status. But people liked Never The Twain, Selwyn Froggitt, Man About The House, Please Sir, On The Buses, George & Mildred. The BBC still has the edge for memorable and well loved sitcom characters. I don't think George & Mildred get mentioned in the same breath as Basil Fawlty, Victor Meldrew, Norman Stanley Fletcher, Arkwright, Delboy or Frank Spencer now. But back then those ITV sitcom characters were talked about regularly. This is why it's a crying shame that ITV gave up on popular sitcoms, they were good at them.”

You nailed it though about repeats. The BBC, mostly 2, have repeated those sitcoms for decades. Allo Allo and Hi De Hi being others. Are You Being Served and Ain't Half Hot Mum weren't repeated for the PC reasons and so don't have such a deep footprint in the snow.

On The Buses still rates on ITV3 and I think it was 2014 when I watched it lots on Xmas Day because it was better than the main channels. I'll get you Butler is still up there with Ooh Betty. It's another example of how massive BBC2 is to the BBC. Marigold Hotel will be the next example. If C4 had been ITV2 then I wonder how different UK tv would have been. Least 4 didn't have lots of ITV repeats.

The Guardian still gives Benny Hill 0/10. You mentioned how Mike Yarwood became uncool and is not remembered fairly.
Monty Python has god like status. Many will feel that's exactly how it should be. Those who disagree are the sorts who probably think Mind Your Language was funny...

northlad

02-11-2016

ITV should ask Eric Chapple who I believe is still writing comedy to pen a new sitcom,he was at Yorkshire television a one man ratings winner.
Cant do any worse that whats around these days.

all_night

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by sunbeam007:
“That article is so very Guardian.”

It's so true.

Audience may be fragmented now as they put it but those figures and the audience should be respected. I'm sure if you didn't want to watch, especially in the 90s, you'd just switch off and go to the pub. Go to the pub in any decade in fact.

Rob1985

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by dennisboy:
“That 'Emmerdale is certainly the second soap' nonsense lasted long, didn't it?”

But Emmerdale beat EE again?

RickLopez

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by dennisboy:
“That 'Emmerdale is certainly the second soap' nonsense lasted long, didn't it?”

Tape checked it would be higher so you're wrong.

Originally Posted by Dancc:
“ I don't much like the trend of "New:" preceding programme titles that seemingly everyone is now doing on the EPG either, but this is even worse.”

I agree, it seems to be ITV and BBC4, I can see why BBC4 need it because most of their stuff is repeats, but ITV?

H of De Vil

02-11-2016

The Chase got a nice figure yesterday 3.48m (25%). Increasing as the dark night draw in.

It feels ro me like the situation BBC1 ha with Pointless. Keeping The Chase on for weeks, creating a firm schedule hasn't affected its ratings.

I wonder if it can ever touch 4m in December?

The Full Sparky

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by Dancc:
“I was thinking 0.8m minimum.

Next UCL rights auction will be fascinating. Surely BT won't be able to justify the kind of sum they bid last time.”

Ratings are, of course, completely incidental to bt sports business model.

sunbeam007

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by The Full Sparky:
“Ratings are, of course, completely incidental to bt sports business model.”

Do BT need UCL anymore. Sky haven't suffered and I'm not sure BT need it that much. The EPL is the key and both have that for at least three years. ManC at OT in the EFL Cup got 1.3m which is probably more than BT got for all UCL matches last night. Obviously a lot of it is down to ManU.

The problem for BT is that ManU don't look like qualifying for next year's UCL and there's no guarantee Liverpool will either. I'm sure that'll play in to how much ITV and Viacom are willing to pay.

Netflix would be showing GBBO if it was not for C4 and Top Gear went to Amazon. Maybe...

Score

02-11-2016

Sounds like there was drama around the production of ITV's Prime Suspect spinoff, with Lynda La Plante walking away from the production: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...spect-prequel/

I thought something must have gone on as it was ages between them announcing it and filming starting. This must have all happened a while back as I think filming for it is mostly done now, but it was supposed to have aired this year. I still think it could do well though, if given a decent slot. I guess it'll turn up somewhere in Q1.

Andy23

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by marke09:
“Have the BBC run out of studios? the new series of Watchdog is coming from a tent outside The One Show studio!”

The BBC a seem obsessed with doing shows that were once in a studio now in the street, first with Crimewatch, now with Watchdog.

I suppose it's budget cuts, you have to pay to hire a studio, you don't have to pay to hire the courtyard outside broadcasting house.

cylon6

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by sunbeam007:
“You nailed it though about repeats. The BBC, mostly 2, have repeated those sitcoms for decades. Allo Allo and Hi De Hi being others. Are You Being Served and Ain't Half Hot Mum weren't repeated for the PC reasons and so don't have such a deep footprint in the snow.

On The Buses still rates on ITV3 and I think it was 2014 when I watched it lots on Xmas Day because it was better than the main channels. I'll get you Butler is still up there with Ooh Betty. It's another example of how massive BBC2 is to the BBC. Marigold Hotel will be the next example. If C4 had been ITV2 then I wonder how different UK tv would have been. Least 4 didn't have lots of ITV repeats.

The Guardian still gives Benny Hill 0/10. You mentioned how Mike Yarwood became uncool and is not remembered fairly.
Monty Python has god like status. Many will feel that's exactly how it should be. Those who disagree are the sorts who probably think Mind Your Language was funny...”

How different nostalgia is when some programming don't get repeats. That's what hurt The Goodies, then execs come along and don't think anybody will want to watch a programme based on the exec's taste. They said nobody would watch The Goodies then Return Of The Goodies surprised them when it got 3m on BBC2. The same thing happened with Are You Being Served. The suits said nobody would watch repeats and stuck with Dad's Army repeats on BBC1 Saturday teatime in the nineties. Then they tried it one week, it did as well as Dad's Army then they couldn't wait to put more episodes on.

It's outrageous that we see no clips from Mike Yarwood. It wouldn't kill BBC4 to show an edition one week. Benny Hill is just thought of as a dirty old man now but some of his visual comedy was inspired. His show also won 2 BAFTAs for its 1971 series, Best Light Entertainment Programme (beating The Two Ronnies and The Goodies) and Best Script (beating Dennis Potter!).

sunbeam007

02-11-2016

The Sun said former footballer Wayne Bridge has signed up for IAC. I'd be surprised if John Terry and the alleged affair with his baby mama and the storm that caused. That story made ESPN discussion shows in America. Oh and his other half is Frankie Saturday.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbi...ne-bridge/amp/

cylon6

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by H of De Vil:
“The Chase got a nice figure yesterday 3.48m (25%). Increasing as the dark night draw in.

It feels ro me like the situation BBC1 ha with Pointless. Keeping The Chase on for weeks, creating a firm schedule hasn't affected its ratings.

I wonder if it can ever touch 4m in December?”

That is good! Where did you find that figure for The Chase H?

Roscoe Barnes

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by Ray Tings:
“From ITV Media:

Tuesday Top 10: Other channels (inc. +1 where applicable)

1 E4 - 07:00 PM Hollyoaks 842k 4.5%”

Wow! Much better for Hollyoaks first look last night. Highest E4 rating since Tuesday 28th June when it averaged 867k. Looks like it's picking up as the week progresses. 800k+ was what I was expecting for the E4 episodes this week.

Roscoe Barnes

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by cylon6:
“That is good! Where did you find that figure for The Chase H?”

It was listed in the ITV Media Top 10 that Ray posted earlier today.

cylon6

02-11-2016

Originally Posted by northlad:
“ITV should ask Eric Chapple who I believe is still writing comedy to pen a new sitcom,he was at Yorkshire television a one man ratings winner.
Cant do any worse that whats around these days.”

Eric Chappell gave ITV some of its biggest and best sitcoms. Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh, Duty Free. He was like their John Sullivan. Some writers know how to do good pre-watershed comedy and they're not being approached.

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