Six million? Who told you that? The fairies at the bottom of the garden?

They used to alternate between the northern and southern hemisphere but it looks like they've drifted away from that policy now because it seems we're going to have four World Cups in the northern hemisphere in a row:

England 2015
Japan 2019
Ireland 2023
North America 2027


But it does all work out in terms of the actual time zones, so I get what you mean

WOW! Superb rating against I'm A Celeb.

Indeed that's C5's highest overnight rating against the ITV juggernaut for at least five years (Hang 'Em High: also 1.6m on November 13, 2011).

Paranoid got 4m so they'll be pleased to hear that.

You think IAC is a show watched by plebs?

Indeed - one is more convenient for viewers in Europe, then the next is more convenient for viewers in the other rugby heartlands. And that remains the case here.

Seems to be an interesting period for C5: the hits are working better than normal, with more spikes being recorded than usual and at times fairly unexpectedly, but on the other hand the flops have been more pronounced also. The middle ground is much less than it was a year or so ago, i.e. not many shows in peak doing "just" a million. It tends to be that at 8pm and 9pm they're either firmly the wrong side, or firmly the right side. That's a really interesting change we're seeing, and puts pressure on the commissioners to maintain high standards to help find some consistency. Not everything can work granted; but if too much is failing then it undoes a lot of the gains that are being made elsewhere.

As for Ice Road Truckers, this is essentially a very tired show that they've watched fall right away and been too slow to deal with. It's not suddenly stopped rating overnight, the cracks (cough) were already firmly showing and they just weren't quick enough to react.

I don't know why but I do feel genuinely happy for C5 when they get a hit on their hands because it feels they've never had a strong block of programming. In the past year they seem to have a nice portfolio of programmes which do well for them.

As for Big Brother and CBB, after 16 years I won't be watching in January. At the end of the last celebrity series I made a decision that was it when Bear won. I do wonder if the main series and CBB summer of 2016 will impact the shows for 2017.

I know what you mean about rooting for them to do well. I think it's clear a conscious effort is being made to improve programming in peak and it's nice when the ratings reflect the progression that's been made, same as when any other channel ups their game and gets the reward. It hasn't always been the case for C5 in the past, so perhaps perceptions are very slowly changing and the image problem is not as big an issue as it once was. Part of that I would put down to the very strong rebranding exercise that took place, and the paywall being lifted on C5 HD, although I have no evidence whatsoever to support these theories.

(Civilian) Big Brother is probably the closest they have to a show occupying that middle ground I described earlier. Odd when you think about it! It will get to a point where the question has to be asked if it's money well spent when they are doing a good deal better at 9pm without Big Brother around most nights. However, as we know Celeb Big Brother is still capable of those big headline figures in January which they won't want to lose.

I have reservations about this upcoming one as well; partly because of what happened in the summer, and partly because I don't know whether the public are really going to go for this Gold Stars v New Stars format they've concocted. The margin of error is here is going to be very small I feel, they'll have to absolutely nail the lineup in terms of who they bring back and given Bear himself has been rumoured, it's not exactly difficult to see them getting it horribly wrong and it backfiring spectacularly like most different things they've tried in the last few years.

If they wanted to do a more experimental series it may have been smarter to run it in August, with an all-new CBB lineup in Jan, but perhaps the pool of potential signings is drying up somewhat after 11 series on C5.

We kept watching just to see if the comedy 'tache stuck to the Mercury actor's lip fell off at some point.

Sadly it stayed on.

Wow! Amazing ratings for IAC and Planet Earth II. Those are two stonking numbers.

Evening Rob. Good to see Ratings Thread royalty back from hibernation in time for the Christmas schedules.

I agree that this wasn't one of the better examples of what C5 can do, so perhaps unfortunate for them in a way that it rated quite so well.

Ben Frow has slowly but surely rebuilt the schedule, there are still some issues, Friday and Saturday for example but Monday to Thursday is solid with returnable hits which will allow to show stuff that might not rate well but improve their image like MPs Behind Closed Doors. They've got a few shows coming up next year like Tony Robinson's Coast to Coast, Accused and Slum Britain so they're shaking up the type of shows they usually shows with more risky programming.

I would say On Benefits should be axed next programming. In the past year they seem to have a nice portfolio of programmes which do well for them. IRT should be moved to Fridays or Spike and have a stronger lead in for the 9pm Sunday slot and In Therapy should either be axed or move to 5Star,

Why? Are you going to pretend it isn't? If so what were they watching?

Coronation Street was strong tonight and seems on form at the moment as Phelan's plans came crashing down and Les Dennis left the show.

Tonight's I'm a celeb is also at the top of its game with one of the funniest Bush Tucker Trials ever.

I wonder how the hour long live special of the Martin Lewis Money Show will do tomorrow airing in the flop zone?

Why be so disrespectful about certain tv viewers if it's a show you don't like? Personally I can't stand IAC, I think it's a load of rubbish but I know plenty of (well educated and responsible) people who watch it. Infact even if these people were uneducated I really don't care, the fact is we all like or dislike certain programmes - high viewing figures needn't be attributable to high brow and/or certain types of shows - if that's what people want to watch then so be it, it's called choice! Maybe they think what what you (or I) watch is rubbish.

Tonight was the first time in a long time ( I can't remember, the last we were all together on Monday) . , the, whole house was watching all 3 soaps (Oaks , Corrie and EE) .

Also watching The Royal Family on Gold now

As that new episode of the Royal Family christmas been cancelled!?
After Caroline Mary Aherne passed away early in the year

Extra Camp trying to boost ratings by having a guest appearance by Kiosk Keith.

Does anyone have last year's ratings to hand, to see if it is actually rating worse than Now! Used to do.


In other news...

Broadcast are reporting that the BBC are to stop televising the National Lottery Saturday draws.

Linking onto that story I wasn't expecting to see it coupled with the BBC extending the contract for three years.
They are going to show it on iplayer apparently, though I don't quite see what either the BBC or Camelot get out of that arrangement to be honest.

They should never gave got rid of Mystic Meg

No one ever bids to televise the lottery results, so no wonder the BBC retained it! Probably paid a fiver!

She probably saw it coming!

IAC, Strangers, XF, PE, Strictly Results, other stuff...

Hardly surprising...

"Predictably no hard numbers but Amazon says @thegrandtour was its “biggest show premiere ever” with “millions” watching in 4 countries." https://twitter.com/MartinHoscik/sta...25859972079616

"Adds that “total new Prime membership sign-ups exceeded all previous days with the exception of Amazon’s renowned Prime Day”" https://twitter.com/MartinHoscik/sta...25948685922304

Presumably, that means the end of the lottery game shows. Good job Nick Knowles is free lance now.

The lottery game shows, enjoyably though some of them are, seems like a lazy option. More viewers to be had with, say, a lively variety series - certainly with a Strictly lead-in. And perhaps we'll see more drama on Saturdays now. They're already lining up new series Taboo for Saturdays in the new year.

I'd also like to see them try to find some new pre-watershed family comedy for Saturday nights, but I guess that's a riskier sell than Saturday night drama.

Yes time has dulled it almost to dust it seems. Looking back its launch on 19/11/1994, as you might expect, was a huge national event and iirc House Party was taken off air for a week so Noel Edmonds could host the game show themed first draw build up-along with Anthea Turner and Gordon Kennedy (according to Wiki). Anthea (once again according to Wiki) became the second highest paid female presenter in the UK when she defected to ITV in 1996 to present Wish You Were Here. I had forgotten she ever did that.
The first draw had a 20 million plus audience iirc-how times have changed.

Bet Camelot regret turning down ITVs offer years ago when x factor was top of its game.