I've always been hugely sceptical regards AI figures.

The Sylvester McCoy era did rather well, in comparison to other eras, but only the absolute diehards were watching, willing it to improve..

Everyone else having long since buggered off.

Counts:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...-15-21/306479/

Live+VOSDAL: 4.937m
+ Day 1: 5.997m
+ Day 2: 6.444m
+ Day 3: 6.565m
+ Day 4: 6.635m

If it can't get 5m following Strictly and opposite X Factor like Merlin did then its popularity has definitely dipped.

Saturday's performance is now anybody's guess. I was expecting a healthy Strictly boost - but that's no longer the only variable.

But another 4.8/4.9 figure still won't be any more indicative of a less popular show than it is now.

Sorry, but i don't see why when it's getting final rating atm in the same about region as series 1-4 the so-called golden age of Nu-Who!

It may pick up casual viewers, but not many. If the weather turns colder etc, then i expect a pick up in overnights and finals.

Live+VOSDAL: 4.937m
+ Day 1: 5.997m
+ Day 2: 6.444m
+ Day 3: 6.565m
+ Day 4: 6.635m
+ Day 5: 6.683m

Crawling towards the finish line, need a good last couple of days.

Cheers Yog.

@bbcstrictly: 6.53m/28.5%
@TheXFactor: 5.85m/25.7%

Thought you ought to know. This clash could make things much less interesting than expected for DW. But SCD is still ahead of an (awful) XF performance. Things could be different today, though.

Should put some things in perspective though. Depending on the situation, a show that generally averages over 9m viewers can get less than 6m overnights. A show that generally averages over 12m can get under 7m overnights. With only 24 hours for each before their next shows to play catch-up.

Not a problem for Strictly after this week, but the +7 breathing room for DW to continue hitting it's 7m average doesn't look too bad, does it..

Can someone help me out here? I'm trying to explain to this guy on Twitter that on average, rating aren't going down.

https://twitter.com/CNAVY24/status/515866463526469632

Apparently, I'm the one who's 'not frigging getting it'

Get down on his level. Point out individual episode figures. Use Series 7B.

S7 Hide - 6.61
S8 Listen - 7.01

S7 Journey TARDIS
S8 Time Heist - I'd say about 6.9 when the Timeshift has settled.

Point out that the season is getting better ratings than the last one. Of course, this is the internet so he'll probably make something else up. xD

4.89 million last night.

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2014/09...g-figures.html

That's good and bad news. Slight drop but still fine if not great overall. It didn't benefit at all from the massive lead in SCD gave it which is a disappointment. It's not getting much more than Atlantis was in the same slot and that was an appalling piece of dull rubbish!

Again suggests that DW has a fairly stable overall audience of just under 7m but isn't 'must watch on the night' viewing any more.

On the one hand, a bit of an anticlimax. Everything cancelled eachother out?

On the other, we held viewers on last week mostly, against The X Factor. That show which would destroy us if put against it

So, no change - everything is still... fine.

Welcome to the introduction of iPlayer years ago. It's nothing new.

It's great that it maintained, but I was hoping for a bit of a boost from Strictly.

I do think being on later might have had an impact (and it was up against X-Factor too). I'll be interest to see the finals.

Anyway, well done Doctor Who!

Now we wait to see if Time Heist ends the chances of S8 being the first series to stay above 7m!

Or, as I keep on saying, people are now using the technology that they have bought and that is available to them to watch when they want to watch, not when the broadcasters say they should. And that Who viewers are more likely to adopt this approach.

It's just an indication that the show has lost a bit of the event TV buzz it used to have. Which doesn't surprise me tbh - it needs more a shake up for that.

Overall figures are fine although it does seem on track to have a series average slightly lower than any of the others so far. Essentially for all the talk of refreshing the show and a new start it hasn't really done much at all!

Actually more interested in seeing if it maintains Series 8 record of consecutive episodes in the Weekly Top 10.

Thank goodness for it, too. If DW hadn't been pushed back an hour, I wouldn't have been able to watch the rest of the series on the night

Also apparently the second lowest audience share since 2005 which is a bit disappointing.

At no point should people get in a tizzy thinking 'omg it's going to be cancelled!' but I still think we could clearly do with a refresh on the show now. New showrunning team, fresher approach to inject something into it please!

It could be that the figure of 4.89 contains new viewers handed on from Strictly whilst some families who watched on the night last week may have bailed at that point due to the late timeslot and will timeshift - the adjusted figures will be even more interesting next week.

Seemed a likely outcome.

X Factor:

20:30 ….. 8.3 (37.0%)
20:45 ….. 8.3 (36.8%)
21:00 ….. 8.0 (35.6%)

DW held it's own against a juggernaut.