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Dr Who Ratings Thread (Merged) |
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#5076 |
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Quote:
Overnights do matter, and will continue to matter in the years to come — in fact, more so. As audiences inevitably shrink for all 'as live' broadcasts the shows able to buck the general trend to become "appointment viewing" will be given more attention. Think of overnights as opening weekend box-office sales: they're not always an indicator of overall impact or popularity of success. Some films are growers or do better in DVD sales, etc - but the opening weekend can make or break overall perception of success.
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#5077 |
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Join Date: May 2009
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I don't think anybody is pretending that the current show will run forever and be immune to change. Expectations shouldn't be that high (though, come to think of it, there is a bit of that mentality in some places) But we're a long way off the 80s. Unfortunately I can't talk for the show's cultural appeal back then, but it appears to be pretty damn strong (and seemingly growing, globally) at present. Nor is it just Moffat and his merry band of followers trying to defend overnights, of course. Ultimately, going forward, it's going to come down to the perception of the broadcaster. The current regime have been very promising in that regard. Quote:
BBC director of television Danny Cohen said: "Doctor Who is a great example of the way audience viewing habits are changing. On-demand viewing via iPlayer and recorded viewing mean that the total audience for programmes now grows very significantly from the initial live audience. But Cohen and Moore aren't going to be around forever. Eventually Moffat will leave and we don't know how that will service the show (though there will always be those who pretend ratings will skyrocket the instant he leaves). Thankfully we do at least have that ability to change the cast and crew and somehow get away with it - with a shot of refreshing the series. Whether the next shake-up will be responsible for less or more "casual" viewers tuning in, that's not for us to say."In this new world, we only know the total viewing for a programme after 30 days - and in the case of Doctor Who this means that the drama is performing exceptionally well." As it stands, Doctor Who is still keeping up. Though, even if the current series survives long enough to come to an end in... say... 2020... I bet there will still l be somebody boasting that they predicted it all along I think the current run has surely surpassed initial expectations by now.
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#5078 |
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Quote:
As it stands, Doctor Who is still keeping up. Though, even if the current series survives long enough to come to an end in... say... 2020... I bet there will still l be somebody boasting that they predicted it all along
I think the current run has surely surpassed initial expectations by now. |
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#5079 |
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Whatever works in days to come, eh
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#5080 |
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I want Who to get massive ratings every week....10 million please. That'll do.
But back in the real world...some very good points being made here. Not going to be complacent for a moment having seen the show effectively cancelled in 1989, but coming up to 10 years in the consistency is pretty remarkable. By 1969 the ratings compared to the Dalekmania years were quite small, as indeed were the ratings for the IMO brilliant first Pertwee season. The ratings dip between Season 22 and 23 was huge, but it is clear in retrospect that the people in charge didn't give a damn about the show. Don't think we're anywhere near that nearly a decade into C21 Who. With any long running programme there are peaks and troughs. Just the way it is. Think Who's doing fine...but, yeah, no complacency. |
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#5081 |
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LAST UPDATE:
Doctor Who Christmas Special Update: Live + VOSDAL: 6.337m + Day 1-3: 7.927m + Day 4: 8.078m + Day 5: 8.195m Other selected Christmas Day programming + day 1-5 update: SCD: 8.804m Miranda: 8.546m Call The Midwife: 9.109m Eastenders: 8.810m Mrs Brown's Boys: 9.626m Emmerdale: 6.430m Corrie: 7.597m Downton Abbey: 7.169m |
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#5082 |
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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Quote:
LAST UPDATE:
Doctor Who Christmas Special Update: Live + VOSDAL: 6.337m + Day 1-3: 7.927m + Day 4: 8.078m + Day 5: 8.195m Other selected Christmas Day programming + day 1-5 update: SCD: 8.804m Miranda: 8.546m Call The Midwife: 9.109m Eastenders: 8.810m Mrs Brown's Boys: 9.626m Emmerdale: 6.430m Corrie: 7.597m Downton Abbey: 7.169m How are Michael McIntyre, Still Open All Hours and Top Gear doing? |
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#5083 |
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Quote:
Thanks Yog.
How are Michael McIntyre, Still Open All Hours and Top Gear doing? |
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#5084 |
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Join Date: May 2013
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So....maybe around 8 and a half. Not bad considering ratings seemed to be generally a bit down. And it comfortably outperformed Downtown Abbey and the old nemesis Coronation Street.
(Cheers and a Happy new year, Yog. Great contribution to this thread as per....) |
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#5085 |
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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The ratings are in. Quote:
Mrs Brown's Boys is officially the most watched show on Christmas Day with 9.69m...
1. Mrs Brown's Boys - 9.69m * up 2.08m on overnight 2. Call the Midwife - 9.41m * up 2.78m 3. Strictly Come Dancing - 8.98m * up 2.00m 4. Miranda - 8.65m * up 1.98m 5. EastEnders - 8.60m * up 1.05m 6. Doctor Who - 8.28m * up 1.94m 7. Coronation Street - 8.01m (7.77m excl. +1) * up 1.39m 8. Downton Abbey - 7.66m (7.24m excl. +1) * up 1.82m 9. Emmerdale - 6.71m (6.52m excl. +1) * up 1.00m 10. The Queen's Christmas Message - 5.97m * up 0.26m |
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#5086 |
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The BBC is far more commercially aware than it was in the 80s - had the show had the kind of support back them that it gets now then it would probably never have been cancelled. So long as the show remains a viable commercial property then it will continue. Plenty of people in the UK watch it, maybe not on initial broadcast but that no longer matters clearly.
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#5087 |
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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From DMN:
Christmas Day 2014 - 'Live' Figures BBC One 17:00 - Strictly Come Dancing: 5.79m 18:15 - Doctor Who: 4.64m 19:15 - Miranda: 5.15m 19:50 - Call the Midwife: 5.86m 21:00 - EastEnders: 5.84m 22:05 - Mrs Brown's Boys: 6.33m ITV 19:00 - Emmerdale: 4.80m / 4.95m 20:00 - Coronation Street: 5.47m / 5.66m 21:00 - Downton Abbey: 4.73m / 5.02m |
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#5088 |
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On the subject of overnights Quote:
The Musketeers: 3.64m (16.0%)
Looks like Peter will be safer in the TARDIS for now.(Although being somebody who enjoys TM, I hope it miraculously recovers or is saved by mitigating factors) |
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#5089 |
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I know this thread is mostly about Doctor Who ratings - but does anyone have a view on why the Christmas Night viewing figures were down across the board?
On paper, the BBC1 schedule looked a sure thing. I was expecting overnights of 10m+. So it was quite a shock to see the likes of Miranda (6.67m), Call the Midwife (6.83m) and Mrs Brown's Boys (7.61m) get the overnights they got. Last year was a different picture: Mrs Brown's Boys (9.4m), Doctor Who (8.3m), Call the Midwife (7.1m). Was it just a one-off or a sign that changing viewing habits are now impacting on Christmas Night too? |
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#5090 |
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7.6m winning Christmas Day is quite something. I think the Ratings Thread seem to put it down to a mixture of the downward trend but also a lack of stand-out "one-off" event shows on the schedule. I think we'll just have to see what happens next year - and how the BBC & ITV respond. DW was very much a contrast to last year. A regeneration episode following the 50th anniversary as opposed to what felt more like the ending of Series 8, one month after the series ended. I suspect we can expect more like this so long as we're running later in the year. Sherlock on the other hand is sure to do superb this year for that reason. No matter what anybody thought of Series 3. It has been good to look back though on what people have posted in the Ratings Thread, though. The EastEnders overnights for example: Quote:
2014 - 6.47m (30.8%) Coronation Street was also down 1m (12%) from 2013 and Emmerdale down 10%. I think they will continue to drop TBH. I used to watch CS & EE live a few years ago, but it feels like such a chore and much prefer to catch-up in bulk whenever I dip in now.2013 - 6.88m (31.5%) 2012 - 7.50m (33.2%) 2011 - 8.23m (36.1%) 2010 - 8.67m (37.3%) 2009 - 8.05m (36.8%) Sky also put out this: http://corporate.sky.com/media-centr...-christmas-day On the plus side, while I was browsing, I saw that DW was the only BBC show to get in to the top 5 for Children 4-15 for 2014. Quote:
1.71m - Britain's Got Talent (12/04, ITV)
1.27m - The X Factor (06/09, ITV) 1.26m - Doctor Who (23/08, BBC1) 1.19m - Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (22/03, ITV) 1.19m - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (16/11, ITV) |
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#5091 |
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#5092 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Quote:
Hmm. I think if Doctor Who was smashing it in the overnights people would be rushing here to argue the opposite; it's a convenient safety blanket to argue "well they don't matter anyway".
They do. The comfort here is that Doctor Who is performing okay in the overnights. Not as well as it used to, and not as well as other shows. BUT if it continues to shed casual viewers then it could repeat the cultural legacy of the mid 80s: a show for a small band of nerds, lacking mainstream appeal. It's not the case that no-one is watching Doctor Who, but it is the case that it's consolidating its audience rather than growing it. Every show, even the biggest, inevitably sees contraction. Too much contraction and you can bet there'll be an impact on scheduling, which impacts on budget, which impacts on quality, which impacts on cultural appeal, which feeds back, etc. When a show gets a "core" audience regardless, it will be used to buffer against ratings grabbers on rival channels so as to allow newer, untested and/or less successful on catch up programmes to have a fairer chance/room to breathe/, etc. There's a precedent for this approach with Doctor Who when it was put against Coronation Street in the 80s. The argument: well everyone who will watch it, will. Overnights do matter, and will continue to matter in the years to come — in fact, more so. As audiences inevitably shrink for all 'as live' broadcasts the shows able to buck the general trend to become "appointment viewing" will be given more attention. Think of overnights as opening weekend box-office sales: they're not always an indicator of overall impact or popularity of success. Some films are growers or do better in DVD sales, etc - but the opening weekend can make or break overall perception of success. The relaunch of Doctor Who took place at a time when everybody was arguing that Saturday night telly-watching was dead and alongside the dreaded X Factor and Strictly, the show demonstrated that people would watch shows on transmission. And there are still shows that do achieve that- look at the overnights for things like Great British Bake-Off and Strictly. And in drama it isn't just Sherlock that manages this- even something like Cilla achieved overnight ratings well ahead of Dr Who last year. With both the overnights and the final figures down for the Capaldi era there certainly is no need for complacency. In fact, some might even say that there was the need for a bit of rethink. |
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#5093 |
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I'll absolutely disagree with those "some" who would say it requires "a rethink." Certainly at this stage. Quote:
7.948m Shows that were originally more popular than Doctor Who have actually lost millions since it came back. Some are still running, some have come down to the 4m-5m range and gone away. Others are still above us but have still seen a decline greater than we have. 7.715m 7.55m 8.047m 7.729m 7.515m 7.442m 7.263m How publications have the audacity to declare our ratings flopping or troublesome despite not yet losing 1m over 9 years is beyond belief. Expectations are too high. |
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#5094 |
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Join Date: Dec 2011
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Quote:
I'll absolutely disagree with those "some" who would say it requires "a rethink." Certainly at this stage.
Shows that were originally more popular than Doctor Who have actually lost millions since it came back. Some are still running, some have come down to the 4m-5m range and gone away. Others are still above us but have still seen a decline greater than we have. How publications have the audacity to declare our ratings flopping or troublesome despite not yet losing 1m over 9 years is beyond belief. Expectations are too high. |
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#5095 |
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You can see EastEnders' overnights further above, I only saw percentages for Corrie & Emmerdale at the time. But here's X Factor & Strictly finals (one has held up better than the other) Quote:
X Factor Finals: 2010 - 14.13m 2011 - 12.41m 2012 - 9.63m 2013 - 9.45m 2014 - 8.61m Quote:
Strictly: I can't find a Coronation Street list, only that it's overnights are down 1m from last year.2010 - 11.07m 2011 - 10.97m 2012 - 10.80m 2013 - 10.71m 2014 - 10.25m (I did this manually from ratings, so could be wrong) ...and here's what a drastic ratings slide actually looks like:
Spoiler
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#5096 |
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The iPlayer numbers are out. They're not impressive.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...ristmas-charts 1 Top Gear Patagonia Special, Part 1, 2.08 million 2 EastEnders, Christmas Day, 1.69 million 3 Top Gear, Patagonia Special, Part 2, 1.55 million 4 EastEnders, Boxing Day, 1.43 million 5 The Apprentice final, 21 December, 1.31 million 6 Miranda, Christmas Day, 1.26 million 7 EastEnders, 23 December, 1.15 million 8 EastEnders, 24 December, 1.11 million 9 Doctor Who, Christmas Day, 1.07 million 10 The Boy In The Dress, Boxing Day, 1.06 million 11 EastEnders, 22 December, 1.06 million 12 Mrs Brown’s Boys, Christmas Day, 976,900 13 EastEnders, 29 December, 971,800 14 Call The Midwife, Christmas Day, 948,800 15 The Wrong Mans, part 1, 22 December, 655,000 16 EastEnders, 30 December, 643,300 17 Not Going Out, 24 December, 494,900 18 Gangsta Granny, 30 December, 488,100 19 Match of the Day, Boxing Day, 470,900 20 The Wrong Mans, part 2, 23 December, 454,500 * iPlayer requests, 22 to 30 December 2014 |
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#5097 |
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BBC1 BARB w/e Dec 28th: Quote:
1 MRS BROWN'S BOYS - 9.689m BBC2:2 CALL THE MIDWIFE - 9.407m 3 STRICTLY COME DANCING - 8.979m 4 MIRANDA - 8.655m 5 EASTENDERS - 8.604m 6 DOCTOR WHO - 8.284m 7. EASTENDERS - 8.105m 8 EASTENDERS - 7.893m 9 EASTENDERS - 7.654m 10 LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX - 7.406m Quote:
1 TOP GEAR PATAGONIA SPECIAL - 7.379m ITV1 chart for posterity:2 TOP GEAR PATAGONIA SPECIAL - 7.214m 3 MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS - 4,043m 4 CHRISTMAS UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE - 2,887m 5 THE WRONG MANS - 2.820m 6 THE WRONG MANS - 2.664m Quote:
1 CORONATION STREET - 7,151m ( no episodes of EastEnders removed this time, Mulett - there was just the one in the Top 5)2 CORONATION STREET - 7,023m 3 CORONATION STREET - 6,646m 4 CORONATION STREET - 6,500m 5 CORONATION STREET - 6,393m 6 DOWNTON ABBEY - 6,248m 7 EMMERDALE - 5,864m See you all for Series 9 and more doom and gloom! |
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#5098 |
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Quote:
( no episodes of EastEnders removed this time, Mullet - there was just the one in the Top 5)
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#5099 |
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Strictly has a greater incentive than most to watch live because you only get a half hour to vote so, if you watch on catch-up, you lose your opportunity to influence the result.
X-Factor gives you 24 hours but, even so, there's incentive to watch it sooner rather than later. With Doctor Who the only incentive to watch immediately is if you want to comment in the forums
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#5100 |
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Join Date: May 2013
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Thanks CD93. Never complacent, but that really isn't bad at all considering all the figures.
Personal Context: Remember the relative kicking Who was getting in 1988 and, particularly, 1989 when Coronation Street was ruling the roost. If you'd told me in 'the dark days' (ie the 90's) that Who would not only return, but have had TEN consecutive Christmas Specials I'd have suggested that you shouldn't really be smoking so much of that stuff. So...2014 and Who is still there punching it's weight and in the week comfortably beating all 5 episodes of CS. (Not that I've got anything against CS, mind!) The figures from America, etc. are pleasing too. So, yeah, never complacent, but I always look at the whole context of the 51 years....and Who is really doing fine as we approach C21's Tenth Anniversary.
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I think the current run has surely surpassed initial expectations by now.
