Do you have a TV licence for where you live as a student? I'm not criticising, just curious as to whether that affects your ability to watch live (legally) or not.

No I don't have a TV licence (nor a TV for that matter) so watching Live is illegal.

Its in the wrong time slot and the drop in ratings reflects that.
Its possible many younger viewers have stopped watching live. Some might not want to watch something frightening before going to bed. Traditionally it was early saturday evening viewing for family, initially 5pm-5.30pm. That slot has now been given to Strictly. Someone in BBC decided to sacrifice Dr Who for Strictly.

I dont like watching it this late in the evening either.I get involved in other things by 8pm.

American ratings of Dr Who are MINISCULE compared to average ratings of dramas in US. Its on a small channel that requires subscription.It has a small select audience that is vocal and active....but its nothing compared to major shows over there. You have to look at things in context.Id hate to think the fact it makes money and is commercial in US gives it priority over UK audience who have remained loyal for over 50 years.

First off, since Who returned, it has never been broadcast in that early slot. But it rated well, at times from 6pm, 6:45pm, 7pm, 7:15pm.

The reason for Strictly being on before it has been documented in previous posts - as the BBC also record the Sunday Results programme after voting has closed, Strictly cannot start too late, especially when it is just over two hours in the early weeks.


Which is why timeshifting via PVR or iPlayer is useful of course!

Under the Lake

Live: 2.987m
Live + VOSDAL: 3.738m
+ Day 1: 4.751m

Thanks Yog.

You don't see big first day boosts now and the timeshift stays around 2m regardless of the time the episode goes out.

Perfectly true. However, there is the matter of scale as well. The total available US audience is many times larger than the UK, so a small %age share on a niche subscription channel like BBC America still makes it a huge success for that channel.

I don't know US audience figures, but I believe Doctor Who achieves the highest viewing figures that BBC America ever gets. Relative to other shows on BBC America it's a success. At the same time it's small compared to the main US networks (ABC, NBC, CBS). I'm not sure how well BBC America does against other subscription services like HBO, Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, but I guess they have bigger audiences than BBC America too.

I seem to remember season eight getting into a very comfortable pattern each week - no highs and lows, just very consistent viewing figures. We may get a bit of bump to the overnights now the rugby's gone, but over all I think we'll be getting the same each week.

Except in Wales.

The high ratings will possibly be around 6.5m for this series.

Until you lose to South Africa in the QF!

So DW's audience figures could bounce further back then.

AI of 84 apparently.

I do and the overnights are down very slightly on the equivalent episodes last year but there are good reasons for that; no new doctor, companion or big name guest star so far this year. There has been nothing like the drop seen in the UK.

It's in the perfect timeslot too as it's the only original scripted show on cable on a Saturday night, the rest is either college football or repeats of old network shows such as The Big Bang Theory. If it was shown on a Sunday it would be up against major competition such as The Walking Dead.

A consolidated rating of 5.71m for The Witch's Familiar.

So are the consolidated looking down compared with season 8? I thought we would end up in about the same place.

It compares with 7.29 million for the second episode last year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_%28series_8%29

A million and a half difference then.

I guess we really need to see what the rugby effect has been in full - will the overnights and the consolidated improve when the sport is over.

The year-on-year drop for the first episode was much bigger (2.63m) and that wasn't up against rugby!

Exactly as predicted. It seems there's a certain proportion of the audience who missed it on Saturday and didn't bother catching up.

Hopefully when the rugby is over they'll come back otherwise the final ratings are going to look a bit 'meh'.

As expected. And guess Under The Lake will be similar. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens on Saturday. The rugby for us Welshies is on 4.45, but a mate has just reminded me Wales could qualify for a major football Tournament for the first time since I was, um, minus 12 in the evening so iplayer beckons again, hopefully for the last time this series! It's disappointing to see such great episodes, IMO, rating relatively low, but there we go. And, to use a sporting reference, form is temporary...class is permanent.

Very much so. There's no doubt about it, the consolidated figures so far are quite a lot lower than last year.
But bear in mind, we are talking about a sample size of 2. There's nothing to say that the figures can't bounce back to Series 8 levels once the rugby ends.

Also, I suppose that means that The Witch's Familiar is the lowest rated episode since New Who began.

I hope so. It feels like the show has finally found its mojo again and it would be a shame if people aren't tuning in.

I agree. I liked last year, but even though there have only been 3 episodes so far, I'm already enjoying Series 9 a lot more.

It's a real shame there probably won't be a series next year at all. I really thought Doctor Who had finally managed to get back into semi-regular scheduling.