That 1.9 million average was heavily boosted by having three episodes score timeshifts of over 2 million, but three previous episodes from this series did only manage timeshifts of around 1.6 million, two from overnights of 5.x million.

The Girl Who Waited.... AI 85

So far this series....



7.94m - Series 1: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.71m - Series 2: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.55m - Series 3: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
8.05m - Series 4: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.73m - Series 5: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)

Series 6 average... 7.64 million

Brilliant, thank you - could anybody give an idea of how that compare to previous years?

I don't have specific numbers for other seasons, just what I remember from reading online! S1-S4 aired on Syfy and I recall ratings for S4 in the 1.5 million range. However, Syfy is available in more homes than BBCA (something like Syfy is in 90 million homes, BBCA only in 60 million). Also, BBCA has done a horrible job getting its HD channel onto cable systems, so some US fans could be buying new episodes from iTunes or "finding" the BBC One HD versions of new episodes online soon after they air in the UK.

Overall, Doctor Who is BBCA's biggest hit, but it's definitely still in the "cult" category in the US as compared to the wider appeal the show has in the UK. BBCA did tons of promotion for the S6 "American" episodes and had record audiences each over 1 million. Note that after episode 6-2, the ratings quickly dropped to roughly where they were for S5 (I remember 5-1 premiered with around 1 million, but quickly dropped to the 0.6 million range, and the 2010 Christmas special had around 0.75 million viewers).

Awesome, thanks for all the info! Had a look around, but google was being fairly obstinate about giving me anything concrete. Get the feeling the show might really benefit from a syndication deal with a big US broadcaster - it seems the BBC are adamant about using it to push there independent channel.

Unfortunately, I don't think Doctor Who will ever air on a big US broadcaster. Syfy aired the first four seasons, but didn't feel the ratings justified continuing with the Tennant specials.

The same thing happened with Merlin. NBC acquired S1 and aired it the summer of 2009, but the ratings weren't that high (I think 3.5-4 million, which is decent during summer, but not good enough for a major broadcaster like NBC). So, NBC moved Merlin to its sister channel Syfy, where it is a success for the channel (Syfy is airing S4 in early 2012).

At this point, the only UK shows that get a large audience are the mysteries and dramas that air on public television (PBS), most of which are co-productions between PBS and either BBC or ITV. In fact, I've often thought that PBS should swoop in and acquire more current UK shows and air them during the week (the new dramas/mysteries air only on Sundays). PBS could easily acquire Doctor Who for Saturdays and a few other comedies, dramas and documentaries for during the week and give people great UK shows to watch every night (something BBCA hasn't done in years).

Here are the current US ratings for S6 on BBCA, updated to include "The Girl Who Waited":

Ep. 6-1 - 1.268 million
Ep. 6-2 - 1.001 million
Ep. 6-3 - 0.760 million
Ep. 6-4 - 0.719 million
Ep. 6-5 - 0.604 million
Ep. 6-6 - 0.581 million
Ep. 6-7 - ???

Ep. 6-8 - 0.961 million
Ep. 6-9 - 0.666 million
Ep. 6-10 - 0.605 million

When we talk about US ratings us Brits should remember one thing - they don't add people who record the episode and watch within 7 days to the final rating like BARB does in the UK.

That's important because while event episodes (like season premières) will get more people watching live regular episodes will see more time-shifting, which makes it look like the ratings have dropped more than they really have.

Yes they do. They're called Live+7 (I suspect what's been reported in this thread are the Live+SD numbers). What you should remember though is that timeshift viewing isn't particularly desirable for commercial broadcasters (like those in the US) because the majority of people skip the ads.

More important than that though is the fact that total number of viewers is meaningless. Much more important to take note of is the demo numbers - primarily the 18-49 demo. Advertisers don't pay for the total number of viewers but who those viewers are.

In the US, networks really care about the 18-49 demo - the more people in that age bracket you can attract, the more you can charge for commercials.

The newest episode of Doctor Who on BBCA had 0.605 million viewers and a 0.3 rating in the 18-49 demo (every 0.1 equals roughly 100,000 viewers). Here are a few other US ratings with their 18-49 demo numbers for comparison:

Doctor Who (Sat. Sept. 10) - 0.605 million, 0.3
America's Got Talent (Wed. Sept. 7) - 12.36 million, 3.0
NFL Football (Thurs. Sept. 8) - 27.17 million, 10.9
Phineas & Ferb (Fri. Sept. 9) - 4.65 million, 0.8

Note that the importance of the 18-49 demo depends on the focus of the network. While the P&F 18-49 demo is low, Disney is probably thrilled to have that many viewers in the 18-49 demo (and the number of kids under 18 watching was probably very high, which is gold for Disney!). On a female-oriented network like Lifetime, the women 25-54 demo matters more than adults 18-49.

And AlexiR is right about "final ratings." While Live+7 ratings are similar to the final BARB ratings, networks (and the advertisers airing commercials on those networks) really only care about overnight ratings.

For what its worth Phineas and Ferb dominates in the kids demos particularly 6-11 (an 8.7 for the last episode and an 8.9 in boys 6-11).

Also worth remembering that ratings are relative to the network they air on. So whilst Doctor Who's numbers don't seem particularly impressive when compared to things like America's Got Talent it is doing very well relative to the rest of the BBCA line-up.

Good point, Alexi. I managed to find the ratings for the few new programs BBCA aired in primetime during the week of Sept. 4-10 to give more context to the Doctor Who rating (viewers followed by 18-49 demo):

Top Gear (Mon. Sept. 5) - 0.577 million, 0.3
Law & Order: UK (Wed. Sept. 7) - 0.300 million, 0.1
The Hour (Wed. Sept. 7) - 0.136 million, 0.02
Doctor Who (Sat. Sept. 10) - 0.605 million, 0.3

Last nights episode - 5.2m
beaten by Family Fortunes on ITV - 5.3m
X-Factor gained 11.3m for it's airing

ITV1 grabbed both 1st/2nd most watched shows last night, BBC1 in 3rd
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/en...-16051347.html

Should anyone really care what the overnights say when we all know that the timeshifts are normally big? No, we shouldn't (as history clearly demonstrates).

The Girl who Waited final is in.... 7.6m (+1.6m timeshift)



7.94m - Series 1: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.71m - Series 2: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.55m - Series 3: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
8.05m - Series 4: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)
7.73m - Series 5: Final BARB rating average (13 episodes)

Series 6 average so far..... 7.63million.

I felt so sorry For DrWho last night...
bloody Amy..No not Amy pond,Amy from the WI a judge in Masterchef.She was enough to drive anyone off BBc1...Why on earth The BBC cant get its lineup right is just staggering.

Nice result, S6 is going to finish right about where it should do in-line with prior series even with more and more viewers coming from other sources. Figure God Complex should end up around 7.5 million, maybe a little more, with two to go including a season finale might just match S5 with a bit of luck and crappy weather Do wish we could get the Live+7 figures but I guess that's likely to be next year at earliest that they're rolling out the way BARB do now.

Just a shame the overnight for the God Complex was a bit crappy, I don't think it's going to get to 7million, and that's going to drag the average down.

Cybermen next week, then the finale' should (hopefully!) push the average back up again.

Come on BBC promote it for F***'s sake!!!

Good point, apparently I can't do basic maths on a Sunday... Ah well, it'll still be a decent result after time shift.

It would need a 2.3m timeshift to get 7.5 million.....

Yes yes, I already admitted I cocked up the maths...

Oops, hadn't read down that far, didn't mean to rub it in....

Overnight averages....

(Source Gallifrey Base)

The God Complex achieved an AI of 86

(From Gallifrey Base.)