The Ratings Thread

[FlyingBeastie]

It is darker, because it's going out of it's way to be scary. The scene where the lady is killed in the toilets is one of the darkest they've done, in real terms.

True, I'll give you that one. I did quite like that sequence (even if there really was no reason for them to kill her)

[Milky Tears]

It goes to show how little the initial viewing figures matter nowadays.

Doctor Who Dominates iPlayer Downloads

Once again, Who is all over iPlayer... and that's following a sluggish start with downloads over the Easter holidays.


Nabbed from Broadcast:

PVRs prove worthy ally for Dr Who

Dr Who’s consolidated ratings make for anything but scary reading for the BBC, while battling gods continue to wield power and The Good Wife looks set for a second series.

There seems to be a debate swirling about this week about whether Doctor Who has become too scary. I remember watching it from behind the sofa in the 1970s as the sets wobbled and the daleks were bamboozled by stairs. So maybe it was always scary. It’s apposite to talk about it here, however, since the ratings at the start of this new series seem a little flat and might be giving credence to the view that things have got TOO hair-raising. This season’s launch episode in its traditional Easter Saturday slot began with a reasonable live rating of 6.5million / 36%, especially given the hot weather. But since the first episode is often the best this didn’t feel like a ripsnorting start. And last Saturday’s 5.4million / 30% apparently delivered further evidence of sagging. But hold hard for something is whirring in the corner of the room.

In 2006, the Doctor Who series average, excluding the Christmas episodes, was 7.2million / 39% for live and 7.7million / 41% for consolidated. That’s just over 500,000 watching on playback ( a 7% increase). By 2008, the consolidated average for the series (excl Christmas) was 8.1million / 39% after 770,000 watched on playback (10% increase). Last year, not including the New Year’s Day epic regeneration episode or Christmas, the series average was 7.2million / 35% after 1.5million watched on playback (a 27% increase). You can see the trend.

2011’s launch episode ended up on 8.9million / 43% after an unprecedentedly huge 2.3million watched it on playback; a whopping 36% increase. This will have something to do with the weather and the rush of bank holidays enticing people away, but it demonstrates again the power of the PVR to turn slightly worrisome ho-hum numbers to corkingly good ones. Nearly 500,000 children up to 15 years old recorded and watched it on playback delivering a total of 1.7million / 59%, 200,000 up on last year’s average.

Does this prove either way that it’s become too scary for kids? Not really; it might mean lots are watching but are scared out of their minds. But it does show that the series remains in good health and if parents thought it too much it wouldn’t be. Viewers are just watching it at different times more often now that’s all. The big test will be what the second episode’s 5.4million ends up at.

Elsewhere, good news (probably) for The Good Wife; an excellent showing for United and the power of Sparta proves irresistible; every time. And what a carry on Easter was.

The Good Wife, the CBS drama that regularly tops the More4 chart, has moved from a maybe into a likely renewal in the US. On 21 April, the two More 4 transmissions of the same episode totaled nearly 694,000 from live ratings of 319,000. The episode at 12.35am went from 51,000 / 1.4% to 285,000 / 6.9%.

United, BBC2’s brilliantly poignant drama about the Munich air disaster, achieved a live rating of 2.9million / 13%, while almost 600,000 additional viewers watched via PVR to deliver a final rating of 3.5m / 13%. Well deserved.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena’s penultimate episode on Sky 1 on 18 April at 10.10pm scored one of the highest PVR rating of this series, with a live rating enhanced by 560,000 to finish on 1million / 6%. The final episode on 25 April ended on 959,000 / 5%. Overall, the Monday 10pm TX series alone averaged 1million / 5% with over half that audience coming via recording.

The Easter bank holiday clearly means it’s time for a right Carry On - More 4, ITV3 and G.O.L.D all chipped in. G.O.L.D’s Carry On Cruising on 24 April was recorded by almost no-one so its live rating of 54,000 / 0.4% was barely enhanced. More 4’s best was, thankfully Carry On Doctor (I was worrying it would be Carry On Dick) with a consolidated rating of 223,000 / 2%. ITV3, with four titles, won the Phnaar-fest with Carry On Camping, which was watched by 549,000 / 2% on Easter Sunday. Oooo, as they say, Matron.

[Milky Tears]

Increase on last weekend's overnights:

1 …. 10.4 (42.2%) …. Britain's Got Talent 20:00 ITV 1
2 …. 6.2 (30.9%) …. Doctor Who 18:15 BBC One
3 …. 4.6 (20.2%) …. Casualty 21:30 BBC One
4 …. 4.6 (23.0%) …. BBC News 22:15 BBC One
5 …. 4.1 (20.1%) …. Sing If You Can 19:00 ITV 1
6 …. 4.1 (17.4%) …. The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins 20:00 BBC One
7 …. 4.0 (16.6%) …. Piers Morgan's Life Stories: David Hasselhoff 21:00 ITV 1
8 …. 3.9 (26.4%) …. Match of the Day 22:30 BBC One
9 …. 3.5 (17.0%) …. So You Think You Can Dance Live 19:00 BBC One
10 … 3.3 (14.2%) …. So You Think You Can Dance Results 21:00 BBC One

[SiHart]

From the DWM Twitter feed:

The final consolidated rating for Day of the Moon is a huge 7.3m, 36.7% share (not counting iPlayer). So ignore those silly tabloid stories!

All good!

[Larry]

well as we've said on many many occasions any tv programm today that gets 6m viewers is doing well.

[Alex]

well as we've said on many many occasions any tv programm today that gets 6m viewers is doing well.

Indeed. I just wish that with such rubbish viewing figures (and it being another tired format) they'd move So You Think You Can Dance to 6pm, and have Who starting every week at 7pm.

[J.R. Southall]

Indeed. I just wish that with such rubbish viewing figures (and it being another tired format) they'd move So You Think You Can Dance to 6pm, and have Who starting every week at 7pm.

I believe the switch is happening this Saturday, isn't it?

I think they've done this before, as well, with the first few episodes of Series Four going out at 6 o'clock-ish, with a switch to a slightly later slot as the stories got "scarier".

[SiHart]

Doctor Who- The Curse of the Black Spot had an official consolidated audience of 7.85 million viewers, according to figures released by BARB.

The programme has a 35.5% share of the total audience available at that time.

The number includes those who recorded the programme for viewing within seven days of its initial showing. The figure is much larger than the initially reported overnight figure. A full report for the week, which will reveal the shows position in the weekly charts will be released by BARB tomorrow.

The figures do not include those watching on iPlayer, where just under 1 million have accessed the programme within the first week of transmission.

All looking good this year.

[Perry Vale]

I'm missing being doomed.

[Rob McCow]

Don't worry Steve, they're changing the time of the show every week from now to the end of the run! Nobody will know when it's on precisely!

[Milky Tears]

Doctor Who 'Astronaut' Most Recorded TV Show Of All Time

It's still not good enough!

[Perry Vale]

I'm missing being doomed.

Sanity has been restored, someone on Roobarbs is worried that ep.7 is going up against the BGT final. Phew!

[Rob McCow]

16 million people watched Come Fly With Me!

Was there a single one of them who didn't think it was utter cr@p?

Wallace & Grommit got an obscene 18.65m viewers over all. Why can't Doctor Who get figures like that, eh?

[Milky Tears]

Nabbed from Andy Parish/Gallifrey Base:

Doctor Who - 'The Rebel Flesh' - 5-Minute Breakdown
18:30 - ~2.90m
18:35 - 3.31m
18:40 - 3.99m
---
18:45 - 5.47m
18:50 - 5.77m
18:55 - 5.86m
19:00 - 5.84m
19:05 - 5.89m
19:10 - 5.98m
19:15 - 6.04m
19:20 - 6.15m
19:25 - 4.59m
---
19:30 - 3.01m
19:35 - 2.69m
19:40 - ~2.70m

Average from 18:45 to 19:25 was 5.9m.

Also final figures for 'The Doctor's Wife':

Saturday 14 May 2011 Officials
1...The Eurovision Song Contest - 9.685m (38.6%)
2...Britain's Got Talent - 9.45m (34.7%) [+1: 273k]
3...Doctor Who - 7.97m (34.7%)

Also The Apprentice had 8.79m (31.3%) on the Tuesday...

Another huge timeshift.

[Dirk Gently]

Another huge timeshift.

Well it is Doctor Who we're talking about.

[Rob McCow]

101,760 viewers tuned in to watch the debut of Day of the Moon on Prime in New Zealand last night, according to overnight figures. This is a drop of 44,760 from last week.

Against Doctor Who, Lorraine Kelly's Big Fat Challenge on TV One had 375,450 viewers, No Ordinary Family on TV2 with 298,840 and Bones on TV3 got 297,100 viewers.

Prime is the seventh national free-to-air television station in New Zealand and is owned by Sky Network Television. TV One and TV2 are operated by the state-owned Television New Zealand and TV3 is owned by MediaWorks New Zealand.

What happened? Did Mike go out for the evening?

[SiHart]

Looks like it's all pretty consistent this year...

The Rebel Flesh achieved a final official rating of of 7.35 million viewers, representing a 34.1% share of the audience who watched the programme within seven days of broadcast.

This number sees an increase of some 1.65 million viewers since the unofficial overnight figures released the day after broadcast.

[J.R. Southall]

The Almost People had the lowest overnights so far, didn't it? 5m dead, I heard - but largely because of the football, I expect. Even if the catch-up figures are just 2m, that's still a very healthy 7m for a mid-series Bank Holiday weekend with a big football match episode.

[Larry]

The Almost People had the lowest overnights so far, didn't it? 5m dead, I heard - but largely because of the football, I expect. Even if the catch-up figures are just 2m, that's still a very healthy 7m for a mid-series Bank Holiday weekend with a big football match episode.

Top Overnights - Saturday 28th May

01 …. 7.9m (33.2%) …. UEFA Champions League Final: Barcelona v Manchester United 19:00 ITV 1
02 …. 5.0m (24.4%) …. Doctor Who 18:45 BBC One
03 …. 3.8m (14.7%) …. Casualty 20:45 BBC One
04 …. 3.3m (33.0%) …. Formula 1: The Monaco Grand Prix 12:15 BBC One
05 …. 3.3m (15.7%) …. BBC News 22:15 BBC One
06 …. 3.3m (13.3%) …. The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins 20:00 BBC One
07 …. 2.8m (15.4%) …. New Animals Do the Funniest Things 18:00 ITV 1
08 …. 2.8m (12.1%) …. John Bishop's Britain 21:45 BBC One
09 …. 2.6m (15.7%) …. So You Think You Can Dance Live 17:45 BBC One
10 …. 2.4m (10.8%) …. So You Think You Can Dance Results 19:30 BBC One
11 …. 2.4m (15.0%) …. ITV News & Weather 17:45 ITV 1
12 …. 2.4m (13.2%) …. The Million Pound Drop Live 22:00 Channel 4
13 …. 2.3m (16.5%) …. BBC News / Regional News and Weather 17:30 BBC One
14 …. 2.2m (10.7%) …. Dad's Army 19:00 BBC Two
15 …. 2.0m (10.5%) …. ITV News & Weather 22:30 ITV 1
16 …. 1.9m (24.1%) …. BBC News / Regional News and Weather 12:00 BBC One
17 …. 1.9m (24.9%) …. Saturday Kitchen 10:00 BBC One
18 …. 1.9m ( 9.2%) …. Have I Got a Bit More News for You 22:00 BBC Two (1.8 + 0.0 HD)
19 …. 1.8m (10.2%) …. Flog It! 18:00 BBC Two
20 … 1.8m ( 7.9%) …. RHS Chelsea Flower Show 19:30 BBC Two (1.7 + 0.1 HD)


so any body panicing about the viewer ratings should look at the overall figures despite only 5m Doctor Who, is still comfortably in 2nd place but it's very telling that the practice sesdion for the monoco grand prix shown at 12.15pm was the 4th most watched programm.

[Perry Vale]

[U]
14 …. 2.2m (10.7%) …. Dad's Army 19:00 BBC Two

Blimey, I find that rather impressive. No wonder they never stop repeating them...

[SiHart]

Ratings: The Almost People had a final BARB rating of 6.72 million (not including iPlayer). We'll know the finale's rating in a week's time.

[Perry Vale]

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2011/06...-requests.html

Doctor Who took the top three places of the most requested programmes on the BBC iPlayer in May.

Top of the chart was the Neil Gaiman written episode, The Doctor's Wife, which was requested over 1.22 million times during the month. Close behind was The Curse of the Black Spot with 1.21 million requests and Day of the Moon with 1.18 million requests.

The highest non Who programme was The Apprentice Episode 2 which came in fourth with 1.18 million requests. The Rebel Flesh was fifth with 1.10 million requesting and The Almost People crept into the top ten with 0.84 million requesting, dispite only being available for the last four days of the month.

Nice.

[Larry]

saturdays ratings

Top Overnights - Saturday 4th June

01 …. 12.5m (49.3%) …. Britain's Got Talent Final Results 21:30 ITV 1
02 …. 11.4m (47.0%) …. Britain's Got Talent Final 19:00 ITV 1
03 …. 6.5m (27.5%) …. Popstar to Operastar: The Curtain Raiser 21:00
04 …. 6.1m (26.6%) …. ITV News & Weather 22:00 ITV 1
05 …. 5.6m (36.8%) …. Euro 2012 Qualifier Live: England v Switzerland 16:15 ITV 1
06 …. 5.5m (25.4%) …. Doctor Who 18:45 BBC One
07 …. 3.9m (15.8%) …. Casualty 20:15 BBC One
08 …. 2.8m (14.8%) …. BBC News 22:30 BBC One
09 …. 2.7m (12.0%) …. The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins 19:30 BBC One
10 …. 2.7m (12.7%) …. Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow 22:00 BBC One
11 …. 2.3m ( 9.5%) …. Have I Got a Bit More News for You 21:00 BBC Two (2.2 + 0.1 HD)
12 …. 2.2m (10.8%) …. Dad's Army 18:45 BBC Two
13 …. 2.2m (13.3%) …. So You Think You Can Dance Live 17:45 BBC One
14 …. 2.2m ( 9.7%) …. So You Think You Can Dance Results 21:15 BBC One
15 …. 2.2m (14.8%) …. BBC News / Regional News and Weather 17:30 BBC One
16 …. 1.9m ( 9.9%) …. Euro 2012 Qualifier: Highlights 22:15 ITV 1
17 …. 1.7m ( 8.6%) …. CSI: NY 22:00 Five
18 …. 1.6m ( 7.2%) …. Don't Panic! The Dad's Army Story 19:15 BBC Two
19 …. 1.6m (24.3%) …. Saturday Kitchen 10:00 BBC One
20 …. 1.6m (17.3%) …. Racing: The Derby 2011 13:15 BBC One


well 5.4m , is far more than I was predicting I honestly thought with it going head to head with BGT, and it being a lovely hot day Doctor Who, would take a hammering.

[Perry Vale]

Dad's Army got exactly the same figure as last week, 2.2m!

[Rob McCow]

Time for a Dad's Army remake!

With Ricky Gervais as Captain Mainwaring. ROCK ON!