The Ratings Thread

[Si Hunt]

Down 0.5 million on last week. Maybe because it was sunny?

Si.

[Logo Polish]

I thought it was 5 million last week and 4.9 million this week?

[Dino]

Well the public missed out! *facesaving tactic #4444938

[Larry]

4.9 million watched last night.

And it still managed to be the 3rd most watched programm on Saturday some thing that all the doom and gloomers probably didn't take into account.

[Si Hunt]

The ratings are nose-diving.

Si.

[Nyder]

If it dips below 4.8 it could face the axe! I need to rouse the Planet Skaro troops to record a new version of Doctor In Distress.

[Philipnet]

If it dips below 4.8 it could face the axe! I need to rouse the Planet Skaro troops to record a new version of Doctor In Distress.

Don't even suggest that!

Although at the next Planet Skaro Audios recording session, well you never know

[SiHart]

The Crimson Horror achieved an overnight audience of 4.61 million viewers, a share of 25.2% of the total TV audience.

The top spots of the day remain consistent, with Doctor Who beaten by the usual suspects for the evening. The highest-rated show continues to be Britain's Got Talent on ITV, with 9.52m (10.13m with +1) watching, capturing a 45.0%(47.8%) share of the audience. The BBC's talent show, The Voice, was watched by 7.99 million (35.3% share). Casualty swapped places with Doctor Who this week to become third, with 4.96m watching (23.9% share).

Final ratings will be released next week, which normally sees a substantial increase in Doctor Who's audience once those who timeshift the programme are factored in.

[Mike Saville]

I still don't get why they still hang such reverence on the figures. The amount of opportunities to see Who when it's convenient these days means there's never an urgency to see it at point of broadcast. I seldom watch it when it's on live, but I will see it at some point.

[J.R. Southall]

"They" don't, from what I can make out. It's us who do (and by "us" I mean fandom in general).

[Si Hunt]

They're still a good general guide. The last few weeks final figures have just added a few million to the overnights figure, but the increase has not varied wildly between weeks. So you get a good idea of the rating from the overnight.

Doctor Who's obviously not in deep trouble, but it's clear that where-as a few years ago it was "water cooler" event Television, these days it's turning more and more back into niche viewing again. Things like The Voice which everyone seems to be watching are getting ten million, then Doctor Who comes in with under five. Remember the days when we beat Ant and Dec? The gulf between the top few programmes and DW is widening, it seems to me. It wouldn't be the worst thing if we got a new Doctor in the next year or so, someone maybe who has mass general appeal, to pull in some new viewers.

Si.

[Alex]

I think the huge timeshift increase just suggests that it's badly scheduled. Nothing on any of the channels between 6pm and 7pm has ever gotten amazing numbers simply as it's a time where people are often busy eating / putting kids to bed / and countless other reasons, and I think if it was on at 7.15pm (or if it was my decision) 8pm, the figures would be much much higher.

And of course Who fans are more likely by nature to be more tech savvy than Casualty fans which skewers a largely different demographic, so are going to watch it on iplayer, or via torrents (which an awful lot of people I know do, myself sometimes included).

[SiHart]

And the weather was brilliant this weekend too.

[SiHart]

4.7m, 21.4% share for Nightmare In Silver.

[Rob McCow]

If it dips below 4.8 it could face the axe! I need to rouse the Planet Skaro troops to record a new version of Doctor In Distress.

Dave - your worst fears have been REALISED.

Moffat must go!

[Si Hunt]

The ratings continue to PLUMMET.

Si.

[SiHart]

Well, no, that was up on last week actually.

[Si Hunt]

I can't hear you over the sound of my Bell of Doom

Si.

[Nyder]

And I can't hear you either over the sound of me doing my rehearsals for Doctor In Distress. I'm doing Faith Brown's bit.

[Si Hunt]

I'll fight you for that bit! Can I at least do "Warrrrriors of the ICE!"?

Si.

[SiHart]

No! No! No! No! Noooooooooooo!

[Dirk Gently]

Oh no it's..........here!

[SiHart]

Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor achieved an overnight audience average of 5.5 million viewers, a share of 25.9% of the total TV audience.

Doctor Who was the third most popular show of the night with ITV's talent show, Britain's Got Talent, once more taking top spot with 9.2 million watching. The annual Eurovision Song Contest had an average audience of 7.7 million with audiences peaking at 9.1 million during the end of the voting.

Doctor Who outrated its direct opposition You've Been Framed! Top 100 Holidays during it's first half hour, but the tables were turned during its final 15 minutes when the drama achieved 5.3 million against 8 million for the first 15 minutes of Britain's Got Talent. Overall You've Been Framed was fifth for the day with an average of 4.1 million.

[Rob McCow]

For some more context for that 5.5million:

Allan Cubitt’s new thriller series The Fall, which stars Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Jamie Dornan (Once Upon A Time), opened big for BBC Two last night. The series premiered to 3.5 million viewers and a 15% share in its Monday night 9pm time-slot, with consolidated figures expected to raise that number even higher. With those numbers The Fall easily beat off all competition to win the slot. The impressive ratings also make the series the highest rated drama launch on BBC Two in nearly 8 years, since Rome debuted in 2005 with over 6 million viewers in the overnights (rising to 7.2 million consolidated).

Elsewhere at 9pm on Monday night, the final episode of BBC One’s documentary series The Prisoners attracted 2.7 million viewers and a 12% share; ITV’s comedy series Vicious pulled in 2.7 million viewers and a 12% share at 9pm; followed by fellow ITV sitcom The Job Lot which attracted 2.2 million viewers and a 10% share; the premiere of Channel 4′s documentary series Skint pulled in 2.5 million viewers and a 11% share; and the final episode of Channel 5′s Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild attracted an audience of 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share.

I don't think 5.5m is that bad at all.

[SiHart]

Doctor Who Live was watched by 6.1m viewers last night- highest rated programme of the day