Try as I might, I can’t find much enthusiasm for the news that the new series of Dancing on Ice launched with 8.9 million last Sunday at 6.45pm. Admittedly, if I was in charge of ITV1 I’d take a very different view, and I know there are those who argue that X Factor, Strictly, I’m a Celebrity, Dancing on Ice, and so on, have unexpectedly revived family viewing. But the context for family viewing today is not the same as family viewing twenty or thirty years ago.
The achievement of the entertainment shows is not to be underestimated, but there is a real contrast with the schedules of thirty years ago. In the highly regulated television era when Morecombe and Wise reigned, the viewing options were limited – and non-entertainment genres were protected.
Not so now. Gradually choice has been narrowed – even the most protected species of factual programming, The South Bank Show, has dropped from the schedules. Another heavily protected genre, current affairs, struggles to make its voice heard – Channel 4’s Dispatches on Monday night had just 620,000 viewers, competing against and losing to Police Interceptors on Five, with 960,000 viewers.
It’s all the more suprising as this edition of Dispatches was a follow-up to last year’s highly rated Alzheimers programme with Fiona Phillips.
It’s interesting to look at the titles of some of the other higher rating Dispatches – What’s in Your Breakfast was the highest rated show in the autumn, with 1.6 million; Squander our Billions had 1.2 million in March; Bankers Still Cashing in had 1.1 million in May. Lower down the list are shows like Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby with 700,000 viewers and Afghanistan’s Dirty War with 470,000 viewers.
Clearly non-domestic stories play less well than domestic issues. And the series has put a lot of its resources into credit crunch and recession themed programming. Yet the show which seems to have resonated most is a lifestyle edition, about the content of food.
It might be argued that Dispatches is being asked to work pretty hard in order to carry an hour of primetime on Channel 4 on a Monday evening – the first half is up against EastEnders with almost 11 million, the second half contends with Coronation Street with 11.3 million, as well as Delia Through the Decades on BBC2 with 3.5 million.
And, of course there’s also BBC1’s flagship current affairs programme, Panorama. It featured a full-on investigation into the Northern Ireland First Minister’s and his wife’s troubles. Highly watchable for those of us who like that sort of television - but the audience was 2.7 million. Contrast that with last week’s midweek Big Freeze programme, which had almost 6 million viewers. The gap between what really interests an audience, and what the current affairs agenda suggests they might be interested in, is a wide one.
In the case of Channel 4, investment in Dispatches was a significant part of its case for public funding - a case rejected by government. Now, with a new chief executive yet to be appointed, its difficult to know how the strategy will change – but isn't it likely that Dispatches will come under scrutiny in the year ahead? The length of the programme – the range of subject matter – the role of celebrity presenters. I’d surprised if there isn’t some thought about re-engineering the strand, especially now that all Channel 4’s output is available online. What is achieved by placing a current affairs programme in hostile ratings territory when viewers who really want it can find it online?
And perhaps there’s a clue in that line of thinking which links with the success of entertainment. With so much choice, when viewers find something they like, they have a strong attachment to it - in the case of current affairs, there may be fewer of them, but I’d be surprised if those who continue to watch these shows aren’t a lot more attached to them than in the past.
How else to explain the audience for Newsnight – almost 800,000 viewers last night. That’s a pretty dedicated audience. The challenge for current affairs shows is to find a way to engage these viewers as successfully as the entertainment shows do with their devoted fans.
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