tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308627122024-03-13T13:52:29.895+00:00Reevell's RatingsComments and opinions on UK television programming, channels and audiences.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-62925475049938600812011-10-31T18:06:00.000+00:002011-10-31T18:06:16.799+00:00Has the tide turned for X Factor?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Here's my column which appeared in Broadcast, 23rd October:</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It’s been nearly three years since I last wrote this column – so what’s changed? Viewed from here in Alderley Edge, the most important development is BBC North at MediaCityUK, currently powering up and sending a surge of energy through the North’s production sector.</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Unexpectedly, BBC3 is also moving north, a broadcast channel to add to the big programme brands. The sheer scale of MediaCityUK, the new talent and demographic of BBC3, the innovation of Future Media – talent, teens, technology – should all help the BBC address its traditional deficit in terms of ‘portrayal’ of the North, particularly with younger viewers.</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is some task, because in primetime, ITV ‘owns’ the North – look at the top programmes, starting with<strong>Coronation Street</strong> in fifth place, with 9.3 million viewers, and then in 8th, 9th, 13<sup style="height: 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top;">th</sup> and 15th, followed by six entries for <strong>Emmerdale</strong>, the highest at 7.5 million. That’s a lot of drama from the North.</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In terms of impact, a new high-profile drama or long-running serial could move the dial for the BBC. With<strong>Spooks</strong> ending on 5.1 million/18% on Sunday on BBC1, there’s certainly room for one. And consider how quickly <strong>Downton Abbey</strong> engaged the audience, with 9.3 million this week, holding steady week on week despite the slippage from X Factor Results. However, although fictionally it’s a northern drama – located in Yorkshire – we all know that it’s actually made in Posh-shire.</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And so to the big question: has the tide turned for <strong>The X Factor</strong>? The papers are comparing it with last year and gleefully searching for the missing 2 million viewers, compared to last year. Week on week, the case is harder to stand up as the slippage is less dramatic – Sunday night’s results show slipped back to 11.3 million/40% share, down from last week’s 11.6 million/42%. Saturday night’s ‘rock theme’ show had 10.1 million/39% share, compared with 10 million/40% last week. If it is short of its all-time high, it’s not exactly on its uppers.</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But there is a problem. The capricious judges’ cull on the first live show was a ‘twist’ too far. The X Factor belongs to its audience – they decide who the winner will be – so what was the point of the judges usurping the viewers and slinging out that young girl from Middlesbrough?</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">That’s when the doubts started. Since then, some acts have been dull, others have sung badly and it feels like every other minute there’s a sponsored competition or commercial break. This week, sensing trouble, the PR was cranked up – Frankie was in the papers, the judges fell out over the definition of ‘rock’, there was talk of bullying contestants, Kelly walked out. Expect more of this. It’s still must-see TV, even if <strong>Strictly</strong> is giving X Factor more of a run, with 9.6 million/38% share, slightly up on last week.</div><div style="font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">At the start of the autumn ‘new judges’ season, it seemed ITV had all the answers (apart from That Sunday Night Show, obviously) and it promo-ed a promising series of travelogues. But Billy Connolly’s Route 66 was a bit pedestrian and although Joanna Lumley is always great value, her <strong>Greek Odyssey</strong> has too much economic bad news for a feel-good doc; this week’s 3.7 million/16% share was in the same numbers territory as ITV’s <strong>The Jonathan Ross Show</strong> on 3.7 million/18% share. Dare we say it – has ITV gone a bit too BBC1-ish with these shows?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-37176728325629071452011-08-06T07:54:00.013+01:002011-08-06T08:02:37.531+01:00Dragon's Den - a voice from the North?Sunday 31st July 2011 <a href="http://www.attentional.com/screenwatch/viewings/sunday-31st-july-2011/">Attentional's Screenwatch blog</a> <br />
Dragon's Den returned with 4 million on Sunday night - up from the previous season, as it benefitted from an extensive promo for the new, fifth dragon - Hilary Devey, a self-made millionaie who's only false career steps seems to have been missing out on a role in Corrie. The new addition to the show is a shrewd move but the best thing that could have happened to Dragon's Den is to emerge into an August without Big Brother. There was a time, in the previous century actually, when August was not owned by Big Brother - and now that time is back again. I can remember quite clearly how suddenly and dramatically Big Brother seized the summer schedules - it was early in my days writing a Reevells Ratings column for Broadcast, and the possibility of writing about the same show week after week as it blast away the opposition was pretty exciting.<br />
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No such drama for Dragon's Den, although it has garnered plenty of publicity and reviews, and a decent audience, for BBC2. One of the curious things about it is that although it is produced from Manchester, and has cast its newest Dragon from the North, the programme is made outside of the region. Would Dragon's Den from Manchester be any different? After all it is a format, not a location. Would it be weakened if it seemed to be set in Manchester, in the same way that The Apprentice takes its visual cues from London? Not a question which is likely to bother the commissioners at the BBC. Which is a shame really.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-36914216886094416662011-05-19T21:18:00.000+01:002011-05-19T21:18:26.966+01:00Not Channel 6 - a little local knowlege."What we’re trying to do is create a network of local TV stations that are financially independent of each other" - Jeremy Hunt today, with his latest thinking about how best to create "a new to create an environment for a whole new sector that we haven’t had in this country before".<br />
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This is a realistic change from the Channel 6 plan - a network spine with local affiliates opting in to contribute a few hours a day of local content. Hunt's new version, which takes IPTV very seriously, looks to the future. Which is just as well, since the past is littered with failed efforts to create a local network.<br />
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It's not often recalled, but the original proposal for Channel 5 was a plan based on City TV Toronto. It was stopped in its tracks by the regulator - it was the kind of thing the ITC liked to do in the Nineties. Then there was the attempt to corale a network of local analogue licences into the Local Broadcasting Group. The regulator didn't like that either, and LBG's ambitious plans collapsed. And now the most recent flurry of interest in a national/local network, prompted by Hunt's advocacy of city stations, then a financiers report on how to make them viable, and finally some smart spin by Channel 6. <br />
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As with every other initiative, there has been a significant behind the scenes lobby against the notion of a commercial network which offered local programming. Most national broadcasters believe it won't work, and so consequently, the Government is changing its priorities away from national, back to local.<br />
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Regulatory policy for local television is like a pendulum, swinging between national and local. It never entirely settles, and nothing is ever entirely settled, which means very little actually ever happens.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-40855328395853787542011-05-11T18:26:00.000+01:002011-05-11T18:26:18.122+01:00Broadcasting from the North...Comments from Mark Thompson about the possibility of moving a BBC channel to MediacityUK carry real weight. When you look at the pictures that have been released for the new development, and reflect on the scale of what the BBC is doing there, it begins to look increasingly likely that adding a channel is on the cards. Mediacity is becoming the broadcasting capital of the North, and arguments against shifting a channel there look increasingly thin.<br />
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What would be the best channel to move? By a process of elimination it usually comes to down to one of the two digital channels - 3 or 4. But if you were going to add substantially to what is already going into Mediacity - Childrens, Sport, FiveLive and so on - the channel that would make the biggest difference would be BBC2. It has commissioning weight of numbers that would redirect the creative energies of the in-house and independent production companies that supply it. It would also mean it could escape from the temptation to follow a metropolitan media agenda and re-think its relationship with viewers outside London. That's a big undetaking to embark on, but one that the BBC knows is worth pursuing.<br />
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However, whatever the decision on a channel, one programme redeployment has already been announced which will do a great deal to bring Mediacity to the attention of the public - the arrival of Breakfast which moves in next year. Not since the days of This Morning in Liverpool has there been a daily window on the North - and that is exactly what Breakfast represents. No doubt it is a programming challenge, but more importantly it will be a huge step towards the BBC finding fresh ways to engage with audiences. If BBC2 were to be added to the mix, that would be a really fresh perspective on the BBC.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-32889055840917036072011-04-01T13:23:00.001+01:002011-04-01T14:15:17.058+01:00MediacityUK - a better role model for Channel 6 than Big Brother.No-one seems particularly suprised that Five should be prepared to pay £200m for Big Brother for four years, according to reports in todays papers. For media commentators, it's a good national media story - huge programme brand to switch networks, an opportunity for Five to go head-to-head with Channel 4, will it work, is Big Brother played out already and so on.<br />
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However, if you look at it from a different perspective - from Manchester for instance - then the usual metropolitan media bias means a bigger question simply does not enter the editorial equation. At £200m - that's five years of £40m pa on Five's programme budget. Where does that leave Channel 6 - which, according to Richard Horwood, one of the main proponents for a sixth national channel, will have a similar programme budget to Five. Does that mean adding an extra £40m to the programme spending business plan? Is there anything that Channel 6 could buy which would rival Big Brother? And if there is something worth that much - why wouldn't Sky buy it first?<br />
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As you probably realise by now, I don't think the success of a new national/local channel depends on having a Big Brother-style, super-charged programme budget. According to interesting research from Attentional, the guarantee of channel 6 prominence on the EPG has considerable value - but to achieve that value it will need to have a programme offering to compete with other prominent digital channels. That's why Channel 4 is taking so long to come forward with its proposals for Channel 6 and is number-crunching to work out what impact a successful channel in the sixth EPG slot would have on the share of viewing and revenues it derives from E4 and More4. The more you go down that route, the more you start to think the national network proposal won't be viable.<br />
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The 'Big National Channel 6' concept only has traction if it seen through the distorting lens of national media, which cannot conceive of a new channel that might not be based in London. So ingrained is metropolitan media bias that no-one would suggest that it might make more sense - from a financial point of view - to devise a network that is distinctive and not me-too, and make it successful because it will be located outside London.<br />
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Look at the reaction to a major media development that has had the nerve to locate itself outside London - the BBC's MediacityUK project. The doors are about to open in a month's time, the place looks fantastic, and on the ground in Manchester there is a real sense of imminent and transformational change. But for the glass-half-empty tendency metropolitan media commentators in the papers, the story this week has been about which presenters and how many staff will be moving with Breakfast next year. Breakfast TV from Manchester? That's like saying This Morning could have come from the Albert Dock in Liverpool. Who could imagine it.<br />
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Fortunately the government is not entirely susceptible to metropolitan media bias. I know - because I heard him say it in a meeting in Manchester a couple of weeks ago - that Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary who is championing local TV, believes that local elements are at the heart of the idea of a new national channel 6. While it is true that it is important to have a strong network at the heart of this project, that does not mean it has to be based in London as a me-too for Five.<br />
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So that's why MediacityUK is a better role model for Channel 6 than Big Brother. And a much better home for it than London for that matter.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-23024720353724108512010-12-13T13:25:00.000+00:002010-12-13T13:25:19.094+00:00X Factor - one million percent more important than Corrie?The X Factor’s 20 million viewers mark it out as more than just a big show for ITV1. The reason for this success? As Simon Cowell might put it, the programme engages one million percent with its audience. But this extraordinary series of the show has also put X Factor into a place that has been owned, for the last 50 years, to another ITV programme.<br />
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The X Factor is ITV’s biggest programme, and it has enabled the network to rediscover a programming dominance which, in recent times, seemed no longer to exist for the UK’s biggest commercial network. <br />
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The overnight BARB numbers for Sunday’s Final show it had an average of 16 million/51% share. That compares with the 13.4 million/49% share for Thursday’s live Coronation Street, part of the soap’s 50th anniversary programme offering.<br />
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While Corrie has enjoyed its birthday celebrations, it is impossible to escape from the conclusion that a programme which has been – since the beginning of the network - ITV1’s biggest programme, has been eclipsed by X Factor. This is bound to have repercussions in terms of how ITV will behave in future - Coronation Street has always been the benchmark against which all ITV shows are judged. No longer. <br />
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This changes the centre of gravity for ITV in all sorts of ways. For instance, Coronation Street has been defined by being engaged in trench warfare with the other big soap entity, BBC1’s EastEnders. For a while X Factor was also defined through its competition with Strictly Come Dancing – did viewers prefer music or dance? But this series, the BBC has stepped back from over competition with X Factor, which explains to a large extent the record breaking audiences for X Factor.<br />
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The show has also redefined the ITV1 schedule, extending the network’s appeal beyond the traditional, Corrie-loving ITV core audience. For X Factor’s Final, 40% of the audience were aged from 4 to 34 years old – for Corrie Live it was 28% (data: Attentional).<br />
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ITV would probably argue that the revenue brought in by Coronation Street speaks for itself, so don’t knock it. And I won’t, but I can’t help feeling that the last few days have been a point when something that had been an accepted fact has been changed because a programme which always regards itself as being the heartbeat for the network has been supplanted. The X Factor has given ITV a momentum that is going to be posing serious questions for competitors, particularly BBC1 under a new controller.<br />
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However, it also poses a dilemma for Corrie. The clue to this can be found in the expensive special effects storyline – the tram crash – which always gives an audience spike. Sometimes this can have the effect of reviving a moribund soap - I worked with Phil Redmond during the Emmerdale aircrash episodes. But explosions also come from a mindset which requires bigger, more elaborate spectaculars. The soap’s values change.<br />
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There are those who argue that this is also a back-to-the-future moment, that the glory days of ITV1 are back again thanks to X Factor, Corrie, Celebrity and, new this autumn, Downton Abbey. This argument goes on to stretch the point to suggest TV generally is under less pressure from new media than had been thought. I’m not so sure – ITV’s strength also sucks audience away from its competitors, BBC and Channel 4. In the olden days – the 1990s – that was something they could live with, but in the digital age, if one channel scoops the audience, then others will feel the squeeze more dramatically than in the past.<br />
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That’s not to argue what ITV has achieved will be a threat to other channels, simply that they too will need to be amore innovative, in the way that ITV has been in terms of creating television which engages with viewers at all levels. One million percent more.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-78625552972287892052010-11-25T10:16:00.000+00:002010-11-25T10:16:54.848+00:00More impact for news? How's that going to work, BBC4?When a big review is published, like that from the BBC Trust into BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC Four, it can take a little while to figure out what is being said behind the the regulatory langugage. For instance, what does this mean:<br />
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“ We will amend BBC Four’s service licence to reflect more clearly its editorial direction and focus.” I think we could paraphrase it to say – we’re not sure what BBC4 is for these days, so we’re going to sharpen it up a bit. The Trust then goes on to say one of the main challenges for BBC Four in future is to “secure a greater reputational dividend for the BBC”.<br />
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That’s a pretty frank statement to be making about a channel which is really only a ‘reputational” entity – never mind the ratings, feel the quality. The strategic rationale for the channel was to secure the cultural high ground, held in radio by Radio 4 and Radio 3. If it isn’t doing that, what is it doing?<br />
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BBC Four has enjoyed a licence to be obscure, provided it keeps up a stead flow of awards - such as that for Helena Bonham Carter in Enid which won an international Emmy this week - which garner favourable press reviews and occasional ratings spikes. The channel was launched by Roly Keating in 2002 – he went on to be BBC Two controller in 2004 having set a template based on archive programming. For Janice Hadlow, who followed him, BBC Four was a platform to try out programming ideas, particularly in drama, which have subsequently proved successful on BBC Two, where she is now controller.<br />
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But now it looks like the Trust has stopped the music for the current controller, Richard Klein, who is left holding the parcel.<br />
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One specific recommendation in the Trust report caught my eye, as it underlines the gap between the Trust’s view of the channel and the BBC management. “BBC management should explore ways to increase the impact of its world news programme on BBC Four.”<br />
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A quick look at the audience for World News Today, the global news programme which is broadcast weeknights on BBC Four at 7pm, reveals what they are concerned about. In the last four weeks, the highest audience achieved by the 30 minute programme was 73,000 viewers/0.36% share, and the lowest was 19,200 viewers/0.09%. In the period, its average audience was 40,000/018% share. And over 56% of that audience were aged over 65 years old.<br />
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But I wonder how the Trust thinks it will be possible to increase the impact of the programme, which is actually a BBC World Service news programme presented by Zeinab Badawi, simultaneously broadcast on BBC Four and BBC World Service. Its remit is international – which puts it at a disadvantage at 7pm to Channel 4 News if the viewer wants a more domestic focus on the day’s news.<br />
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What makes matters worse for World News Today is having to open the channel’s schedule at 7pm, so does not benefit from any inheritance, nor does there seem to be any cross-promotional effort at 7pm. Perhaps that is what the Trust really wants – some promos on BBC One and BBC Two at 7pm, driving people to the BBC Four News.<br />
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Of course that is an inherent problem showing a specialized news programme on a digital channel aimed at a niche audience – ask Channel 4, which used to have More4 News until December 2009. Perhaps this has informed the Trust’s thinking – does it see an opportunity to recover some lost ground? On the other hand, why should viewers turn to BBC Four at 7pm for an in-depth news programme, a time that is effectively owned by Channel 4 News. <br />
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Are there any other ways BBC Four could create impact for its World News? By running it in primetime at 8pm or 9pm? Not if its 7pm ratings are anything to go by, as it would put a major dent into BBC Four’s more mainstream programming. Between 7pm and 10.30pm in the period from mid October to mid November, BBC Four’s average audience was 218,000, 0.98% share. It can hardly afford to replace a programme such as the quiz Only Connect, which had over 500,000 viewers last Monday at 8pm, with a news programme rating at around a tenth of that at 7pm. <br />
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There is a bigger question. Why invest in a low-rating domestic digital channel at a time when the BBC World Service is being cut back? Why not put more money into the World News itself - a service subject to cuts, and also a change in funding from government to BBC in the future. That is something which could also make a bigger impact on BBC Four. Once you embark on that line of thinking, you start to wonder why there is not already much more traffic between the World Service and BBC Four – there’s a great portfolio of programmes already on the World Service, don't they deserve some greater prominence in the UK?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-42578027918462231982010-10-31T07:38:00.000+00:002010-10-31T07:38:08.571+00:00Where next, Channel 4?I watched the first two episodes of The Event when the new acquired series launched on Channel 4 last week - it had been heavily promoted in an intriguing way, indicating that the channel was putting its weight behind it. The audiences - 1.9 m/8% share at 9pm and 1.7 m/9% at 10pm - suggest it was pretty well received, although by last Friday episode three drew 1.5m/6% share, as some viewers have drifted away. It was followed by the Million Pound Drop Live, with 2.5 million/14% share at 10pm, which was a strong result for the channel.<br />
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What does this tell us about where Channel 4 may be heading as it waits for the arrival of Jay Hunt from the BBC? First, that there seems to be a firm grip on promotional priorities despite being in a transitional phase as far as programmes are concerned. Clearly it is a post-Big Brother channel, but it is less clear yet as to what exactly post-Big Brother programming will become fixtures.<br />
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So there's The Event, skillfully promoted, but is it a 24 or a Lost? Then there's the portfolio of presenters - Davina's time on Big Brother may have come to an end, but the Million Pound Drop benefits accordingly. The channel is currently promoting a new Kirstie Allsop series, and is running a new series of Grand Designs, with Kevin McCloud. Last Wednesday Grand Designs had 2.5 million/10% share, following a somewhat off-the-pace Chilean miners documentary which had appealed to only 1.3 million/5% share. Grand Designs was helped by the quirky but insubstantial Wonderland documentary about cat rescues on BBC2, with 2.1 million/8% share. Naturally both were eclipsed by BBC1's The Apprentice with 6 million/23% share.<br />
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Presenters of the calibre of Davina, Kevin McCloud and Kirstie Allsop are the DNA of Channel 4, the faces of the channel. That is both a strength and a weakness in the post-Big Brother era. A strength, as Million Pound Drop seems to prove, if a presenter can be carried forward into a new format. But a weakness if there is no new dimension to the existing format - Grand Designs remains a strong format, but may be over-familiar for viewers. On Thursday at 8pm River Cottage Everyday with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had 1.7 million/7% share, beaten by a combination of Nigella and Autumnwatch on BBC2 - a format and presenter being pushed too far, as they did a make-over on sandwiches?<br />
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It is Channel 4's dilemma at the moment that it must to make the most of the hand it has been dealt, and so the branding department is working overtime. But an incoming controller is bound to assess the output, particularly the most important programme format brands, and consider how they - and the new post-Big Brother projects - fit together. What might that mean? New projects for the well-known faces of Channel 4? Or new faces for new projects? When you start to think about creative renewal, the temptation must be to start looking for new faces. But the challenge will be to renew the Channel 4 brand as well - so who are the presenters out there who might represent the future of Channel 4?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-59621171291017966842010-04-30T20:53:00.000+01:002010-04-30T20:53:55.309+01:00Election Debate - why the novelty has worn off so quicklyNow that’s interesting – the BBC1 Leaders Debate managed only 7.3 million/28% share, well down from the 9.5 million for the first ITV debate two weeks ago. As I suggested in my previous blog, the relatively low rating for the Sky News debate last week may have taken some of the wind out of the sails of the televised debate. The unchanging format which provided little variety from one show to the next, the repetitive subjects, the inability of Nick Clegg to top his first debate performance, and just general election fatigue – all could explain this dip.<br />
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So it seems comparing the election debates with the performance of reality shows is perhaps a bit of a stretch after all. Although it would not be possible under election rules to vote out one of the leaders in the second and third debates, perhaps the programmes could have developed more momentum and suspense. But of course that’s impossible – viewers/voters must wait another week to cast their verdict.<br />
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For three weeks the politicians gate-crashed television’s entertainment formatted world – but their format was so inflexible, and allowed so little interaction with the public, that the novelty began to wear off pretty quickly. I’m going to add a couple more reasons why this particular debate started running out of steam – David Dimbleby is too patrician for an entertainment show, the BBC's shiny set too grandiose, and consequently the programme failed to generate sufficient tension, so the leaders just looked over-heated. <br />
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I also predicted last week that if the third and final debate did not rate over 10 million, it would be a sign that the Lib Dem bandwagon was losing momentum. The result of the instant polls seem to confirm that. <br />
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There was one more sign that when it comes to television, viewers tolerance of election shows is limited - a fair number of viewers, 3.2 million, simply preferred the European football on Five over the politicians. Good job Britain's Got Talent wasn't on ITV at the time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-87611652953925591892010-04-26T10:47:00.000+01:002010-04-26T10:47:21.213+01:00Who'll win the Live Election Final?How will this week’s third and final election leaders debate rate? The first, two weeks ago, had the sensational outcome of being a real game-changer, catapulting Nick Clegg to a 30% share of voting intentions. This week it’s no exaggeration to suggest that the outcome of the election could depend on a single 90 minute programme.<br />
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In my previous blog I suggested that the audience benchmark had been set few by the figures achieved last year by the Question Time programme featuring the BNP, which had 8.3 million viewers. This pointed to the debate achieving a substantial audience. So it proved with 9.5 million people watching the ITV programme.<br />
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Last week’s follow-up debate on Sky also delivered big, by the standards of a digital channel, but not on the same scale as the first ITV1 debate. According to Attentional, the audience on Sky News as an impressive 2.1 million and taking into account simulcasts and repeats, the debate had an audience of 4.4 million.<br />
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However, although this was a big audience by digital standards, it was not significant in terms of being able to move the polls. For the pundits the significance of the debate was the inability of the two major parties to peg-back Clegg. For the TV audience-watcher the question it raises is whether the gap between the first and second debate will impact on the audience for the third debate on BBC1.<br />
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If this were a conventional reality competition, the fact that the second show had less than half of the audience of the first would be taken as a sign of lack of interest from the audience. Different conventions apply here. More likely the nation will turn to the BBC, as it does for other major occasions, such as the World Cup, in order to make up its mind.<br />
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In which case the audience figure to watch is that which is being achieved by the one of the biggest competition shows on TV, Britain’s Got Talent which had an audience of over 10 million for its second show in the new series, last Saturday. It seems highly likely that the leaders debate will draw a bigger audience than the first ITV debate, so a 10 million-plus audience should be on the cards.<br />
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Of course,if it turns out that the Sky News debate took some of the wind out of the sails of the election programmes, then 10 million may turn out to be something of a challenge. If the show rates lower than the ITV programme, it’s likely to spell bad news for the Liberal Democrats.<br />
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So who will win the final Leader’s Debate? Sometimes in these talent competitions, the unheralded contender who emerges from the early auditions falls narrowly at the final hurdle to a more conventional figure. Sometimes, however, the final provides the impetus to stardom. Is Nick Clegg’s unexpected breakthrough going to propel him to a phenomenal win, like Susan Boyle. Or could the voting intentions of the electorate diverge from their viewing patterns at the last minute?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-47299955617163800052010-04-08T11:50:00.000+01:002010-04-08T11:50:40.857+01:00Gordon or David, or...Dorothy?Last night’s Question Time, running on a Wednesday instead of Thursday heralded the start of an election campaign which will have as its TV highlight the big innovation of the three debates with the party leaders, the first of which will be on 15th April at 8.30pm on ITV1. With only the two million viewers for last night's Question Time,it puts the spotlight on the leader debates. How popular do we think they will be? I think we can assume they will draw more substantial audiences than a standard post 10 O'Clock News edition of Question Time as there’s a real public appetite for knowledge and an established interest in set-piece debates.<br />
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In fact it was an edition of Question Time which set the benchmark for recent political debate - last year’s Question Time featuring the BNP’s Nick Griffin had an audience of 8.3 million/50% share, with almost a million more watching on the iPlayer. Bearing in mind that the leaders debate will occupy 90 primetime minutes, the figure of 8 million should be a realistic target for what will be a first on television in this country. Will the two following debates match it? Much depends on whether the format proves entertaining enough.<br />
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If the dry run with the Chancellors on Channel 4 last week is anything to go on, then there seems to be some strength of interest in political debate for this election. Ask the Chancellors had a strong audience of 1.7 million/7% share in the Monday night 8pm Dispatches slot, well ahead of most of the current affairs programmes which occupy that slot.<br />
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One reason why viewers will embrace the debates can be found in the weekend’s entertainment shows – people love to engage in voting competitons, such as the latest Lloyd-Webber search for a star competition, BBC1’s Over the Rainbow. There is a however a gulf between the most effective of voting competitions, ITV’s X Factor, and weaker strains of the genre – Over the Rainbow’s Saturday show had 5.4 million/25% share at 7.30pm, following in the slipstream of the new Dr Who which launched with 7.6 million/35% share. In contrast Sunday’s Over the Rainbow results show had just 3.6 million/19% share at 6.15pm, suggesting the audience has not engaged with the competition in this early stage.<br />
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The worst thing that could happen to the politicians is that the public decide, after the first debate, that the format or the contestants are not sufficiently interesting. There are flaws with the format – just three contestants and only three programmes. In the entertainment world, the programmes would be spread over a longer period of time.<br />
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And perhaps crucially, we should bear in mind that there’s no telephone vote at the end of the three debates. Anyone who wants to vote in the next leader of the country will have to wait a few days and then leave the house in order to make the trip to an polling-booth in an old fashioned sort of way. Maybe these flaws will put the ratings potential of political debate as entertainment to a serious test. On the other hand, evidence from America suggests the debates are also capable of creating drama to match the final of most entertainment shows. I suppose the good news is, we’ll know who’s going to be the next Prime Minister before the nation chooses the next Dorothy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-56756645765608325752010-01-29T16:57:00.000+00:002010-01-29T16:57:08.887+00:00Did I suggest BBC2 should expand Friday night's arts coverage?Back in 2008, I suggested trimming Newsnight on a Friday night to 30 minutes "trim Newsnight on a Friday and free up the Newsnight Review slot. If so, it could be part of a more substantial overhaul of BBC2's arts, culture and media coverage." That's what I said, and that's what has come to pass.<br />
The Review Show is substantially more than Newsnight Review; its still hosted by Kirsty Wark, but now runs for an hour, comes from Glasgow, and has more guests, who all talk earnestly at the same time. It had an audience of 380,000 viewers when it started last week so I'm not claiming any credit for the idea.<br />
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What else did I suggest BBC2 might do under its new controller?<br />
There were a couple of anti-ratings suggestions. Send Top Gear to BBC1 - hasn't happened. Wonder if that's because being on BBC2 contributes to its edge? And clear out the cookery shows - er, that definitely hasn't happened.<br />
I had a couple of genre suggestions. Respond to Channel 4's documentary challenge. Mmmm. Not sure about that,not sure about Channel 4's documentary challenge any more, either. Identify new drama - well, there's a long lead time on drama, isn't there.<br />
And then there was 'Revitalise arts coverage - put the Culture Show out to tender.' Hasn't happened, but the Culture Show has been shifted around in the schedules. When it returned last week it had 640,000 viewers, last night it was down to 550,000 viewers. What harm would it have done to try tendering it?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-60245151953806037912010-01-29T16:40:00.002+00:002010-01-29T16:40:20.732+00:00New faces - new programmes?It's astonishing, really, that its taken so long for the two major commercial terrestrial networks to resolve their leadership questions. Its been an age – first for Channel 4 then for ITV, to come to a conclusion. But here we are – David Abraham at Channel 4, Adam Crozier at ITV. <br />
What will it mean in terms of ratings? The question is probably more easily answered for ITV because we now know it has rediscovered its entertainment credentials – it’s the X Factor channel. Admittedly there are some pressing underlying questions – most immediately about the future of regional news. And perhaps questions might be asked about some recent entertainment and factual shows, especially if the new chief asks the network to up its game in terms of volume in all genres. But nonetheless we know what ITV1 is all about as a channel – it’s the future of the business itself that most needs Crozier’s attention.<br />
Channel 4 is in a different position – we know the future of its business does not involve asking for public funds, but its not very clear what the future holds in programming terms, beyond the end of Big Brother. Some commentators have had fun celebrating the ratings performance of Celebrity Big Brother – it had 3.2million last night as it nears its conclusion, but until a post-BB strategy emerges, there’s a sense of a channel in the waiting room.<br />
This is highlighted perhaps by the two genres this week. In documentaries, last night’s follow-on programme after Celebrity BB last night was The Girl With Eight Limbs Grows Up, a Bodyshock special, which had an audience of 1.4 million at 10pm. It was a follow-up documentary about Lakshmi Tatma, the girl who was born with eight limbs, a year after she underwent a life-saving operation to remove her half-formed conjoined twin's arms and legs. <br />
Meanwhile Skins is back on E4 with an audience of. Much-loved by teenagers, now in its fourth series, with 930,000 viewers. And Shameless was back on Tuesday with 3.4 million/7% share. These are strong figures for both programmes, but creatively they are very much part of Channel 4’s furniture. David Abraham is known for the audacious rebranding of channels like Dave, and I’d be surprised he doesn’t sense a big opportunity for Channel 4 once it rediscovers its capacity to innovate. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-59061085027173488882010-01-26T10:40:00.000+00:002010-01-26T10:40:42.458+00:00Take Me Out is taking its time to build an audience<div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">After the success of X Factor in the autumn re-confirmed ITV’s status as an entertainment network, can the network re-visit the success it once enjoyed with dating formats? Take Me Out, is ITV1’s would-be successor to Blind Date, and is presented by Paddy McGuinness, who deploys his wit and a particularly irritating catchphrase to support a very simple premise – match a single man with one of thirty girls. <br />
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</div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Maybe it is too simple, as it is rating under 5 million – the first show had 3.6million/14% share on 2<span style="font: 13.0px Times;"><sup>nd</sup></span> January at 7.20pm. However, it has shown some growth – last Saturday’s show ran at a slightly later time of 8pm and its audience was 4.6 million/19% share. Not surprisingly its particularly popular with 16-24 year olds, with a 24% share for Saturday’s show.<br />
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</div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The opposition during the final quarter hour of the show is BBC1’s So You Think You Can Dance, which had 5.4 million/22% share for its 30 minute segment. Earlier, at 7pm it had 5.8 million/25% share for its 60 minute show. So You Think You Can Dance, presented by Cat Deeley, and judged by Nigel Lythgoe and Arlene Phillips, comes from the USA with strong credentials, but its audience has slipped since it debut of 6.4 million/27% share.<br />
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</div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Not surprisingly Dance is very popular with older viewers – 30% share among over 65s, and not popular with younger viewers, under 20% for the 16-24 year olds who like Take Me Out. BBC1 enjoyed a primetime lead over ITV1 on Saturday of 24% to 19%, but among younger viewers ITV1 had 23% to BBC1’s 18%. The issue for Take Me Out is whether, without the volume enjoyed by its BBC1 dance opposition, its has sufficient demographic strength to be regarded as a success. The fact that it is building suggests ITV1 will have to wait until the end of this first run to know whether its got the new Blind Date or not.<br />
</div><div style="font: 16.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 19.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 16.0px Cambria; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">However ITV1 will be looking critically at its Friday night celebrity singing show, Popstar to Operastar, which had just 3.7 million/15% share on Friday at 9pm, down from 3.9m/15% share when it launched a week earlier – last Friday it was out-rated by Silent Witness, with 6m/24% share. There is an awkwardness about this show, unlike Take Me Out, which comes across as show which feels it ought to be on ITV1.<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-63667033479006101922010-01-12T20:09:00.000+00:002010-01-12T20:09:21.060+00:00What could Dispatches learn from Dancing on Ice?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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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? <br />
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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. <br />
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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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-37241662135610687872010-01-07T12:18:00.000+00:002010-01-07T12:18:25.045+00:00Snow - TV's winners and losers.With big numbers for regional TV news as it covers the big freeze – 9 million watching the various regional shows on Tuesday for instance – the importance of the news and weather information outweighed the traditional poor relation nature of regional programming.<br />
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It comes at a time when regional newspaper groups have formed a number of consortia – with ITN, regional broadcasters such as STV and UTV, and independent companies like Ten Alps and Tinopolis – to bid to operate regional news services on ITV, funded by public money, in Scotland, Wales and the North East of England. Will the newspaper groups news services be able to match the coverage of the existing broadcasters – ITV regionally, ITN nationally, and the BBC?<br />
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I was interested to see how the two national news services approached the challenge of covering the snows. ITN took its news anchor, Mary Nightingale, to present the evening shows from Manchester, whereas the BBC stayed with its studio presentation and focused on Yorkshire. To my mind the ITN coverage was in the right place, more direct and better – but the audience, as usual, defaults to the BBC for major stories and so went with the BBC's 10 O'Clock News – 7m vs 3.85m for ITN's News at Ten.<br />
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One of the winners – in terms of news presentation, was BBC anchor, Sophie Raworth who presented the BBC coverage and then was brought back the following day to present a half-hour 8pm special, with an audience of 5.9m. The programme drew on items which were, essentially, regional news items, and repackaged through BBC News 24. It highlighted the scale of the BBC’s news organization, compared with its commercial rival.<br />
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Will public funds be sufficient to preserve the regional news on ITV? Clearly audiences seek out the local and regional information they need in difficult times, and will not forgive a service that does not deliver. The cost of providing a service that meets viewers expectations will not be insignificant – something that might be difficult to accept for regional newspaper groups more familiar with cost savings. Perhaps they should look at the Channel M experiment in Manchester, where Guardian Media Group spent nearly £15m on its expensive city channel – only to have to scale it back its local news and programming as advertising revenues failed to match expectations. The history of newspaper groups and local television – Channel One, Live TV, Channel M – is not a happy one, and does not augur well for the future of regional news. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-44796176373409078302009-12-16T13:10:00.000+00:002009-12-16T13:10:57.919+00:00Analysis of iPlayer figures reveals suprise for BBC3.<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I've analysed the latest iPlayer numbers and compared them with the audience ratings achieved by the shows when they were first transmitted on a BBC channel. The table below prompts the question -What would it mean if more people were to watch a programme on the BBC iPlayer programme than they did when the programme was first broadcast on a BBC channel?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question is almost answered by figures released by the BBC for iPlayer viewing in October, when the first episode of Russell Howard’s Good News on BBC3 had only 67,000 more viewers than the iPlayer.</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Of course, it could be argued that the comparable figure would be for all transmissions of episode one – which would boost the figures.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There is in fact another programme in the top 20 which may already have more iPlayer views – That Mitchell and Webb Look, series 2 episode 3, was a repeat, shown on BBC HD, for which BARB does not provide ratings. I’m going to guess that its quite likely the 156,000 views on the iPlayer were higher than the BBC HD rating.</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The figures prompt a wider question - where would the iPlayer be without comedy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latest figures, released by the BBC, for the top 20 most requested TV episodes on the iPlayer shows that half of the programmes in the table were comedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The programme topping the table was Question Time – the week with the BNP – with 928,000 views, compared with the BBC1 audience of 8.34 million.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly the highest iPlayer audience for a comedy programme was Russell Howard’s Good News, shown on the same night as Question Time originally, on BBC3.</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Although October’s figures for the iPlayer were at record levels – 79 million requests, of which 53 million were for TV programmes – I was surprised to see some of the figures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, I would have imagined Top Gear would attract a lot of iPlayer viewing – but the highest episode in terms of the iPlayer had 230,000 viewers, compared with the 5 million who watched it on BBC2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not really a watch again audience, is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So maybe some of the talk about the iPlayer is hyping it to levels that do no match reality of audiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
</div><!--StartFragment--> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 5.4pt; width: 634px;"><tbody>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC iPLAYER TOP 20 TV EPISODES</span></b><b><span style="color: #333399; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></b><b><span style="color: #dd0806; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">– MOST-REQUESTED EPISODE PER SERIES</span></b><b><i><span style="color: #dd0806; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></i></b><b><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
</div></td> <td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 91.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="92"> <div class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Total requests per episode<o:p></o:p></span></u><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Rating<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">1</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Question Time 22/10/09</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">928,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">8.34m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">49%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">22nd Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10.30pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">2</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Life Episode 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">664,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4.2m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">20%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">25-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">6pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">3</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Russell Howard's Good News Episode 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">410,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC3<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">487,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">3%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">22nd Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10.30pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Mock the Week Series 6 Episode 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">371,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">1.94m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">14-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">5</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Never Mind the Buzzcocks Series 23 Ep 2</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">362,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">2.3m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">08-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">21.30pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">6</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">EastEnders 23/10/09</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">353,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9.6m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">40%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">23-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">8pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">7</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Merlin Series 2 Episode 3</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">334,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">6.1m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">31%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">03-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">6.15pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">8</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Michael McIntyre's Comedy R’show Ep 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">321,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">2.4m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">16%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">04-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10.25pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Strictly Come Dancing Series 7 Ep 5</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">317,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">8.4m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">31%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">17th Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">7.30pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Emma Episode 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">240,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4.8m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">17%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">04-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">11</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Have I Got News for You Series 38 Ep 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">233,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">5.7m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">23%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">16-Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">12</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Top Gear Series 8 Episode 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">231,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">5m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">21%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4th Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">7pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 13;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">13</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Criminal Justice Series 2 Episode 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">229,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBc1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4.9m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">19%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">5th Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 14;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">14</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">How Not To Live Your Life Series 2 Ep 4</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">192,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC3<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">445,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">3%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">6th Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10.30pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 15;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">15</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe 29/09/09</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">185,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC4<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">376,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">2%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">29th Sept<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 16;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">16</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Shooting Stars Series 6 Ep 6</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">179,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">1.9m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">30th Sept<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">10pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 17;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">17</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The Armstrong & Miller Show Series 2 Ep 2</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">179,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC1<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4.5m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">18%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">23rd Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">9.30pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 18;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">18</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Masterchef: The Professionals Series 2 Ep 29</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">173,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">4.3m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">17%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">22nd Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">8pm<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 19;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">19</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The World's Strictest Parents Series 2 Ep 1</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">157,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC3<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">492,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">2%<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">15th Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 20; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 242.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="242"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 5.25pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">20</span><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">That Mitchell and Webb Look Series 2 Ep 3</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 54.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="55"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-char-indent-count: 1.0; text-indent: 6.6pt;"><span style="color: #900000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">156,000<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 36.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="37"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">BBC HD<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="150"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">no ratings available<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">6th Oct<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 13.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">00:30am<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-15581949190278121592009-12-15T09:01:00.002+00:002009-12-15T09:14:04.115+00:00Simon Cowell's Big General Election Show - let's dream the dream.<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Could Simon Cowell be about to redefine political programming with a new popular genre – politainment? He outlined a startlingly good idea for a new show in an interview with Newsnight – an interactive audience voting show on the major issues of the day, featuring a big red telephone with a direct line to Downing Street, so that the Prime Minister could take part. A cross between Question Time and Deal or No Deal, the show would be an obvious next step for Cowell, after the triumph of The X Factor this autumn. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only disappointment is that he ruled himself out as the host of the show, but despite that I’m going to call it Simon Cowell’s Big Political Issue and I very much doubt if I would be in a minority in wanting to tune into it. Newsnight may have interviewed Cowell with a wry smile on its collective face - 1m viewers at 10.30pm weekdays is a good Newsnight audience for serious political reporting – but the key figure to bear in mind is the recent Question Time show with the BNP’s Nick Griffin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was watched by 8.34m/50% share, with almost a million more watching on the iPlayer. For Cowell that must sound like an unserved audience that he could reach with a new live politainment show. A mass audience approaching ten million and a strong interactive dimension – sounds like X Factor territory. But which channel would run it? The obvious candidate would be ITV, since Cowell has effectively re-written the book on the ITV audience, and a show like this must draw on his poulist instincts, rather than the public service ethos of the BBC. When asked to list the big issues he replied, without missing a beat, ‘Iraq, Afghanistan, knife-crime’. Cowell’s Big Political Issue would be in tune with the red tops, following the X Factor model. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it would be a huge risk for ITV to run politainment in the heart of its schedule, displacing a drama. And ironically the two people who would have to help him with the risk are the two former controllers of BBC1 – Peter Fincham, now at ITV, and Lorraine Heggessey, now at Talkback Thames – who, in their previous guise had responsibility for the BBC’s flagship political discussion programme, Question Time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Would they dare take up Cowell’s idea on a commercial channel? He envisaged his show as a more entertaining version of the leader’s debate – something that ordinary viewers would want to watch, rather than something that the parties and broadcasters are able to agree to produce. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s enough to give the compliance lawyers and the ITV sales team palpitations, but think of how much more enjoyable next May would be if Simon could turn the general election into politainment. Westminster - Dream the Dream! </span><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-15685012478961466572009-12-01T09:30:00.000+00:002009-12-01T09:30:43.578+00:00Has X Factor peaked too soon?With Jedward voted off The X Factor last week the programme failed to match the numbers achieved by the popular twins – some of the audience drifted for this weekend’s programmes. And with the walk-out by Katie Price in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here it too had a similar drift in audience.<br />
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The two programmes are of course linked – on Sunday 22nd November, I’m a Celebrity posted its highest audience of the series so far, with over 10 million viewers. That was the same night that Jedward were voted out of X Factor – it had 13.8 million viewers. The peak audience for X Factor in this series was the sensational 14.3 million/48% share achieved on 15th November – by last Sunday, Jedward-less, the results show had drifted back to 13.5 million/46% share.<br />
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No-one is going to suggest that these numbers are disappointing. This time last year (29th November 2008), the two Saturday shows had 12 million/46% and 10.8 million/50% - compared with 12.3 million/48% and 13.5 million/46% on Saturday and Sunday nights. <br />
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With Jedward out of The X Factor in November, the show could concentrate on singing in the semi-final and final stages. But it also took out an element of entertainment, which seems to have eroded some viewing.<br />
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Likewise, once Katie Price concluded she was fed up with being subjected by the viewer votes to daily trials, the show’s audiences drifted away – 10 million/35% on Sunday 22nd had fallen to 8.6 million/32% share on Sunday. <br />
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Which begs the question – could ITV have managed this in such a way as to maintain the audience interest through to the end of the series? If it were a soap, for instance, the storyline arc could have been controlled to peak just before Christmas. To do that with X Factor would it have meant the stars of this series – Jedward – staying in to the final. In the case of Celebrity, Katie Price would have been needed through to the last show.<br />
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However to manage this would mean ITV taking a more active role in guiding the shows – something that is not possible in a viewer-driven programme, especially after the phone-line problems of recent years.<br />
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In the case of Jedward, although the public vote meant they didn’t get enough viewers to back them and so found themselves in the last two, but it was the judges vote which dispatched them. It might be argued that they would have survived only one more week – last weekend’s results were determined by the viewer vote alone. But it seems odd that the producers of the show did not take the opportunity to keep the bandwagon rolling for one more week.<br />
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In the case of Katie Price, who found herself on the receiving end of viewer votes night after night, obliging her to take part in a daily trial, it was not a viewer vote which took her out of the jungle, but her own decision to walk out early. Could the producers have done more to keep her in the jungle? Could they have ruled her out of the voting for a day or two?<br />
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Obviously such questions are academic but highlight the difficulties in balancing the priorities of audience maximization against the vagaries of viewer votes and on-screen talent.<br />
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Here’s the dilemma – the more it seemed the public, or newspapers, didn’t like Jedward or Katie, the more the audience watched the show. Take them out and interest subsides. Should a programme’s priority be to maximize audience – or find a new singing star to top the charts? Depends who’s answering the question – ITV as a network will have its eye on the numbers, the X Factor producers will also have their eye on who’s going to be recording hits next year.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-63689413476884770422009-11-18T08:33:00.000+00:002009-11-18T08:33:47.483+00:00Reasons for ITV to be cheerful.Last week was a break-through week for ITV1 thanks to five consecutive nights of 9pm drama – Collision won its slot every night. Although there is something soap-ish about stripping a drama over five nights – indeed Coronation Street is up to the self-same tactic this week – the celebrations at ITV will have been about the impact achieved by a drama.<br />
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With an average of 6.5 million/27% share, the drama’s figures were robust for weeknights, although that only serves to highlight the sensational numbers being recorded by The X Factor – 11.9pm/45% on Saturday at 8pm, and a staggering 14.3m/47% share on Sunday night.<br />
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The appeal of Collision was such that it drew attention to weakening drama on other channels, such as Spooks, which returned for a new BBC1 9pm run with 4.5m/19% share on Monday night. The value of a strong piece of drama can also be highlighted by the opposite – a weak piece, or one which is draws poor reviews, such as Channel 4’s The Execution of Gary Glitter, which performed poorly on Monday night with 1.2m/5% share<br />
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With stellar weekend ratings, and a strong weeknight drama, does that mean ITV1 is out of the woods? The uplift in ratings from X Factor is being spun alongside stories about the value of the airtime in the show, and a potential improvement in the advertising market. All of which is going on while ITV1 continues to look for a new chairman.<br />
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There is also good news for ITV1 from competitors. Although Channel 4 is calling its programme cull an opportunity for creative renewal, the fact that it is dispensing with programmes which were once mainstays of its schedule, starting with Big Brother, and now extending to Wife Swap and How Clean is Your House, means that the channel will be searching for ratings from relatively unproven programmes. Perhaps it will hit ground running with new shows, but more likely there is going to be a period when it is trying out shows in primetime – surely an opportunity for ITV1.<br />
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It could also be argued that the BBC – licking its wounds from the face-off between The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing – may be obliged to compete with one hand tied behind its back. The relative weakness shown by Spooks suggests that a golden period of drama enjoyed by the BBC may be coming to an end – not a dramatic fall-off in numbers but either consolidation or gradual decline. And as the corporation is in the spotlight for what it pays talent – never mind its own executives – the chances are that it will be inclined to row back on more expensive or high profile projects which may risk adverse headlines.<br />
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Take all these elements into account and you can see why ITV would have been jubilant about what happened with Collision. Like the British economy, its not out of the woods yet, but there are signs that the commercial network’s fortunes are starting to swing upwards once more.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-65794383315592095742009-11-03T17:47:00.000+00:002009-11-03T17:47:56.709+00:00Live football on Sunday - and its not Sky.There's something quite retro about the BBC's live football on Sunday late afternoon - for those who can remember ITV's Big Match, that is. It's difficult now to recall how important The Big Match seemed at the time, since there was so little televised football available, and in comparison, the live coverage of ten Championship matches on BBC2 seems a modest addition to the huge availability of televised football.<br />
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Interestingly, the audiences for these live matches are pretty decent - perhaps because the schedulers have shrewdly chosen teams which were in the Premier League last year, such as Newcastle and West Brom, or other household names such as Derby, Forest, and recent FA Cup finalists Cardiff. The first match on in the middle of the holiday season on August 12th, featuring Newcastle and West Brom, had an audience of 1.8 million/12%. Next up, on 26th September came Ipswich and Newcastle - 2.2 million/14% share. Then in quick success, two consecutive weeks, QPR vs Derby with 1.8 million/10% share, and Cardiff vs Forest with 2 million/10% share. <br />
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To put that into context, on the previous evening, Saturday at 5.30pm - ESPN had a Premier League game, Man United vs Blackburn, with an audience of 406,000/2.4% share. Later that night BBC1 has its Football League Show at midnight, with an audience of 980,000/15% share, following on immediately after the flagship BBC1 Match of the Day Premier League highlights show at 10.30pm with 4 million/28% share.<br />
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The importance of Champions League and Premier League games for ITV and Sky Sports respectively, is taken as given. However, the BBC's audiences suggest that the attraction of live football is not limited to the games which will dominate the back-pages and callers to 606. Next up will be ITV's coverage of the FA Cup, which is promising extra coverage starting with the first round tie on Saturday 7th November at lunchtime, between Paulton Rovers and Norwich City. Now that should prove a real test.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-4558764564625275152009-10-23T10:23:00.004+01:002009-10-23T12:20:31.950+01:007.8 million watched Question Time - an X Factor moment for the BNP?It's been a while since an overnight figure stopped me in my tracks, as this number for last nights Question Time did this morning. Which is a bit odd, since every Monday I seem to get another email from ITV heralding the record figures for X Factor -here's this week's introduction<br />"Last night’s The X Factor results show on ITV1 attracted a record peak audience of 14.8 million viewers, 50 percent audience share, the highest ever volume for the programme – eclipsing the 14.6 million peak audience that watched last year’s final."<br />The trouble with this is that, well, you sort of know it's coming, what with Cheryl Cole's appearance being hyped all week, plus Whitney's return and so on. 14.6 million - yeah, tremendous figures, keep up the good work.<br />But almost 8 million for an episode of Question Time? The show turns in around 2.5 million most of the time - it had a blip in the spring when it caught the banking crisis mood, and almost hit 4 million. But I don't think its ever achieved anything like this before.<br />Maybe the parallel with X Factor isn't so odd. The programme had massive pre-publicity through the news and discussion about the BNP appearance and viewers presumably tuned in to make their own judgements, just as they do each week with the X Factor contestants. In one respect there is no similarity - you can't vote on the night for an individual panellist, so viewers will have to wait for the general election. Only then will we know whether the programme exposed the BNP to scrutiny, and whether the resulting publicity turns out to be oxygen or poison.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-55809501739465183082009-07-27T21:24:00.004+01:002009-07-27T21:37:26.068+01:00Its July. So why is BBC2 showing good programmes?If you were to embark on a race to the South Pole, in a team of three which included Olympic medal-winner James Cracknell who would suffer frost-bite and worse during the course of the race, you might expect to do rather well with the television programme about your adventure. But would you want it showing while the country was on its summer holiday?<br /><br />The final part of On Thin Ice, on BBC2 Sunday 9pm, had an audience of 3.3 million/14% share, better than ITV1’s Whatever It Takes and Channel 4’s Big Brother. It was helped by the ever-popular Top Gear, but even so, it must be seen as a successful project. <br /><br />Clearly the three men who undertook the challenge felt it was a success – and watching as finally dragged themselves to the South Pole, it was impossible not to appreciate the physical endurance it took for them to achieve this. But what was the programme doing in the schedule for the last Sunday night in July? <br /><br />I’m still trying to figure out exactly what is going on with the two main BBC channels this summer. A couple of weeks ago BBC1 fast-burned five episodes of Torchwood in a single week. Last week's BBC2 schedules also featured the start of a lavish costume drama, Desperate Romantics – on Tuesday at 9pm, with 2.5 million/11% share. It in turn was following the new series of Coast - the coast of France, to be specific - which had 3.1 million/14% share. <br /><br />Good for BBC2, you might say, but on reflection we might wonder whether these big projects shouldn't be unveiled during the darker nights when there would be more people to view. Perhaps there might be a concern that the autumn and winter brings increased competition from commercial networks, so gather the ratings now while the goings’ good. Besides 3 million is a good audience at any time of year.<br /><br />So this is not a moan about the programmes on BBC2. Just a query about the rate at which it is using up its stock of quality shows. Is there a sense that it is behaving a bit like a council which engages in a lot of essential road-repairs in order to spend its budget before the year-end. OK, so On Thin Ice, Desperate Romantics and Coast are not exactly the same as pothole filling - but you get my point I hope. <br /><br />Whatever the reason, I know that if I’d got frost-bite in order to make a TV show, I’d be a bit miffed that it was shown during the summer holidays.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-71839598320240804142009-07-20T09:40:00.001+01:002009-07-20T09:43:39.444+01:00Should we worry about BBC1's Drama Giants?Drama might seem like a luxury in the current climate – so how should we describe a lot of drama? In recent weeks on BBC1 we have had five consecutive nights of Torchwood and three nights of Occupation. The former fared better, in audience terms, with an average of 6.4 million/27% share, compared with 4 million/17% share for the Iraq drama. <br /><br />That’s a lot of drama by anyone’s standard. Torchwood was remarkably consistent, even if the climax of the week fell short of the penultimate episode – there were 6.7 million, vs 6.5 million. Each night Torchwood saw off ITV1’s offering – Hannah’s Killer, Ladette to Lady, Trial and Retribution (twice) and Doc Martin.<br /><br />You could say that the BBC got its scheduling strategy absolutely right, taking advantage of a make-weight ITV1 summer schedule to ensure maximum ratings for an important drama. It also took advantage of the weakness of Big Brother on Channel 4.<br /><br />But there is a question about Torchwood which is difficult to answer – why strip it across five nights in the middle of July? One answer is in the primetime share figures – 24% Monday vs 26% ITV1, 22% vs 14% Tuesday, 23% vs 24% Wednesday, 27% vs 17% on Thursday and 25% vs 23% on Friday. Three out of five wins, and two narrow losses – highly competitive.<br /><br />Torchwood was also assisted by the final for Celebrity MasterChef starting on Wednesday onBBc1 it was 4.8 million/23% share, Thursday 5.6 million/26% and Friday 4.7 million/21% share. Those figures assisted Torchwood and contributed to BBC1’s strong week. Isn’t that what BBC1 should be doing – competing in a robust fashion with its commercial rival?<br /><br />But I wonder whether the success in July of Torchwood – and Celebrity Masterchef for that matter – does not raise a question about BBC1’s attitude towards competition. It was able to strip an original drama across five nights in July because it wanted to – no commercial broadcaster could afford the luxury. And it has been able to develop Torchwood from its origins on a digital channel, through its second terrestrial channel, and into primetime on its general entertainment channel – again no terrestrial or digital channel has the option.<br /><br />For fans of Torchwood, the reaction is probably so what – they’re delighted by the programme’s success. But for those who watch the ecology of broadcasting, there’s a clear warning of how broadcasting’s ecology is changing.<br /><br />This fact was underlined for me by a speech made by Channel 4’s Julian Bellamy at last week’s Televisual Intelligent Factual conference. Bellamy looked at the week which I had thought of as Torchwood week, from the perspective of Channel 4’s factual output.<br /><br />On Monday at 9pm Channel 4 had Inside Nature’s Giants – the second in a series of animal autopsies, with 1.7 million/7.5% share. Clearly regarded as ground-breaking natural history programming, this show was presented as Channel 4 doing what it does best. Earlier on Monday, he cited Teenagers Fighting Cancer at 8pm, with 890,000/4% share, and on Wednesday at 8pm Channel 4 had Embarassing Teenage Bodies with 1.8 million/9% share. On Thursday at 9pm Gerry’s Big Decision – a factual business programme – had 1.7 million/7% share.<br /><br />Clearly Inside Nature’s Giants is Channel 4’s big project in this week – but consider it in comparison to the riches required to fund Torchwood across five nights. I’m not suggesting that Channel 4 should be competing with BBC1, but the gap in terms of resources is striking. You’ll notice that I have made no reference to ITV1 – traditionally the commercial competitor for BBC1 – it simply wasn’t at the races during this particular week.<br /><br />So what’s going on? There was no competitive imperative which required BBC1 to blast all the commercial opposition with a five night drama. Perhaps these mega-projects are conceived with a different audience in mind – the international sales audience. Something that does as well as Torchwood is bound to have value in the international market. A format like Masterchef is as much a commercial proposition as a domestic programme. BBC1 might not carry advertising – but it is generating a lot of popular programming which has considerable commercial value.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30862712.post-35964559131073054102009-07-06T10:19:00.003+01:002009-07-06T10:47:04.203+01:00The Case for A Primetime Wimbledon Final.Far be it from me to tell the people who run Wimbledon how they should run their tournament, but – don’t you think the later stages of the men's competition should be broadcast in primetime?<br /><br />After all the hullabuloo about the Andy Murray and the New Roof classic on Monday – whereby the Roof facilitated the excitement of finishing a big match late in primetime, on Wednesday normal afternoon service resumed. Monday night’s first Wimbledon night match ended after the 10 O’Clock News should have finished – it peaked at 11.8 million, 54% share at 10.30pm. Great summer evening TV entertainment and a higher peak than was achieved for the semi-final on Friday afternoon and Final on Sunday afternoon.<br /><br />Wednesday's quarter finals resumed with afternoon tennis-watching taking priority once again. BBC1 starting its Wimbledon coverage at 1.45 pm, running through the afternoon with Murray’s relatively easy three set win recording an average audience for the show of 3.6 million/38% share. The share figure peaked at 5.6m/47% for the early stages of the match, before tailing off slightly.<br /><br />Would things have been different if the tennis had started at, say 8pm, instead of mid-afternoon? Instead of the highlight show, Today at Wimbledon on BBC2, with just 2.1 million/11% share it’s a fair guess to say that Murray would have done better for BBC1 than Celebrity Masterchef which had 3.9m/20% share. <br /><br />Assuming Murray’s game filled the two hours between 8pm and 10pm, he would have outrated Waking the Dead with 2.6 million/13% share, and would most likely have seen off The Bill, on ITV1 at 8pm with 4.3m/22% share, and Cops with Cameras at 9pm with 3.1million/16% share. <br /><br />Wimbledon runs on BBC1,a public service channel, rather than a commercial one, and organisers have not had schedule their best matches around the primetime availability of the TV audience. The order of play for Friday’s semi’s starts at 1pm – I can’t imagine that approach would appeal much to Uefa when it thinks about the Champions League – or Sky and the Premier Leagure for that matter. When’s the best time to play a big football match – about 7.30pm. <br /><br />But if the weather no longer plays a part, then mid-afternoon is no time for a big tennis game. Does The final really need begin with BBC1 coverage starting on Sunday at 1.30pm?<br /><br />One of the benefits of the Roof is that it prompts such thoughts. Of course it depends on having a domestic player capable of reaching the later rounds of the tournament, but with Murray into a semi and hoping for better, the prospects for future Wimbledons look rosier than in the past. I’d like to think that meetings are already taking place about how next year’s Wimbledon could be better scheduled to suit the primetime audience. After all, everyone pays for the licence fee, so the more people who can watch live tennis, the better.<br /><br />Of course it might seem as if there's a something of a gamble involved here, since Murray's exit in the semi-finals resulted in a 'good for tennis fans' final without a domestic hero. The semi-final had an audience of 6.3million/48% share,peaking at 10 million/50% share at 6.30pm. However the Final on Sunday had an audience of 7.1million/49% share on Sunday afternoon, peaking at 11million/55% share at 6.15pm for the epic fifth set.<br /><br />How much higher would that audience have been if Murray had been in the final? We'd be talking about Britain's Got Talent scale. And a Murray-less Final which finished at 10pm on Sunday would certainly exceed the audience for BBC1's 9pm programme Casualty 1909's 3.3 million/14% share.<br /><br />So what's the case against running the semi's and Final in primetime? I can only think of one - that Wimbledon is an open air competition which traditionally takes place during daylight hours. So long as there was no way to run the show later in the day, that case was unbeatable. But those days have gone for good. How long before Wimbledon Sunday becomes Wimbledon Sunday night? If those who predict Murray will be back for next year's Final are right, maybe it will be sooner we think.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0