Series 6 Viewing Figures

[Savage Jaw]

In the UK, The Impossible Astronaut had an overnight viewing figure of 6.5m viewers. The final consolidated figure, which includes recordings watched within 7 days of broadcast, have been posted this afternoon on Gallifrey Base and they show a very large timeshift, bringing the final total to 8.86m viewers, which means that the Series 6 opener exceeded the Series 2 and Series 3 openers, which got 8.62m and 8.71m viewers respectively. The Impossible Astronaut also recieved an Appreciation Index (AI) score of 88/100, which is pretty darn good.

Overnight figures for Day of the Moon show 5.4m viewers watched. Consolidated figures will be available in around 7-8 days.

Both The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon suffered in terms of overnight ratings from the fact that the weather was hot on both days, and that they were both shown on four-day weekends when a good portion of the audience would be outside or away (The Impossible Astronaut was shown on Easter weekend, Day of the Moon on the Royal Wedding weekend) and would have recorded the show to watch later.

The fact that The Impossible Astronaut had such a huge timeshift is very encouraging though, and means that their is a good chance that the consolidated figure for Day of the Moon will exceed 7.0m viewers.

The scheduling by the BBC also leaves a lot to be desired. Doctor Who used to own the 7pm timeslot on BBC One, but unfortunately the BBC have for the past few years being showing Doctor Who earlier in an attempt to use it as a lead-in to their otherwise dismal Saturday night programming.

 

[23skidoo]

I'm not in the UK, but I think we need start a worldwide movement to get the BBC to move the show to a better time - perhaps even another night. This is the second year in a row that the show has underperformed in a timeslot that is a) too early, b) strongly affected by weather and events, c) CHANGES week to week, and d) is bookended by poor programming - this year in particular it is apparently being killed by an awful lead-in.

Of course we're going to have a flood of media headlines now about Doctor Who collapsing, etc. People who hate Moffat and/or Smith and/or nuWho in general will cite their righteous justification. Yes, the numbers will go up. Yes, a lot of people are time-shifting. Yes, a lot of people are actually waiting for the DVDs instead. But it's these initial numbers that make the headlines, not the later "real" numbers (which is why I personally feel reporting overnights should be banned - Enterprise, for example, usually did much better than the overnights showed, yet those were the numbers that were reported and the self-fulfilling prophecy of it being a failure was perpetuated).

I just want people to bear in mind that this was still the No. 2 show of the evening, despite all this.

But I really think those in the UK who are paying for Doctor Who and other BBC programming through the licence fee/tax need to speak up and get the show moved back to 7 or 8 PM where it belongs (trust us, BBC, it's 2011 - kids are watching TV at 8 PM), and KEEP IT THERE. Don't bounce it around the schedule.

Alex

 

[captcalhoun]

oh, do shut up Skidoo. you keep harping on like this and it's getting OLD. no one else besides you sees a need for the show to be moved.

 

[RevdKathy]

Saturday early evening is considered the prime slot on BBC tv. Most other shows would happily kill to get it.

Sure, it has drawbacks - the main one being that Saturday evening tends to be flexible in timing around other things. I'm not quite sure why it's as early as 6pm at the moment, but it's back to 6:15 next week so that it can back-to-back with confidential on bbc3. Pushed very much later it wouldn't be able to do that, as bbc3 has its own mid-evening schedule.

The only real problem with the current scheduling is that damned hare. People are actually switching to anything rather than sit through that drivel, which is not incentivising people to make an evening in front of the TV.

Frankly, what happens to the ratings won't be because of its timing, the the BBC's prime slot. People will turn off if they don't like the show. Hopefully, that won't happen.

 

[Jax]

The problem is the media will run with the overnight ratings and say THE SHOW IS FAILING bullshit. That jump in the finals is way above normal meaning the BARB are doing a lousy job with there overnight figures. I expect then 7.5-8 million for the finals of episode 2 and another 40%ish share.

Doctor Who is doing great.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

The Dr is here to stay, its that simple.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Both episodes were the second-most-watched programme of the day. End of story.

I do think, mind you, that we'll see a rise in ratings for the autumn half as compared to the spring half- but I doubt we'll see a corresponding set of "hey, the show is doing great, Moffat has succeeded" forum postings...

(having such a shit lead-in as Don't Scare The Hare can't be helping, though)

 

[Savage Jaw]

The only real problem with the current scheduling is that damned hare. People are actually switching to anything rather than sit through that drivel, which is not incentivising people to make an evening in front of the TV.

Indeed. It was watched by only 1.4m yesterday (and that figure is inflated because the audience would have spiked at the end as people tuned in for Doctor Who), and it also has an atrocious AI score. If the BBC have something appropriate to replace it with, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull future episodes from its early evening timeslot and burn them off on a Sunday afternoon.

 

[RevdKathy]

The only real problem with the current scheduling is that damned hare. People are actually switching to anything rather than sit through that drivel, which is not incentivising people to make an evening in front of the TV.

Indeed. It was watched by only 1.4m yesterday (and that figure is inflated because the audience would have spiked at the end as people tuned in for Doctor Who), and it also has an atrocious AI score. If the BBC have something appropriate to replace it with, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull future episodes from its early evening timeslot and burn them off on a Sunday afternoon.

Tuesday at 3:24 am would be a really good slot for it. Though I suppose it could go into daytime TV without doing too much harm.

 

[Starkers]

Yeah in terms of what was actually watched last night Who was really popuar, and last week's was the number 1 download on iplayer.

The show would have to seriously hemorrage viewers for the BBC to seriously consider scrapping it or making any major changes like losing Moffat and/or Smith.

It will be very interesting to see what the second half of the series' figures are like.

 

[Shatnertage]

How many folks here watch the show live, either in the UK or North America?

I DVR it, wait until it's done, then zip through the commercials. Also, the little one's in bed by then, so I've got at least a chance of understanding what's being said. If anything, having on earlier is more convenient for me. It airs at 6PM here, so by the time we're ready to watch, it's all there for us.

If I was still dependent on watching live TV, I'd be waiting for the DVDs--there's just no way I'd be able to watch it when it airs.

 

[Savage Jaw]

Here is an interesting little nugget of information which adds a little bit of context.

Sunday 1st May Overnights
BBC One
21:00- Exile: 4.39m (17.8%)

ITV1
20:00- Vera: 5.26m (22.0%)

Both had an audience less than Doctor Who at 6pm on Saturday.

Not just Doctor Who suffering from the circumstances of the weather and holiday weekends. You would expect dramas like those at that time of the evening and with the cast talent in them (Exile has Jim Broadbent, John Simm) to have in the range of 6.5m-8.0m viewers.

 

[Starkers]

The final consolidated ratings for “The Impossible Astronaut” are now in (in other words, including those people who recorded it and watched it within a week), and it’s very good news.
8.86 million and an audience share of a massive 43.3%.
That’s an increase of 2.3 million on the overnight figure, and combined with the fact that the episode was number one on iPlayer for the week, supports Steven Moffat’s assertion that overnights mean virtually nothing these days.
That figure compares very favourably with the final consolidated figures for other series premieres: “New Earth” had 8.6 million, “Smith And Jones” 8.7m and “Partners In Crime” 9.1 million.
Hopefully “Day Of The Moon” can pull off a similar feat.

​

Link

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

How many folks here watch the show live, either in the UK or North America?

I DVR it, wait until it's done, then zip through the commercials. Also, the little one's in bed by then, so I've got at least a chance of understanding what's being said. If anything, having on earlier is more convenient for me. It airs at 6PM here, so by the time we're ready to watch, it's all there for us.

If I was still dependent on watching live TV, I'd be waiting for the DVDs--there's just no way I'd be able to watch it when it airs.

Luckily for us in the UK, the BBC doesn't have commercial breaks so watching it live only requires continence. As I have a cable box that can pause live TV, that latter consideration isn't a problem either.

 

[Rarewolf]

I'm not in the UK, but I think we need start a worldwide movement to get the BBC to move the show to a better time - perhaps even another night. This is the second year in a row that the show has underperformed in a timeslot that is a) too early, b) strongly affected by weather and events, c) CHANGES week to week, and d) is bookended by poor programming - this year in particular it is apparently being killed by an awful lead-in.

Moving it off Saturday would kill it.

Theres soaps on ITV every other day of the week, and you may have noticed they do rather well. So there'd be nothing soap free before 8pm, and thats too late for its younger audience, on a school night.

Moving it later would leave it more open to decent competiton from ITV.

The other thing might be worth noting is in the UK, year on year, more of the country is having to go over to digital, as the analogue is gradually going off, region by region. With that switch over, more people have access to more channels - the viewing public is being split further all the time.

As long as its winning its timeslot, as long as the AI is high, I don't think its in any danger. If they suddenly loose the Xmas episode on Christmas day, I'd be concerned about that.

Luckily for us in the UK, the BBC doesn't have commercial breaks so watching it live only requires continence. As I have a cable box that can pause live TV, that latter consideration isn't a problem either.

Do you know what, I'm a firm BBC/Licence fee suporter, I avoid adverts like the plague (nothing makes me switch over sooner) but part of me could see Doctor Who coping with advert breaks, if it were made that way. 3 Cliffhangers an hour!

 

[Admiral_Young]

I believe the ratings in Canada are the highest they've ever been. I'll have to recheck but I'm pretty sure the premier was the most watched show on Space.

 

[Jax]

BBC I player ratings were already 300,000 after 48 hours so god knows what they will be come 7 days. The audience is still there though I do wonder if the fall ratings are higher come Seeptember/October episodes if the BBC will push Doctor Who back to the fall for all 13 episodes in 2012...

I personally could get onbard for a September-November run with the christmas special as well. In that situation I would accept a cut to 12 episodes and 2 specials (Easter weekend & Christmas).

 

[Bob The Skutter]

There's no doubt there's still an audience. I mean for it to be getting >30% share is brilliant, but hopefully they're paying attention to the other figures and not just overnights.

 

[Jax]

There's no doubt there's still an audience. I mean for it to be getting >30% share is brilliant, but hopefully they're paying attention to the other figures and not just overnights.

BBC has the luxury of not needing ads so they take into account I Player, time shifted audiences, repeats and live ratings

The biggest thing the BBC care about is the share and the opening episode got around 1.3 million less viewers than the opening episode of Matt Smith's era but scored a 1.6% increase in the share.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

There's no doubt there's still an audience. I mean for it to be getting >30% share is brilliant, but hopefully they're paying attention to the other figures and not just overnights.

BBC has the luxury of not needing ads so they take into account I Player, time shifted audiences, repeats and live ratings

The biggest thing the BBC care about is the share and the opening episode got around 1.3 million less viewers than the opening episode of Matt Smith's era but scored a 1.6% increase in the share.

Didn't help for Outcasts, I know the ratings weren't as high as Doctor Who but the Live+7 ratings doubled the viewing figures and iPlayer got about half a million more views, and they still canned it.