It’s format sales conference thing MIP!
- Nagui’s Air Productions has bought The Lie for France! Bother’s Bar once again, AGAIN backing winners early, there. Although there’s every chance they’ll overplay it.
- TF1 and Fox have picked up New Hot Israeli format Boom! which is basically the bomb defusal game from Dero! writ large by the sounds of it. Haven’t watched it at time of writing but you can watch it here if you like. I hope it’s good, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first Hot New Israeli Format that’s promised big and delivered little, all flash and no bang if you like.
- And the most exciting news… The Genius has sold to the Netherlands. Amazing amazing amazing. I still don’t think it will work very well in the West, but if anyone’s going to give it the best opportunity possible it’s the Dutch. Here is our discussion of the recent series.
- Challenge start showing series one of The Chase from 8pm tonight, if you want to see The Beast as a young man. In an alternate universe, we’re all watching The Fuse instead.
- The Pointless app is finally out on Android. Hurrah!
Wie is de Genius??? What did we do to deserve this??? *happy tears*
Well Boom is dull.
I can’t watch “Boom” because it looks like there is a country block on it for me.. I don’t understand hebrew so i can’t see it for myself.
I got the alert, I think it pops up if you have Adblocker?
Yes you will need adblocker off.
A good show will still likely be good regardless of language barrier.
news from Italy:
-Chain Reaction will stay on RAI1 with Amadeus as new host.
-Nicola Savino (from Minute To Win) will host the ESC for Italy.
-…and there are still talks of a Rischiatutto revival.
Your Monday ratings round-up:
The Chase 3.41m (25%)
Pointless 3.39m (24%)
University Challenge 3.24 (14%)
Tipping Point 2.16m (21%)
Eggheads 1.22m (7%)
Perfection 1.18m (16%)
Come Dine With Me 0.79m (5%)
Deal or No Deal 0.67m (7%)
Fifteen to One 0.66m (6%)
Countdown 0.44m (6%)
Blimey!
Amazing.
Channel 4 daytime is surely at the point where they can just fling out some E4-style US imports and throw their hands in the air now.
That 15 to 1 number has surprised even me, I was expecting it to begin around 900k as a show of interest then drop off (5MTAF even managed that).
Another thing to take away from the numbers, almost half a million people more tuned into Eggheads than Revenge of the Egghead.
Revenge of the Egghead I would guess (without having done any actual maths) averaged about 0.85m. It did get a million for its penultimate episode on Thursday, for the first time since its first week.
I also think Perfection’s doing very well, especially considering it’s on repeats (and yes, clearly I’m a bit biased on that).
By the way, since I saw Mr Osman mention it on Twitter, all the ratings include HD and +1 where appropriate. The reason I always include +1 in ratings is very simply because I only get those numbers. I’ve no idea how they break down.
Yes, agreed Perfection is doing well, esp. considering it was getting about half that not long ago.
Looking at consolidated figures (so including timeshifting for up to a week after initial broadcast) and excluding BBC2-HD, I’m getting about 1 million for .
There was an influx of new viewers, there were some heavily negative reactions from regulars. Couldn’t criticise BBC2 for recommissioning the series, nor for sticking with the established format.
But why bother recommissioning it when the original format does effortlessly better numbers?
The overnights according to TRP are, exclude +1 and HD are:
The Chase 3.09m 22.5%
Pointless 3.39m 23.8%
DOND 0.59m 6.5% (plus 1 is 83,200)
15-1 0.57m 4.9% (plus 1 is 82,300)
Perfection 1.18m 15.8%
Tipping Point 2.04m 20.2%
Eggheads 1.22m 7.1%
Surprised these ratings vary so much from the one’s Paul B’s has received. Especially The Chase – wonder how accurate the different companies ratings are??
The data all comes from BARB. I think the only differences in the way different companies disseminate it is whether they report a total (i.e. including HD and +1) or they separate those figures out, and whether the ratings are “tape checked”, which is a concept I confess I don’t fully understand (it’s something to do with whether the ratings reflect the published timeslot or the actual time a show was on air, which may be a few minutes out).
Anyway, the numbers don’t look hugely different to me. About an eight of the Channel 4 shows’ audiences were on +1, about 9% of The Chase, and about 5% of Tipping Point. The Chase possibly gets a boost from quiz fans who want to watch both of the 5pm shows (since BBC does not offer a +1 service it would make sense to watch Pointless first, then turn over for TC).
Thanks for this Paul – makes more sense.
Shame they don’t all include the HD and +1 when they release the data so we all read the same.
The Chase does often get 3-400k on +1, according to the BARB Top 10s.
Looks like Celebrity Squares is definitely happening, apply to be a contestant on the ITV site.
Lewis wasn’t impressed: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?p=7783
The potential set of celebrities does not give me much hope.
Sister Cristina is the latest sensation on The Voice Of Italy
A Tuesday ratings round-up:
The Chase 3.16m (26%)
Pointless 3.00m (24%)
The Great British Sewing Bee 2.74m (12%)
Tipping Point 2.05m (24%)
Perfection 1.06m (17%)
Eggheads 1.02m (7%)
Come Dine With Me 0.70m (5%)
Deal or No Deal 0.60m (8%)
Fifteen to One 0.45m (4%)
Countdown 0.36m (6%)
Include HD and +1 where appropriate.
I assume that breed of quiz fan whose immediate response to any new format is “This is rubbish, they should bring back Fifteen to One” will be revising their position. Although I suspect their new position might be “They should bring back Fifteen to One *properly*”
There are lots of people saying “the new Fifteen to One is really good, actually” which I find baffling but to each their own. I don’t think it’s completely without merit, but everything we said would happen after it was announced has basically happened.
Those numbers certainly ought to bring hope to format devisors everywhere. If such a promising-sounding revival could be pulled off so badly and get ratings to match, who’s going to be reviving anything any time soon?
(Challenge, I guess. But even a faithful-to-a-fault revival of Blockbusters didn’t get a renewal. Wonder if Drag This Show Out Along An Hour-Long Timeline will?)
Good call on the 15to1 ratings. Surely the lesson here C4 has to learn is “don’t put a game show on opposite Pointless and The Chase, or even overlap them”. 5MTAF was easily good enough to be in a later slot but for 5pm they should offer alternative to the two biggest quiz shows of this decade
I’ve been advocating for Channel 4 to wave their hands in the air and put E4-esque US comedy reruns in the 5pm hour for a while now.
3:30 DoND
4:30 The Big Bang Theory (R)
5:00 New Girl (R)
5:30 The Mindy Project (R)
I don’t see how that would be a less profitable proposition for Channel 4 than anything else they’ve done.
Or just throw in Come Dine With Me repeats and get 15-to-1-beating ratings for little more than the cost of the nom.
I do actually wonder if they’ll try flipping 15 to 1 and DOND before the end of the run. Countdown -> 15 to 1 -> Deal or No Deal does sort of make sense, but whether they would want to risk the precious 600k Deal currently gets with its half hour Tipping Point lead-in would be open to question. At the very least it provides a different sort of show to the big 5pm quizzes.
Just run Quizmania, 2.40 til 5.59.
But seriously…
What’s the point in ever saying, “It’s back!”… And then making it look and feel so different (Length of show, banter with contestants included in that).
If you’re going to bring something back, update it, yes, but in subtle ways. It CAN be done.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Coach Trip recommissioned for four more series: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s136/coach-trip/news/a563458/coach-trip-gets-10th-series-on-channel-4-brendan-will-be-back.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=dsuk&utm_campaign=twdsuk#~oAVKM250gldIa1
And Spanish Atresmedia has also bought “Boom”:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miptv-spains-atresmedia-takes-israeli-694440?mobile_redirect=false
Won’t bother with full ratings today, but 15-1 fell a bit more to 417k. Pointless (fractionally) below 3m for the first time in ages, Chase just topping 3m with. +1. Easter holidays and nice weather knocked a few hundred thousand of most thinks. Shares largely stable.
Cheers Paul, I think it’s fair to suggest 15-1’s the interesting one this week.
Incredibly poor numbers for Fifteen To One. A 30 minute version could have actually done OK too. Something like:
3.00 Countdown
3.45 Fifteen To One
4.15 Deal or No Deal
5.00 Come Dine With Me
Could actually do reasonably as you get Countdown on the 3pm junction, Deal back to 45 mins and a nice tight Fifteen To One in what would be a reasonably good sandwich and getting a head start on Tipping Point. Instead they’ve messed it all up for themselves yet again. The way things are going I can see them cancelling Deal in a year or two and flinging Countdown on at 2.15pm or something and then just having either imports or Come Dine in a Bed on a Coach Trip variants from 3-6pm.
Although we have to be aware that in The Business of Television, longer shows are ultimately a better proposition, so in reducing DOND and 15-1 you’d have to fund something entirely different to fill the time and might not be worthwhile.
Like I said, I think there are “better” ways to extend 15-1 as a game – the idea I had off the top of my head is a new round for the top six, a buzzer quiz where the first three to get (say) six right go through to the final, but getting three wrong eliminates you. Something like that. You can pad a bit around structure, but you shouldn’t have a slow game. The trivia that Toksvig reads out after each question is hugely aggravating, but it’s not really her fault.
So 15to1 did not even dent Pointless/the Chase and below 500,000? Early days but very ominous
Fox has poached Conrad Green from Dancing With the Stars to be one of the executive producers of Utopia…
I think they need to run something in that slot for 8, 10 or even 12 weeks and let it bed in and slowly find an audience.
They should have stuck with 5 minutes for longer.
Am I right in thinking the first few weeks of pointless weren’t a ratings smash (series 1 I mean?)
Consistently about a million-and-a-bit, reasonable for the slot and channel.
However early trends tend to stick – a show that trends downwards at the start doesn’t tend to recover. People switching off are hardly likely to recommend to friends.
At the very least C4 would want it to be getting what the show in the slot previously was getting (which is about double what it’s currently getting), especially as 15 to 1 is a recognized and apparently well loved show. The fact that it’s getting thrashed by Deal or No Deal despite it just being opening boxes and in an earlier timeslot with fewer people around, which everyone suspects is on its last legs, is not a good sign.
15-1’s issues were entirely predictable, everything we said would happen when the idea was first mooted has happened.
With Challenge buying up series 1 of the original 15-1, and if the figures for the comeback series continue to spiral lower than a fracking drill, could this be the first time that potentially a repeat of the original beats the revival in the viewing figures?
The 34th final will go out on Thursday 1 May. Filling the gap on Friday 2 May is yet another repeat of the Adam “C” Hills celeb special.
In other news, BBC2 is having a couple of specials for the Easter weekend. On Saturday 19, there’s a match, drawing players from Magdalen Oxford and from Manchester.
On Sunday 20, , a 100-minute quiz fronted by Dara O’Briain and with his hirsuite friend Richard Osman.
I seem to like every show Sandi Toksvig does, but I see the problems with this show. I also saw problems with “1001 things….” so I kind of feel sorry for her hosting all the “alright” shows. I mean shows that make you think “Oh I was a bit entertained” and then you forget the shows and don’t tune in anymore… That’s how I feel about those shows.
More news from Continental Europe:
-Wauters vs. Waes, internationally marketed as Channel vs. Channel, has been acquired by Shine France. The first series ended with an average of 2.0m viewers (Flanders has a population of 6.3m inhabitants).
-ARD, still struggling to find a early-evening stable-mate, commissions a daily quiz show, in which studio players compete against app players (15 million Germans have signed in). Host is Jörg Pilawa, who just happens to front a game show every second gig (he also hosted “Rette die Million!”, the local variant of The Million Pound Drop).
Just forgot to mention ITV Studios Germany is producing Quizduell for ARD.
And as I can recollect BBC is also keen on scheduling an interactive quiz show, it would be interesting if both quiz shows will be identical. Write-up to follow within a month, when Quizduell has started.
The BBC one is going to be produced by Wild Rover of Secret Fortune fame.
The green shoots of recovery! The great Fifteen to One turnaround of 2014 has begun. Back *up* to 541,000 (5%).
I was going to to an infographic but I can’t be bothered right now. Maybe bext week!
It’s rather interesting watching repeats of the first series of the Chase on Challenge, especially as there appears to be an extra step (the board between chaser and contestant made up of 8 segments as opposed to the 7 I’m sure it is now) – I guess that accounts for the lack of chat and a much larger percentage of contestants choosing to go low – 3 in one episode. Chaser’s series scores getting a mention (eg, the Beast is currently undefeated) And the higher offers hardly ever go above £20K!
Speaking of alternate universes, would you (mainly Brig, but anyone who wants to, really…) prefer to live in the universe where Brian Conley is celebrating his ninth year of hosting UK DoND and Noel Edmonds has popped out of near-obscurity in order to host Timeline?
Sidenote: I wonder what happens if a couple earns zero pououounds in the Timeline endgame – do they get to play the double-or-nothing Timeline to double from £0 to £00?
It’s a universe i’d definitely like to visit, put it that way.