Big Brother is SO over...

[DamonJ]

*yawn*
it will never get the figures it used to.
Channel 4 treat it like ****.
scrapheap.plz.

[Locke.]

It is still good, and as long as I am watching it it will not be cancelled.

[lily.]

Yes, because Channel 4 already issued a statement to that effect David.. :P

[WATERS]

I think it is great

[lily.]

I am enjoying it.. even when people annoy me on it, I still enjoy it.. cuz it's all part of the entertainment... in my opinion.

[Brekkie]

This series was make or break for the future of BB - and barring a miracle in the summer, it's definately broken.

I wasn't expecting it to set the ratings alight, but they have been shockingly low this year - I doubt even the most sceptical of us would have thought they'd be struggling to hit 2.5m before the series began.

[andyman]

For those that don't like it... Go watch lame chavy ITV!

I hope BB10 is like BB1 :colour:

2000 is so retro cool :banana:

[James]

Originally posted by Brekkie
This series was make or break for the future of BB - and barring a miracle in the summer, it's definately broken.

I wasn't expecting it to set the ratings alight, but they have been shockingly low this year - I doubt even the most sceptical of us would have thought they'd be struggling to hit 2.5m before the series began.

2.5 million is still good ratings for a Channel 4 show, especially one shown every night for a month.

[Matt]

Oh, but Big Brother still has a massive worldwide fanbase. It performs exceptionally well in other countries.

It still gets viewing shares of up to 80% in Brasil.

It's not as great as it was in the UK, but clearly nor is Britney if the best position she can get in the album chart is #4 :tongue:

So eat "chur" (WTF?) words Damon :angel:

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Brekkie
This series was make or break for the future of BB - and barring a miracle in the summer, it's definately broken.

I wasn't expecting it to set the ratings alight, but they have been shockingly low this year - I doubt even the most sceptical of us would have thought they'd be struggling to hit 2.5m before the series began.

I agree that it is starting to look worrying for the future of the show, especially on on Channel 4. Something needs to be done to reinvent the show and bring it alive again, but I'm not sure what. At the moment it is becoming dull.

You can see that the CBB6 is losing interest on TiBB. When it started there was over 2800 posts on launch night. That dropped to just over 1500 a week later, and yesterday there were just over 1200 posts. Even without BB we normally get around a 1000 posts on a weekday!

It's really starting to look like the whole Jade Goody affair in CBB5 has really killed off the Big Brother format.

[andyman]

But a trashy lame show called Dancing on ice pulls in more viewers??

Maybe Big Brother should go back to its roots, remember how fresh BB1 was?
Problem is that the viewers want drama after few days! The downfall of Big Brother started after BB5, it made the viewers thirsty for more of that type of BB than the BB1 style.

[WATERS]

I think the only way theyre ever gona get back on top is if, well.. They use me as a HM in BB11

[Brekkie]

Originally posted by James
Originally posted by Brekkie
This series was make or break for the future of BB - and barring a miracle in the summer, it's definately broken.

I wasn't expecting it to set the ratings alight, but they have been shockingly low this year - I doubt even the most sceptical of us would have thought they'd be struggling to hit 2.5m before the series began.

2.5 million is still good ratings for a Channel 4 show, especially one shown every night for a month.

2.5m is good for any other C4 show, but for Big Brother it's poor. It's also not just about the ratings - the credibility has gone too. if BB was still good, the ratings wouldn't matter as much - but as BB is **** and the ratings are ****, unless there is a major change in attitude at both Endemol and C4 this is the long goodbye.

[hannah.]

Originally posted by WATERS
I think the only way theyre ever gona get back on top is if, well.. They use me as a HM in BB11

and me, obv

[hannah.]

Originally posted by andyman
But a trashy lame show called Dancing on ice pulls in more viewers??

Maybe Big Brother should go back to its roots, remember how fresh BB1 was?
Problem is that the viewers want drama after few days! The downfall of Big Brother started after BB5, it made the viewers thirsty for more of that type of BB than the BB1 style.

Ive been thinking about this lately. The reason that BB was so successful in the beginning was because of the concept, it was a social experiment, now it's turned into an almost sadistic thing for most viewers, people want massive aggressive arguments and people breaking down, which means that the horrible people last longer and are therefore "famous" for what seems like forever, managing to go stay in the public eye for a stupid amount of time, seeing as most of them are at best just normal people off the street

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Brekkie
It's also not just about the ratings - the credibility has gone too.

That's the problem a cutting edge TV show has been completely ruined by the regulators and the producers who are now frightened to be controversial.

Going back to CBB5 the show that killed Big Brother, people like Jade Goody and her little pals in the house exist in this world and say things like she did. Most of us are grown up enough to know what she said was out of order. We understand why she said them and know that she is responsible for her actions and words in the house. The highlights show are just reporting what goes on. A reflection of life in the house warts and all.

But because of the way TV works in the UK the programme marker gets the blame for reporting what happened.

Have we seen loads of complaints to the press commission about what one of the Royals said this weekend? Have they been told to clean up there act and not use words like that in the paper or report what was said? So what makes Big Brother different as a show?

The result of CCB5 has been massive. Ratings have fallen to an all time low.

[fingers]

Endemol/Ch4 are just giving the viewers the finger! so long as the public continue to throw money at them via the phone lines they will continue to ignore public opinion!

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by fingers
Endemol/Ch4 are just giving the viewers the finger! so long as the public continue to throw money at them via the phone lines they will continue to ignore public opinion!

But the money from the phone lines must be going down with the number of viewers. There must be a point when the show stops making a profit for channel 4.

We know they are already cutting corners by dropping the 24/7 live feed!

[fingers]

Originally posted by Red Moon
Originally posted by fingers
Endemol/Ch4 are just giving the viewers the finger! so long as the public continue to throw money at them via the phone lines they will continue to ignore public opinion!

But the money from the phone lines must be going down with the number of viewers. There must be a point when the show stops making a profit for channel 4.

We know they are already cutting corners by dropping the 24/7 live feed!

Trouble is, you will never find out how many calls they get, Percentages tell you nothing!

if they get 100 calls 50% could get you thrown out!

[fingers]

"live" feed or the Red Button, as you say costs money, it entails an extra transponder and they aint cheap!

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by fingers
Trouble is, you will never find out how many calls they get, Percentages tell you nothing!

if they get 100 calls 50% could get you thrown out!

Very true.... but it follows if audience numbers are down so will be the number of calls and also the advertising revenue for the show which is based partly of audience share and ratings.

At some point Big Brother costs more to produce than it brings back in revenue. When that point is reached, commercially Big Brother is finished.

Channel 4 might be a public service broadcaster like the BBC but with adverts, but it can't carry a loss making show forever.

BTW, back when I joined TiBB I would have never thought I would be saying this about the show.

[andyman]

They can cut corners by dropping BBBM, overpaid staff...

Back to basics for BB with new fresh ideas, or is channel 4 floging a dead horse?

[Fom]

Big Brother doesn't really get funded by the voting lines, half goes to charity then the rest is to fund the costs of having a voting line. Most of BB will be paid by adverts.
And tbf, BB will always have thousands of people voting. Because people are like robots these days and will just phone in to anything that they get a say in.

[fingers]

Yes, but apart from the Celebrity? fees this reality show only costs a very minimal amount so that even 100 phone calls will show a profit! lol

>Joke<

[Fom]

Costs for this show... probably not a lot.

Water bills, Electricity bills, food bills and heating bills for 3 weeks.
Silly costumes
Celeb costs.
Staff costs.

Not even that much... they could afford to do so much more with the show! Considering how much money they get from adverts!

[andyman]

People would rather watch Dancing on ice!!!
Maybe Big Brother is too good for the british public.

Dancing on ice?!?!:yuk:

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by fingers
"live" feed or the Red Button, as you say costs money, it entails an extra transponder and they aint cheap!

Well given it's all digital so it's about bandwidth. Channel 4 has only so much bandwidth on freeview, sky etc. They buy that bandwidth and divide it between the channels. They give less bandwidth to the E4, More4 and film4 than they do to C4 which has more viewers. The result of this is that higher compression is being use for the less popular stations which results in digitisation effects being visible on the screen .

To have a red button takes up more bandwidth, without buying more the result will be poorer picture quality for the other channels which then have less bandwidth to operate in. This is seen as unacceptable by the people at Channel 4 and rightly so. On freeview ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 all suffer from over compression and the picture quality is rubbish.

But it's not just that, in order to have the red button you also need more staff to police the output. You can just stream and not have anyone checking what is going out. That's happened in BB5 and people called the police who turned up at the house.

[andyman]

:laugh2: I do remember people calling the police over fight night... I'm sure their happy with Dancing on ice insted.

Was BB1 net live only?
I do remember the multiscreen on channel 4/E4 during BB2... Was the Channel living above it's means? Further you look back the channel gave more to its viewers.

[fingers]

True enough, but they don't "police" the stream they stick a trainee on the console and he/she just presses the MUTE button (and sometimes goes down the Pub leaving it pressed)

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by andymanI do remember the multiscreen on channel 4/E4 during BB2... Was the Channel living above it's means? Further you look back the channel gave more to its viewers.

No it wasn't living above it means, it was just giving the viewers what they wanted at the time and still want now. The payoff is in at more people watching the show, as they can watch live when they want.

Take way things and you are saying the format is dead. Once you do that it is dead.

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by fingers
True enough, but they don't "police" the stream they stick a trainee on the console and he/she just presses the MUTE button (and sometimes goes down the Pub leaving it pressed)

Well that is poor quality control.... if they want to produce a TV show they need to be professional.

[James]

Dancing on Ice is only on once a week whereas BB is on every night, so you could say that Celeb BB gets higher ratings.

They can't let anything get through on the live coverage that would get them in trouble so have to mute it a lot. Live coverage in the daytime is pretty unwatchabe with all the breaks. I don't know why they don't put a less censored version on the Internet, even if it was for a subscription.

[fingers]

Originally posted by James
Dancing on Ice is only on once a week whereas BB is on every night, so you could say that Celeb BB gets higher ratings.

They can't let anything get through on the live coverage that would get them in trouble so have to mute it a lot. Live coverage in the daytime is pretty unwatchabe with all the breaks. I don't know why they don't put a less censored version on the Internet, even if it was for a subscription.

It is a LAZY way of making a programme and it is not always for legal reasons it's because they want segments for their so-called Highlights show!

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by James
Dancing on Ice is only on once a week whereas BB is on every night, so you could say that Celeb BB gets higher ratings.

They can't let anything get through on the live coverage that would get them in trouble so have to mute it a lot. Live coverage in the daytime is pretty unwatchabe with all the breaks. I don't know why they don't put a less censored version on the Internet, even if it was for a subscription.

May be just that it is harder to commit yourself to something like Big Brother than Dancing on on Ice. It takes more time and thought to watch and follow than something that is on once a week.

They did have the live feed on subscription for a while before they pulled it on the c4 wedsite, but they never really did it correctly. Problem is that live feed was the same as the feed they were putting out over the air via the red button.So if you can get for free on freeview, why pay for it. Now the American BB internet feed had/has 4 screens to chose from and you could decide what you watched. That's the way it should have been done over here too.

[Jackie]

Originally posted by Red Moon
Originally posted by James
Dancing on Ice is only on once a week whereas BB is on every night, so you could say that Celeb BB gets higher ratings.

They can't let anything get through on the live coverage that would get them in trouble so have to mute it a lot. Live coverage in the daytime is pretty unwatchabe with all the breaks. I don't know why they don't put a less censored version on the Internet, even if it was for a subscription.

May be just that it is harder to commit yourself to something like Big Brother than Dancing on on Ice. It takes more time and thought to watch and follow than something that is on once a week.

They did have the live feed on subscription for a while before they pulled it on the c4 wedsite, but they never really did it correctly. Problem is that live feed was the same as the feed they were putting out over the air via the red button.So if you can get for free on freeview, why pay for it. Now the American BB internet feed had/has 4 screens to chose from and you could decide what you watched. That's the way it should have been done over here too.




Yes I agree the Red button has killed it for me I used to like watching it when I got the chance to sit down at home you could get a better picture of their personalitys and their true character without them editing the highlights at night now they just want you to see what they want you to see.

[Joelston]

If they are looking to save money, why not celebrate the 10th series by going right back to basics?

9 weeks, 10 housemates, very few twists etc

Tasks which don't require pathetic costumes, but push their stamina and help them get to know one another.

[Brekkie]

Originally posted by Red Moon
You can see that the CBB6 is losing interest on TiBB. When it started there was over 2800 posts on launch night. That dropped to just over 1500 a week later, and yesterday there were just over 1200 posts. Even without BB we normally get around a 1000 posts on a weekday!
Interest is notably down across forums and fansites online - and that IMO is down to one main factor, the axing of the live feed. But C4 want to kill off the fanbase so they don't care - I'm sure they cheer everyday when they see the new lows BB is hitting.

Originally posted by fingers
"live" feed or the Red Button, as you say costs money, it entails an extra transponder and they aint cheap!
On Freeview it's pricey, but on Sky C4 already own the stream they use for it so are effectively losing money by not using it rather than saving cash. The only way they might save a few quid is by not having to have someone censor it 24/7, but considering they've got a team of producers watching 24/7 that job is probably being done anyway.

Originally posted by James
I don't know why they don't put a less censored version on the Internet, even if it was for a subscription.
I think our best hope is if Endemol say to C4 if you're not providing a live feed, we will - and then Endemol host a live feed on their own site, probably on a subscription basis.

Originally posted by James
Dancing on Ice is only on once a week whereas BB is on every night, so you could say that Celeb BB gets higher ratings.
Whatever you're opinion on the show though the difference is Dancing on Ice is a well produced product in virtually every aspect.

Originally posted by fingers
Originally posted by Red Moon
Originally posted by fingers
Endemol/Ch4 are just giving the viewers the finger! so long as the public continue to throw money at them via the phone lines they will continue to ignore public opinion!

But the money from the phone lines must be going down with the number of viewers. There must be a point when the show stops making a profit for channel 4.

We know they are already cutting corners by dropping the 24/7 live feed!

Trouble is, you will never find out how many calls they get, Percentages tell you nothing!
Voting is supposed to be not for profit now, but that's open to interpretation as they could argue profits from the phone line are used to help fund the programme, so technically aren't profits.

Anyhow, voting is really low. No figures for BB9 but for BB8 they barely had 2m calls over the entire series (according to figures releases regarding their charity contribution) - this compares to 2m a week in earlier series, and generally at least 6-8m for finals alone.

Some people would be quick to blame all the phone in scandals (something ironically BB was never really a part of) or loss of text/interactive voting, but considering shows like The X Factor can still pull in over a million a week and 8-10m for the final that is obviously not the issue.

Also kudos to The X Factor for releasing all their voting figures in full at the end of the last series - Big Brother would be wise to do the same.

[Red Moon]

Another thread goes off topic and the people are having cheap little of digs at other members.

Pleas keep threads on topic.

If you want to chat then we have a chat and games section where you can chat all you like. Chatting in the BB section and insulting people just ruins the forum and makes people not want to post just in case they are personally attacked.

Red

[lily.]

Red, you may want to get yer editing pen out, and get rid of the Britney posts from page one. :thumbs:

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Linda
Red, you may want to get yer editing pen out, and get rid of the Britney posts from page one. :thumbs:

Sorted..... I just removed just under 50% of the thread and edited one post to remove a quote.

So back on topic........

Red