[joeysteele]

I hae too and I never watch in on my own anyway there are always between 4 and 10 others watching it with me and they all really love it too on Channel 5.

[David R]

What was the ratings for the show last night then?

Downton's figures are pretty impressive as usual.

[daniel-lewis-1985]

Originally Posted by David R

What was the ratings for the show last night then?

Downton's figures are pretty impressive as usual.

Go to the ratings thread

[Marc]

Charlie I'm surprised you have such a negative view on this year's BB.. I thought you were loving it.. troll/

[CharlieO]

Originally Posted by Marc.

Charlie I'm surprised you have such a negative view on this year's BB.. I thought you were loving it.. troll/

Dead.

[James]

I missed it last night.

That won't have helped.

[SoberLikeGizmo]

I have like a week to catch up on

[James]

For what it is worth (not a lot I know) I've been enjoying this series. Maybe even more than previous series at a similar stage.

I think part of the problem is when fans started worrying about the ratings then listing all the things they found wrong with the show - it talks down its chances of success.

That's maybe where C5 went wrong in axing the live feed, not that no live feed effects the ratings of the highlights show very much directly, it probably doesn't. But they still needed the hardcore fans to evangelise (rather than complain) about Big Brother to the wider public and get them to tune it.

You see the wider public don't watch, say, The X Factor because it is any good; they watch it because it is being talked all over the place, and it is event TV and to miss it would be to miss out.

Having said all that though, Big Brother on Channel 5 is still getting alright ratings for them, see the post I made here - http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/foru...t=#post4529984 (those are official ratings, not overnights). As has been said we don't have enough information to judge on what they are looking for.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by James

You see the wider public don't watch, say, The X Factor because it is any good; they watch it because it is being talked all over the place, and it is event TV and to miss it would be to miss out.

This is so true. I only started watching txf because all my mates at work/school were talking about it. Only so I could join in with the convos

Am a bit addicted to it now though, but had everyone not been bleating on about it all the time back then, chances are I wouldnt watch now

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by James

For what it is worth (not a lot I know) I've been enjoying this series. Maybe even more than previous series at a similar stage.

I think part of the problem is when fans started worrying about the ratings then listing all the things they found wrong with the show - it talks down its chances of success.

That's maybe where C5 went wrong in axing the live feed, not that no live feed effects the ratings of the highlights show very much directly, it probably doesn't. But they still needed the hardcore fans to evangelise (rather than complain) about Big Brother to the wider public and get them to tune it.

You see the wider public don't watch, say, The X Factor because it is any good; they watch it because it is being talked all over the place, and it is event TV and to miss it would be to miss out.

Having said all that though, Big Brother on Channel 5 is still getting alright ratings for them, see the post I made here - http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/foru...t=#post4529984 (those are official ratings, not overnights). As has been said we don't have enough information to judge on what they are looking for.

I totally agree, after CBB, I was dreading that it wouldn't be any good but so far and especially considering we don't have live feed, I think the HM's are a really interesting bunch. Already we have a b****, a loopy lady, unrequited love, a love triangle.........and we've barely got going yet....

[Anglo]

Originally Posted by Ammi

I think the HM's are a really interesting bunch. Already we have a b****, a loopy lady, unrequited love, a love triangle.........and we've barely got going yet....

Very good, spot on!

Nice stats above that finished on 2nd September, thanks James, it will be interesting to see how these develop now we have the real show.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but this Big Brother does have every chance of doing well. The autumn schedules will provide stiffer competition, but this is the time of the year when there are more people watching tv. The colder and wetter the better for BB! So even if the % share of viewers remains the same, the number of viewers should rise.

All we need is a good scandal. I remember a few years ago when they had a secret house, that worked really well and they kept echoes of it going in subsequent series.

Big Brother tasks work at their best, IMHO, when they are divisive. Dividing friends and lovers. The separate house did that (remember the excitement when they tunneled through and found it...); but lots of tasks could be devised to make them squabble.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Anglo

Big Brother does have every chance of doing well. The autumn schedules will provide stiffer competition, but this is the time of the year when there are more people watching tv. The colder and wetter the better for BB!

It may have escaped your notice that the deteriorating weather over the last week has not helped BB viewing figures at all - in fact, as we know, the audience level has reached "critical mass" - if it persists below the 1,000,000 level, then its' ratings are only marginally better than the crass Katie Price shows and it becomes a monumental flop, approaching the disaster that was BBCH, which, of course, ran from 3 January to 28 January 2008, a very cold and wet part of the year .....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...ther.tvratings

Celebrity Hijack brought E4 1.69 million viewers, the channel's highest audience to date for a homegrown programme, on its debut on January 3 but ended its low profile run with 644,000 viewers on the last night, January 28, eclipsed by Ross Kemp's increasingly popular series about British military operations in Afghanistan on Sky One.

The long-running reality show, shunted from Channel 4 to E4 after last year's racism row, captured a 3.1% share of viewing in multichannel homes between 8.30pm and 10.10pm, bringing the series to a subdued close, according to unofficial overnights.

By comparison, the final of Celebrity Big Brother scored 5.8 million viewers for Channel 4 in January 2007.

[fingers]

Originally Posted by Omah

It may have escaped your notice that the deteriorating weather over the last week has not helped BB viewing figures at all - in fact, as we know, the audience level has reached "critical mass" - if it persists below the 1,000,000 level, then its' ratings are only marginally better than the crass Katie Price shows and it becomes a monumental flop, approaching the disaster that was BBCH, which, of course, ran from 3 January to 28 January 2008, a very cold and wet part of the year .....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...ther.tvratings

I can imagine Channel 5 "shunting" their own Desmond's Folly to 5* rather than admitting to its failure to gain audience share. Desmond should even consider buying (bailing out) Living channel which is even more trashy than the ones he already has!

[rsefitpro2011]

Big Brother has just simply run out of steam, it's been going on for so long, that people are used to it!

When Channel 4 pulled the plug on it so many people were desperate for it to come back!, so Channel 5 grant peoples wishes and bring it back, only for it to fall flat on it's preverbial again!

I don't actually think Channel 5 will be too dissapointed with the amount of viewers, i would imagine they will just be happy to be getting more people turning over to Channel 5!

That said perhaps its time to put Big Brother to bed and maybe think up a different stragey for a future without Big Brother!

[David R]

Can someone explain to me then why the USA big brother keeps going strong? Do they have a better format? Maybe CH5 should take some inspiration from its setup and nomination system.

[Callum]

Originally Posted by David R

Can someone explain to me then why the USA big brother keeps going strong? Do they have a better format? Maybe CH5 should take some inspiration from its setup and nomination system.

US Big Brother is much more about gameplay, unlike UK BB. It airs in the Summer schedule which means it always has little competition and they only have three episodes a week. That's why it always does so well, it will outlive UK BB because people aren't bored of it. I don't think the US format would work over here though, it was tried for a brief period in BB9 with the head of household and taking a nominee down, also again last year with Save and Replace otherwise known as the Veto competition in BBUS and it didn't work.

[Liberty4eva]

Originally Posted by Callum

US Big Brother is much more about gameplay, unlike UK BB. It airs in the Summer schedule which means it always has little competition and they only have three episodes a week. That's why it always does so well, it will outlive UK BB because people aren't bored of it. I don't think the US format would work over here though, it was tried for a brief period in BB9 with the head of household and taking a nominee down, also again last year with Save and Replace otherwise known as the Veto competition in BBUS and it didn't work.

Elements were tried but the whole format has never been adopted. They might as well try something really radical as it doesn't appear doing the same thing is working.

[CaudleHalbard]

The sponsors and advertisers views will be absolutely crucial as to whether BB continues. If the ratings are much lower that they were promised they will either pull the plug or want to pay much less money - to the extent BB will become a big loss-maker. BB must have very high overheads.

This could be the last series of 'normal' BB although the celeb version might continue for a while. The celeb version ties in better with Richard Desmond's other commercial interests, I suspect.

[In the Drunk Tank]

It's a shame because I've thought this series has been really good, I suppose the show really is just on it's last legs, I can't really see it having much longevity on C5 because I don't know what they can do to suddenly rejuvenate interest in the show. Mind you, it does seem that you still have a core BB audience who are still watching, perhaps if they can retain that and keep ratings above a million then it won't be too bad but I still can't see them extending the contract past the 2 years they've got it for

[Pyramid*]

Channel 4 / Endomol did a fairly good job at killing the show with the heavily manipulated editing and lack of live feed, with hms being introduced to the outside world for tasks, new housemates being brought in mid way and spilling the beans on public perception, crap punishments, allowing rule breaks to go unchallenged, homing in on fauxromances and not listening to what the viewer wanted.

Channel 5 were always going to have an uphill struggle - but I've got to hand it to them: the show so far has been entertaining - however the longer they home in so much on the same storyline (Aden/Rebeckah) - I dont want to see what they are upto - it's groundhog day and it's a prime example of why viewers fled in their droves. Live feed is crucial.