Snakes and Ladders:
Playing the game at BBC1
Is broadcast nothing more than a game of chance?
Of-course not. But that didn't stop us charting the very real successes and setbacks of BBC1 in this familiar, accessible form.
Once the sequence has loaded on the left, join our cheers as the most successful programmes propel the Beeb up ladders, while the snakes lie in wait for weak and declining shows.
Next steps:
- How did the rest of the game play out?
- How is Digital-i helping Broadcasters?
- Download this information as a PDF.
- Replay animation
Other Services:
- Developing models for optimal programme windowing
- Measuring programme wear-out
- Approaches to leveraging and managing channel brands
Contact Digital-i:
- Phone 01823 259 113
- Email info@digital-i.com
- Visit our web site:www.digital-i.com
The Rest Of The Gameplay At BBC1
The Ladders
Saturday Kitchen - Hitting new heights with 2.2 million viewers on February the 7th, of which almost 1 million were men. Incidentally, this achieved marginally less male viewers than Football Focus managed later in the day!
Hustle - This show seems to be immune to the fall in channel shares; it came back after a break of 18 months and managed to gain a higher share than in the previous series. Hustle peaked at 6.3 million viewers on the 22nd January.
Waterloo Road - The audience for Waterloo Road is getting younger while BBC 1 is getting older. It is the only nonsoap drama on TV which is getting close to 5 million viewers across 21 episodes in a season.
Question Time - More people complained about Simon Cowell voting Lucie out of the X Factor than about Nick Griffin appearing on Question Time. But with 8.4 million viewers and almost 50% share perhaps the X Factor judging panel should be the political platform of choice.
Countryfile - One of the best scheduling moves of the decade. In 2008 it was averaging 1.8 million viewers in the Sunday 11:00-12:00 slot. Then came a bit of genius from the BBC scheduling team and it moved to the 19:00-20:00 slot where it's averaging over 5 million viewers and secured almost 7 million on the 1st of November!
Match of the Day - This is a good example of how windowing can work so effectively. After being shown live on PAY-TV channels earlier in the day, highlights of the premier league matches can still get up to 4.6 million viewers from 10:30pm to 12:00am. What's more, around a third of the people who watched Match of the Day on BBC1 already have a Sky subscription.
Comic Relief - Does the talent work for free on comic relief? If so the BBC should donate 1/365th of their annual talent fee to good causes; With almost 10 million on the 13th March from 19:00-22:00 one of the best slots on BBC1 in 2009.
Ashes to Ashes - Almost 8 million viewers on the 20th April. With Ashes to Ashes, NewTricks and Waking the Dead doing so well, is there something particularly attractive about crimes committed in the distant past?
Michael Mcintyre's Comedy Roadshow - This is essentially a touring version of the massively popular Live At The Apollo but manages as much as 5.5 million viewers.
Waking the Dead - 7.5 million viewers watched Waking the dead on Monday 14th September as Boyd opened an old rape case. Interesting that it had a larger audience than its first part, which was shown the previous night.
Rugby Six Nations - 6.7 million viewers (32% share) tuned in to watch Wales beat England on the 14th February. With these sort of numbers, the potential revenue the RFU can get from PAY TV must be very tempting!
Who Do You Think You Are? - Given that it secured almost 7 million viewers and 29% share on the 15th July I am surprised there are not more genealogy programmes on TV. How about 'Who did they think they were?', looking at the ancestry of famous people from the past?
The Snakes
Can You Bank On Me? - The answer is a clear 'No'. With just 2.4 million viewers on the 24th August in the 21:00-22:00 slot it almost beat 'Living with Monkeys' to the Worst Performance of the Year award! Perhaps the BBC should have done it the other way round, giving the farm workers a job in the investment banks.
Living with Monkeys: Tales From the Tree - Achieving only 2 million viewers on the 10th of June from 21:00-22:00, this is one of BBC1's worst performances of 2009.
The Green Green Grass - The third season in 2007 was getting well over 5 million viewers. It didn't return in 2008, but when it did in 2009 there wasn't much greenery left, with average audiences below 4 million.
Crime Watch UK - Good news for the Government - crime must be falling. Or perhaps it's just CrimeWatch UK which has dropped from an average of 3.6 million viewers in 2008 to only 3 million in 2009.
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - The pilot had almost 7 million viewers in March 2008 for this BBC and HBO coproduction, but the audience dropped to as low as 3.4 million viewers in the 2009 series.
The National Lottery - Is it the National Lottery or the 1 vs 100 format? The audience has dropped from 5.1 million viewers in 2008 to only 4.4 million in 2009.
All the Small Things - This didn't even manage to deliver the audience that New Tricks repeats managed on Tuesday nights.
Totally Saturday - Totally Saturday lost 50% of its audience between 1st episode and the fifth, and by the end was only getting 2.2 million viewers.
Hope Springs - When the first episode secured 6.3 million viewers the BBC commissioners must have been hoping for a big success. However when the numbers dropped to 3.3 million viewers by the fourth episode, they must have regretted not letting the ex-cons go to Barbados!
Broadcasting. More than just a game of chance?
So many more snakes.
Such question marks about the ladders.
Was there ever a time when the fate of broadcasters depended so much on the roll of the dice?
Facing the challenges
At Digital-i we are helping some of the most respected broadcasters to take the uncertainty out of scheduling, repeat strategies and the management of fragmented audiences.
Like everyone else in the industry, our clients are faced with programmes that deliver ever less ROI on their first transmission; are constantly juggling schedules to avoid multichannel cannibalism; are fighting to build stronger brands to attract and retain audiences; and are working out ways of turning emerging technological threats into manageable parts of the mainstream business.
Repeat business
The issues that we are asked most about concern repeat strategies:
- Developing models for optimal programme windowing: How to gauge and predict the effects when a programme is moved to a different slot, channel or medium.
- Measuring programme wear-out: Identifying advanced signs that a programme brand is becoming tired, so schedulers can optimise revenue without sacrificing assets.
- Approaches to leveraging and managing channel brands: Modelling audiences to facilitate successful migration and successful showcasing of new content on secondary channels.
Get results
We would like to help you gain the extra insight you need to extract more immediate and long-term value from your programme content.
Interested? Email Ali Vahdati or call 01823 259 113 to find out more.