28Feb2012
“Pointless Celebrities” Debuts to 4.68 Million Viewers
BBC’s Pointless made a successful jump to primetime this past weekend. Endemol’s special series, Pointless Celebrities, debuted on Saturday evening to 4.68 million viewers and a 21.6% share. It beat its rival All Star Family Fortunes, which scored 4.05 million viewers and a 17.1% share. Pointless‘s daytime rival, ITV’s The Chase, made an equally successful leap to primetime with just about the same viewing figures, so this is a very nice success for the Alexander Armstrong hosted quizzer. Good news for a few other games as well. BBC’s Who Dares Wins saw 5.22 million viewers, ITV’s Take Me Out scored 4.99 million, and Channel 4′s The Bank Job got 1.09 million.
Source : Digital Spy
It was very entertaining. And – amazingly enough – it was only played for a starting jackpot of £2,500.
Some people might think that since The Bank Job only got 1 million viewers, it was a ratings disaster, but I’m assuming that compared to the other Channel 4 programs, 1 million viewers is pretty decent. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been renewed for a 2nd season.
So, what is a “really good rating” in the UK on a Saturday evening?
Because, while 4.68 million viewers isn’t “awesome” here, that would be fairly respectable on a network on a Saturday evening. And, 4.68 million I would think is “much much better” in the UK, since their population is about a 1/5 of the US (ie, equivilent of 20 million viewers here)?
But, in general, seems like game shows have always been much more popular in UK and Europe than here.
It does make you shake your head at the concept though. A game show in the U.K. gets 4 million viewers and it’s considered as doing “exceptionally well”. The same game show gets 4 million viewers over here and it gets axed after 6 episodes.
See a problem with this?
As stated in the thing below though…. 4 million viewers in the UK is a 21 share…. a 21 share in the US would mean around 23 million viewers…. unheard of outside of a few reality shows now adays… and totally unheard of on Saturdays outside of NFL games in the past 15 or so years. Again, I think it points to stark differences in UK and US audiences overall.
Not really. It has everything to do with expectations and proportions. Saturday evenings are considered prime viewing in the UK, but in the U.S., it’s a dumping ground for burnoffs of failed shows, reruns, five-year-old movies and Cops and 48 Hours. Pointless Celebs got 4.7 million viewers and a 21.6% share. The highest ratings a broadcast show got last Saturday was 4.9 million for 48 Hours Mystery. It barely outrated it despite airing in a country with 6 times as many viewers.
It didn’t used to be this way, Saturday nights used to be the old stomping grounds for Betty White and the Golden Girls and other NBC comedies, and earlier still Fantasy Island and Love Boat. Since Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Walker, Texas Ranger finished their runs in the late 90s-early 00s, the major broadcasters haven’t really programmed the night with much gusto.
In general, I just feel jealous as an American. The primetime game show is alive and very well across the pond, but over here, we’re left with an overexposed and crippled Wipeout, a DOA Fear Factor revival and the unspectacular Who’s Still Standing. Oh, and the not-officially-cancelled Minute to Win It. That’s slim pickins.