BBC drama boss defends poor EastEnders ratings

solostarsolostar Posts: 9,505
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Great to see BBC bosses have noticed that Eastenders has lost viewers at an alarmingly quicker rate than the other two big soaps but it sounds like he has hope for at least trying to get the figures to stabilise.

I've never been a fan of the BBC Iplayer excuse though, ITV doesn't use the +1 excuse or ITV Hub, and before jumping down my throat I know most are not as popular as Iplayer.

See article and link below:
https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/13/bbc-boss-defends-eastenders-ratings-but-says-its-been-hit-hard-15412983/

''BBC drama boss Piers Wenger has claimed that EastEnders’ inconsistent scheduling pattern is partly to blame for declining ratings.

The long-running soap’s overnight figures have been the subject of much discussion as of late, with one particular episode (October 4) receiving less viewers than BBC Two’s Only Connect.

The latest BARB figures reported that EastEnders’ most-watched instalment of the week commencing September 27 pulled in 4.09 million viewers, including catch-up figures.

Coronation Street, meanwhile, achieved 5.70 million for it’s most-viewed episode on the week in question, while 4.96 million watched Emmerdale’s.''
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Comments

  • Brummie Girl Brummie Girl Posts: 22,418
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    I do agree that to some degree the shorter running times haven’t helped.

    When some viewers used to have a routine of switching over from the ITV soaps and expecting EE to start at 7:30 or 8:00 only for it to reach 7:35 or 8:05 and it’s still hasn’t started yet it does put you off somewhat
  • MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
    Forum Member
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.
  • H of De VilH of De Vil Posts: 26,539
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    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    The number of viewers watching EastEnders on iPlayer compared with Corrie isn't much diff anymore. Both are pulling in between 150-200k. I agree that the ITV Hub needs work.
  • solostarsolostar Posts: 9,505
    Forum Member
    I do agree that to some degree the shorter running times haven’t helped.

    When some viewers used to have a routine of switching over from the ITV soaps and expecting EE to start at 7:30 or 8:00 only for it to reach 7:35 or 8:05 and it’s still hasn’t started yet it does put you off somewhat

    It was worse earlier in the spring when it was 8.30 on Fridays
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
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    edited 13/10/21 - 19:07 #6
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.
  • solostarsolostar Posts: 9,505
    Forum Member
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.
  • MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
    Forum Member
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.
  • MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
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    edited 13/10/21 - 19:17 #9
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.
  • SoapFan789SoapFan789 Posts: 2,181
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    Maxcident wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.

    ITV Hub is awful and the adverts feel like they’re 5/6 minutes long.

    IPlayer and All4 are the best ones.
  • H of De VilH of De Vil Posts: 26,539
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Maxcident wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.

    That's because Britbox has all the back catalogue, ITV own 90% stake in the streaming service sk they have great interest in its growth. Tbf the ITV Hub has grown yoy, so while it's not as good as iPlayer it's not going backwards.
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
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    edited 13/10/21 - 19:29 #12
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.

    Yeah - because it was. It's entirely missable, and that's nothing to do with episode count.

    I didn't, and apparently a few million others didn't either. I was shocked by how shoddy it all was.

    They need to differentiate themselves from their competitors rather than hanging on in quiet desperation.
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
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    edited 13/10/21 - 19:36 #13
    Maxcident wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.

    Christ, do you really think so? The success of Big Brother in its heyday was that it was new, with unknown people, and no way to know how a series would pan out. The live feed at night was the perfect pace to have on in the background for a post pub spliff or two with friends - relaxing, usually nothing, occasionally really funny, even more occasionally genuinely interesting. None of that would've been on offer with lockdown induced repeats.

    I'd rather sit in the dark, and I absolutely loved series 3. I wouldn't have any interest in watching it all again. It was almost twenty years ago. It was very much of its time.
  • MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
    Forum Member
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.

    Yeah - because it was. It's entirely missable, and that's nothing to do with episode count.

    I didn't, and apparently a few million others didn't either. I was shocked by how shoddy it all was.

    They need to differentiate themselves from their competitors rather than hanging on in quiet desperation.

    It was most certainly to do with episode count. I could tolerate EE in that state at 4 episodes, as it felt stories were moving quicker, and you wouldn’t see the same characters for weeks on end.

    It was in better shape when it came back after its break, with the stories feeling like they had some direction and weren’t going around in circles. The Chantelle abuse story was ramping up, Dotty was no longer blackmailing Ian every episode, and we didn’t have as much “Ballum” which is always a bonus.

    All soaps are the same now. Emmerdale may as well be set in Albert Square, as they seem to rarely do stories that relate to rural communities these days, that’s if a psychotic nurse, isn’t what you get up in the Dales these days.
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
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    edited 13/10/21 - 19:56 #15
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.

    Yeah - because it was. It's entirely missable, and that's nothing to do with episode count.

    I didn't, and apparently a few million others didn't either. I was shocked by how shoddy it all was.

    They need to differentiate themselves from their competitors rather than hanging on in quiet desperation.

    It was most certainly to do with episode count. I could tolerate EE in that state at 4 episodes, as it felt stories were moving quicker, and you wouldn’t see the same characters for weeks on end.

    It was in better shape when it came back after its break, with the stories feeling like they had some direction and weren’t going around in circles. The Chantelle abuse story was ramping up, Dotty was no longer blackmailing Ian every episode, and we didn’t have as much “Ballum” which is always a bonus.

    All soaps are the same now. Emmerdale may as well be set in Albert Square, as they seem to rarely do stories that relate to rural communities these days, that’s if a psychotic nurse, isn’t what you get up in the Dales these days.

    I don't agree. I preferred it when it was three episodes a week. I think twice weekly worked well too, because it was a strong show at the time. It dropped in quality pretty much from ever since it went to four a week - it's been sliding downhill from then on. Objectively, the very early 2000's were the last you could say it was actually fantastic. From about 2004 it was treading water, having saturated itself. Not sustainable.

    I'd be very pleased if it went back to Tuesday and Thursday only, with potential for a Monday episode on either an occasional basis or if viewing figures particularly supported it. Four or more a week is quite excessive - the only advantage it offers is that viewers build up the bad habit of simply watching like drones. There's precious little pleasure involved. The scripts are thin, the actors are tired, the crew likewise. It shows.
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
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    edited 13/10/21 - 20:06 #16
    SoapFan789 wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.

    ITV Hub is awful and the adverts feel like they’re 5/6 minutes long.

    IPlayer and All4 are the best ones.

    I've only watched it a handful of times, but I find the adverts very intrusive. I'm not a big ITV watcher anyway, but I might go in search of some of their stuff if they bothered - let's say a handful of seminal documentaries like Death on the Rock and Gay Life, or actual classics like Upstairs Downstairs, Kenny Everett, Love in a Cold Climate, Naked Civil Servant, The World at War, The Wind in the Willows.

    Two things I absolutely loved on Channel 3, and have never seen since, anywhere - Body and Soul with Kristen Scott Thomas (and Gary Mavers at his youthful finest), and Class Act with Joanna Lumley. To this day I could kill my brother for taping over my Class Act recordings, and I've still never seen episode 5 of series 2, due to the video recorder being set wrongly.
  • vaslav37vaslav37 Posts: 69,065
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    solostar wrote: »
    Great to see BBC bosses have noticed that Eastenders has lost viewers at an alarmingly quicker rate than the other two big soaps but it sounds like he has hope for at least trying to get the figures to stabilise.

    I've never been a fan of the BBC Iplayer excuse though, ITV doesn't use the +1 excuse or ITV Hub, and before jumping down my throat I know most are not as popular as Iplayer.

    See article and link below:
    https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/13/bbc-boss-defends-eastenders-ratings-but-says-its-been-hit-hard-15412983/

    ''BBC drama boss Piers Wenger has claimed that EastEnders’ inconsistent scheduling pattern is partly to blame for declining ratings.

    The long-running soap’s overnight figures have been the subject of much discussion as of late, with one particular episode (October 4) receiving less viewers than BBC Two’s Only Connect.

    The latest BARB figures reported that EastEnders’ most-watched instalment of the week commencing September 27 pulled in 4.09 million viewers, including catch-up figures.

    Coronation Street, meanwhile, achieved 5.70 million for it’s most-viewed episode on the week in question, while 4.96 million watched Emmerdale’s.''

    Maybe it's time for Mr Wenger to give Oates & Sen their Marching orders then!
  • solostarsolostar Posts: 9,505
    Forum Member
    vaslav37 wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Great to see BBC bosses have noticed that Eastenders has lost viewers at an alarmingly quicker rate than the other two big soaps but it sounds like he has hope for at least trying to get the figures to stabilise.

    I've never been a fan of the BBC Iplayer excuse though, ITV doesn't use the +1 excuse or ITV Hub, and before jumping down my throat I know most are not as popular as Iplayer.

    See article and link below:
    https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/13/bbc-boss-defends-eastenders-ratings-but-says-its-been-hit-hard-15412983/

    ''BBC drama boss Piers Wenger has claimed that EastEnders’ inconsistent scheduling pattern is partly to blame for declining ratings.

    The long-running soap’s overnight figures have been the subject of much discussion as of late, with one particular episode (October 4) receiving less viewers than BBC Two’s Only Connect.

    The latest BARB figures reported that EastEnders’ most-watched instalment of the week commencing September 27 pulled in 4.09 million viewers, including catch-up figures.

    Coronation Street, meanwhile, achieved 5.70 million for it’s most-viewed episode on the week in question, while 4.96 million watched Emmerdale’s.''

    Maybe it's time for Mr Wenger to give Oates & Sen their Marching orders then!

    For a second I thought you meant Arsene Wenger!
    lm741b2uu6dn.png
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
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    edited 13/10/21 - 21:06 #19
    I don't watch Emmerdale, but what are these rural community issues they no longer feature? I thought it was meant to be a bit like Countryfile with the odd bit of extra marital shagging. Is it not that? There can only be so many farming related stories - unless another mad cow disease type scare occurs, there's surely only so much mileage they can get out of that. Wouldn't a village like that be full of commuters nowadays anyway?
  • Jean_DanielsJean_Daniels Posts: 5,031
    Forum Member
    SoapFan789 wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.

    ITV Hub is awful and the adverts feel like they’re 5/6 minutes long.

    IPlayer and All4 are the best ones.

    I tv hub has never worked properly on my freeview/ it always misses the last 2/ 3 mins of an episode/ too many adverts
  • dantay24ukdantay24uk Posts: 2,558
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    iPlayer has a much bigger impact than the ITV soaps. ITV Hub is completely useable. I never make it past the first ad break as usually the adverts crash and I get sent back to the beginning to watch them all over again. 4's offering isn't much better but does seem more stable.

    For that reason, it's logical to expect around a million watch it on iPlayer. Then you have other catch-up services provided by satellite providers but you'd imagine that would be pretty even across the board so doesn't necessarily make EastEnders any closer to Corrie or Emmerdale. So if you add a million to that lowest figure, it's still over 5m. You can add about 250k to Corrie to reflect their on demand viewers (but that's perhaps generous, I can't imagine it being more than 100k even), it takes Corrie to 6m. So there isn't much in it. Not as much as certain members on here would like to think.

    It's not just an EastEnders problem. It's not even really a soap problem. It's a linear TV problem. I spoke to a BBC journalist last week who earlier on this year asked a Beeb bigwig whether BBC Spotlight (the local news programme) has a future. That big wig replied "That's not the correct question. What you should've asked is, does linear TV have a future." And I think that says it all.
  • Enders85Enders85 Posts: 659
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    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    The iPlayer excuse is not really good enough when we look at all viewing form combined and find that they’ve lost over a million in a year overall. iPlayer might be up but overnights are down more.

    While it’s good to see them actually take any notice of the ratings flop, the excuses provided are all bullshit. There is zero reasons why EastEnders isn’t back to 30 minutes yet. If Coronation Street can put out 6x20 min episodes, there’s no reason EE is falling behind. The Covid landscape os very different to how it was this time last year, but it’s been a full year of 20 minute episodes. By now, something should have been done to stop EastEnders not keeping up with the rest of the industry.


    Until they address the fact that the people running the show are incredible incompetent and have been producing trash television for over a year and a half, there’s only one direction the ratings are gonna go.
  • laceydawsonlaceydawson Posts: 3,532
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    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.

    To be fair to the lockdown episodes (although I honestly can't remember a thing that happened in them), they weren't presented in the way that the team making them had intended, so the viewing experience was never going to be what they had wanted it to be. I think a big part of the reason that they felt like missable crap is because it was snailing along at half the intended pace. That wasn't really EE's fault. If they returned after lockdown with the intention of making 2 episodes a week, it would be better as they could allow for a faster pace due to reduced episodes.
  • MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
    Forum Member
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.

    To be fair to the lockdown episodes (although I honestly can't remember a thing that happened in them), they weren't presented in the way that the team making them had intended, so the viewing experience was never going to be what they had wanted it to be. I think a big part of the reason that they felt like missable crap is because it was snailing along at half the intended pace. That wasn't really EE's fault. If they returned after lockdown with the intention of making 2 episodes a week, it would be better as they could allow for a faster pace due to reduced episodes.

    Again though, you’d think that the 20 min episodes would allow for faster paced storytelling, yet people still complain, and whilst the 2 episodes a week, may have worked in the days of EE when the cast was smaller, how on earth are they going to cram over 60 characters that all need equal amounts of screentime, into just two episodes a week, as they can’t cull many cast members now, due to the COVID climate, damaging the acting and creative arts industry beyond all belief so it wouldn’t be the best idea to make many actors redundant with the way things are at the moment, so how would two episodes even be possible?
  • Tanya1982Tanya1982 Posts: 16,937
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    edited 13/10/21 - 21:42 #25
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    I still feel that they made a mistake rushing back as soon as they could start filming again, and churning out lots of 20 minute episodes. They should've taken the opportunity and stayed off air for as many months as it took to get their house in order, and then returned with a completely refreshed direction - and twice weekly half hour episodes (with potential to go up to three a week), at 9pm - allowing post watershed realness in storylines, dialogue, and the odd bit of sex and nudity.

    They tried the two eps a week thing, before it went off air in June, and the show felt easily missable, and had such a depressing feeling to it, that it makes today’s episodes look like gold dust.

    Also, credit to the programme where it’s due, as I thoroughly enjoyed the show when it returned, and it did feel fresh with Sharon in the Vic, the cameras felt much brighter, and they handled social distancing a damn sight better than the ITV soaps did, to the point, I don’t notice it at all in these episodes now.

    To be fair to the lockdown episodes (although I honestly can't remember a thing that happened in them), they weren't presented in the way that the team making them had intended, so the viewing experience was never going to be what they had wanted it to be. I think a big part of the reason that they felt like missable crap is because it was snailing along at half the intended pace. That wasn't really EE's fault. If they returned after lockdown with the intention of making 2 episodes a week, it would be better as they could allow for a faster pace due to reduced episodes.

    Exactly. And with a shift to 9pm, we could enjoy much more scope for storylines and proper dialogue. I'm not talking about all out Gordon Ramsay style every sentence, but now and again - FFS. It's not credible that characters like Mick, Kat, Stacey, Rainie, Stuart, etc wouldn't sometimes swear. If they must have the gangster elements, they may as well do it properly rather than all the euphemisms. It would be grown up television.

    It wasn't credible that Shirley or Zack wouldn't have skinned up on seeing the contents of Jeans garage, but they can't do anything like that due to the time. Then we have the conundrum of what to do with Peter Beale - if ever there was a situation where that actor could come into his own, it would be the like of Nancy coming across him glistening in the shower after a workout, and viewers seeing it all as she sizes up what she'll be getting.
  • MaxcidentMaxcident Posts: 7,270
    Forum Member
    edited 13/10/21 - 21:51 #26
    Tanya1982 wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    solostar wrote: »
    Maxcident wrote: »
    Whilst, I feel these are slight excuses, he does have a point about IPlayer. I watch a lot more on IPlayer than the BBC itself, so i would imagine that soon, if not already, most people will be catching their fix of EE and other BBC shows through the IPlayer, and in all fairness, the reason why Corrie and Emmerdale don’t have their figures talked about on ITV Hub so much, is because the ITV Hub is absolutely shocking. I struggled to find a recent Coronation Street documentary on Norris on there, so no wonder the hub isn’t as used a service as IPlayer.

    It’s nice to see that they recognise moving the show around the schedule, doesn’t do ratings any favours, and shorter episodes need to be culled soon, as coming out of COVID now, there soon won’t be many excuses for the show.

    ITV Hub is so out-dated for something relevant for 2021 audiences. If it had a decent interface like BBC Iplayer, ITV would be on top.

    Agreed. They don’t even have some of ITV’s greats on there, that are sure to drag in advertising revenue such as Benidorm, and all their watershed dramas, and it’s terrible to navigate. It’s a bit like why I’ve always been surprised My5 never decided to make all past Big Brother series available, as that would bring them so much revenue.

    Christ, do you really think so? The success of Big Brother in its heyday was that it was new, with unknown people, and no way to know how a series would pan out. The live feed at night was the perfect pace to have on in the background for a post pub spliff or two with friends - relaxing, usually nothing, occasionally really funny, even more occasionally genuinely interesting. None of that would've been on offer with lockdown induced repeats.

    I'd rather sit in the dark, and I absolutely loved series 3. I wouldn't have any interest in watching it all again. It was almost twenty years ago. It was very much of its time.

    It absolutely would in my opinion. Big Brother has become notable among a younger demographic, due to the amount of memes there are online of it, thanks to the likes of stars such as Gemma Collins, Tiffany Pollard, and Kim Woodburn, all being housemates. It would be a hit for the streaming service, and I’m surprised Netflix haven’t ever decided snatch it up, or even one of the other versions in different countries. Therefore, the more modern series’ would especially do well on My5. The Circle which was another similar social experimental series, always did well on All4, even in amongst the two year gap, that the show took a break due to COVID, and that doesn’t have anywhere near as much of a reputation as Big Brother. Furthermore, more are using My5 these days for the likes of Wentworth, which is already bringing in demand for the service, so the audience is already laid out bare for My5 to come and pique their interest with Big Brother, baring in mind, many of the youngsters may not have seen the older series’, as well, so it won’t feel like reruns to them.
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