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TV Highlights w/c 24th March 2008
Posted by Attentional | 31.03.08
Saturday 29th March 2008
BBC1’s talent Andrew Lloyd Webber-backed contest I’d Do Anything stepped up a gear on Saturday with the first of the live performance shows. The two ‘audition’ shows both averaged 5.5m, but 6.2m (27.9%) tuned in this week between 6:50 – 8:05pm to see the finalists competing for a part in a West End revival of the musical Oliver! This gave I’d Do Anything a TI™ score of 104 and won the slot for BBC1.
Thursday 27th March 2008
Series 1 of Ashes to Ashes was laid to rest at 9pm on BBC1 last night, safe in the knowledge that it will be resurrected for a second series, Audi Quattro and all. The BBC had announced the re-commission of the Kudos series before the final episode went out, so fans will be reassured that they haven’t heard the last of Gene Hunt’s (Philip Glenister) popular put-downs, or seen the last of Alex Drake’s (Keeley Hawes ‘80s hair-style and bare shoulder. The series bowed out to an audience of 5.43m (23%) and a TI™ of 100.5, one of its lowest audiences. However, over the course of the eight-episode run, it averaged a respectable 6m viewers and 25% share.
Monday 24th March 2008
BBC1 returned to grittier territory to end the Easter break, with EastEnders’ ‘buried alive’ storyline reaching its conclusion on Monday night. Friday night’s episode had been very successful, with 10m (41.6%) tuning in to see the burial take place. Even more watched to see if Max Branning would survive his ordeal, with BBC1 reaching an audience of 11.4m (42.5%) between 8 – 8:30pm.
For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/blog.php
The Metacarta News Map?
Posted by Montage comms | 27.03.08
If there is something that we really enjoy doing at Montage it is keeping on the pulse of the news, either in Bristol or worldwide any good Public Relations company should know whats going on, by the minute.
We use a number of news gadgets to keep on top of the news such as our News centre, with built in 24hr rolling news from Bloomberg and Sky.
I have blogged about my other favourite Digg swarm in the past, which is on my screen saver so I can see breaking news whilst on a telephone call! This shows bloggers swarming around a news story so I get a pretty good idea of what’s hot and what’s not.
They latest news visualisation is Metacarta, this shows news breaking across the world on a Google maps platform. It shows some heavy weight news on there from the likes of the news tech leaders such as Reuters, which have been using this since December. I like the fact that you can use a word search and reduce / increase timescales on news.
I think that it is a shame that the lack of functionality regarding RSS and bookmarks let this product down, but it does give us another interesting way of digesting the news. Perhaps this is another nail in the hard copy news paper coffin? Time will tell.
I was disappointed not to see [MORE] Bristol news on the Metacarta news map, perhaps with the emergence of cutting edge online publishers such as Wildfire, this may help us to get back on the online news map?
TV Highlights w/c 17th March 2008
Posted by Attentional | 26.03.08
Friday 21st March 2008
It was a good Friday for Channel 4 as the pilot episode of new US drama Dirty Sexy Money attracted 2.7m (11.5%) between 9-10pm, giving a TI™ score of 131. It centres on the character of Nick George (Peter Krause), an idealistic lawyer who becomes the personal lawyer of the wealthy Darling family following his father’s death. However, the wealth that comes with the job pulls him in two directions – it would allow him the freedom to be an altruistic do-gooder, but it also links him to some dubious doings he would rather avoid. The darkly comic show has performed well in the US for home network ABC, becoming the first drama to pick up a full season order since the writer’s strike.
Wednesday 19th March 2008
The Curse of Steptoe proved to be a blessing for BBC4 last night as writer Brian Fillis’ docu-drama averaged 1.4m (7%) in the 9-10pm slot, performing well above the channel average. The programme was shown as part of a season about TV personalities, and starred Jason Isaacs as Harry H. Corbett and Phil Davies as Wilfrid Brambell. It explored the rocky relationship between Corbett and Brambell that belied their on-screen chemistry. BBC4 followed the docu-drama with the first-ever episode of Steptoe and Son, averaging 813,200 (4.6%) between 10 – 10:30pm.
Tuesday 18th March 2008
Bionic Woman made a record-breaking debut on ITV2 last week with 2.2m viewers – the channel’s highest ever audience. However, there was some evidence that Michelle Ryan’s superpowers were wearing off last night as the second episode averaged 1.5m (7.2%) in the 9-10pm slot. This is still an impressive audience for ITV2, but losing one third of its audience week on week must be a worry.
For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/blog.php
AOL buys networking site Bebo for $850m
Posted by Montage comms | 13.03.08
News just in!
AOL, the internet arm of Time Warner, has agreed to buy Bebo for $850m in cash as it gears up to entice advertisers to the popular social networking site.
This is despite wobbles in confidence of the popular Facebook, social networking site and its recent drop in popularity (drop 5%) to 8.5 million in January.
Is this good value for money? I think that it is a steal as New corp bought Myspace for $580M three years ago!
Tv Highlights w/c 03rd March 2008
Posted by Attentional | 10.03.08
Saturday 08th March 2008
Sports fans were well looked after on BBC1, with nearly 7 hours of continuous live coverage. Things kicked off at 1pm with the Six Nations clash between Ireland and Wales. Ireland had not lost to Wales since 2000, and 3.8m (32%) tuned in to watch the unexpected happen, with Wales winning 16-12. Next came the Calcutta Cup game of the Six Nations, with Scotland playing host to England at Murrayfield. Unsurprisingly this was a popular match, with 5.5m (36.2%) tuning in, but proved disappointing for England fans with Scotland winning 15-9. Still, the second rugby match proved extremely popular compared to the average for its timeslot and genre, generating a TI™ of 184.
Thursday March 06th 2008
ITV pulled their regular visit to The Bill and the second episode in a two-part edition of Trial and Retribution in order to run coverage of Uefa Cup action at 8pm, this week featuring the first leg of Tottenham’s clash with PSV Eindhoven. Spurs could not overcome their Dutch rivals, and a meagre 3.9m (16.5%) tuned in to see the English team go down 0-1, scoring a lowly TI™ of 72.7.
Wednesday 05th March 2008
ITV1 launched a brand-new drama series on Wednesday evening set around the highly-charged world of a reality TV talent contest. Rock Rivals is essentially a dramatised version of The X Factor, except the ‘judges’ (played by Michelle Collins and Sean Gallagher) are married (like David and Carrie Grant from Fame Academy). Simon Cowell has joined forces with Shed Media to advise on life behind the scenes of a reality show, and two versions of the final episode have been filmed: viewers will get to vote for one of two possible winning contestants, and the appropriate ending will be shown. The first episode of Rock Rivals picked up 3.9m (17%) between 9-10pm, giving a TI™ score of 78.
For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/blog.php
TV Highlights W/C 25th February 2008
Posted by Attentional | 03.03.08
Saturday 01st March 2008
Love it or hate it, it’s nearly time for the Eurovision Song Contest. And with Britain being a democracy, it’s once again up to the public to decide who should represent the nation at this year’s competition in Belgrade. Viewers could select from six acts, with each act trying to win over voters with a performance on BBC1 between 7-8pm. Eurovision veteran Terry Wogan was on hand to introduce the hopefuls, with assistance from co-presenter Claudia Winkleman. Eurovision – Your Decision averaged 5.1m (23.7%), giving a TI™ score of 96. It then returned at 9:30pm with a further half-hour to announce the voting results, with 5m (23.5%) tuning in to find out that former binman and X-Factor 2005 runner-up Andy Abraham would fly the flag for Britain on 24th May.
Thursday 28th February 2008
The Masterchef grand final attracted a slot-winning audience of 5.1m (21.4%) to BBC2 between 8-9pm last night as Bristolian James Nathan was crowned 2008 champion, giving an excellent TI score of 216. This was near-identical to the final of last year’s competition (called Masterchef Goes Large, but with the same format), which culminated in an audience of 5m (21.4%).
Wednesday 27th February 2008
US drama series Dexter, starring Michael C Hall, made its debut on ITV1 on Wednesday, and a start time of 10:35 is about as close as any import has come to penetrating the channel’s peak-time schedule. Dexter is about a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood pattern analyst, whilst satisfying his murderous tendencies by killing some of the city’s less desirable characters (from other serial killers through to drink drivers). It originally aired on premium cable network Showtime in the US, where it has now been renewed for a third season. FX has exclusive first-run rights in the UK, and the first episode attracted 356,900 (2.53%) in July 2007 to become the channel’s highest rating programme of the year. This same episode attracted 1.9m (14.6%) on its ITV1 debut.
For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/blog.php
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