Naysayers will forget that Doctor Who has attracted a wide audience on the BBC iPlayer and on recording, but Matt Smith's second series opener certainly achieved respectable viewing figures for "The Impossible Astronaut".
The BBC reports:
The first episode in the new series of Doctor Who was watched by an average audience of 6.5 million viewers, according to overnight viewing figures.
On a sunny day in parts of the UK, that was down from the eight million recorded by overnight figures on Matt Smith's show debut in April 2010.
The Impossible Astronaut had an average audience share of 36.7%. Figures peaked at seven million.
The BBC further reminded readers of previous series openers. The following are final consolidated figures.
Doctor Who series openers since 2005:
Doctor Who series openers since 2005:
- 9.6m - The Eleventh Hour - 3/4/2010 (Matt Smith)
- 9.1m - Partners in Crime - 5/4/2008 (David Tennant)
- 8.7m - Smith and Jones - 31/3/2007 (DT)
- 8.6m - New Earth - 15/4/2006 (DT)
- 10.8m - Rose - 26/3/2005 (Christopher Ecclestone)
This will, in all probability, make "The Impossible Astronaut" the least watched series opener of the New Series; of course, it more so represents a shift from television to online viewing.
7 comments :
Bloody hell thats a lot less than the last few years...
although i watched it on virgin, their transmission messed up and i rewatched the first 15 mins on iplayer!
This is alarming if the BBC takes the 'viewing' figures of the broadcast to be what they think are the actual viewing figures. Their inability to track the on-line and recording viewing as viewers shift their habits I suspect would make it a lot larger than any opener.
Technically I watched both the UK AND BBC America premieres! I'm not sure how the American viewers are counted if at all. I'm not sure other than recording the BBC America version on my DVR there's a way for me to be counted at all!
I wish there was a way to say to the BBC grand poobahs to not believe the statistics are the whole picture.
As Mark Twain said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics.
Absolutely! I don't get BBC America in HD yet (pooh on Comcast). So I downloaded the show straight from iTunes-in HD! And as I recall, Season 5 was the most popular show downloaded last year.
So, they really need to start taking into account viewership online when evaluating the popularity of a show.
That said, here in the states, it's all about advertising. So they aren't interested really in online viewing unless it's coupled to some type of revenue stream - mostly ads.
This shows how ridiculous a 6pm starting time is (obviously the viewing figures are still above the vast majority of other shows), but if it had been at 7pm there would have been a lot more people watching "live" instead of enjoying the sun and catching up on iPlayer later.
I think what people keep forgetting is that six million viewers is still a tenth of the entire population, and no doubt at least double the original six will watch the episode online, on recording, or on DVD. The show's audience is far wider than the overnight TV viewing figures appear.
fortunately DW makes enough on marketing products, viewers remain irrelevant, as long as toys sell, DW is secure :)
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