Tuesday, March 29, 2011

From the department of "are you absolutely sure about that"

The New York Times, via Yglesias:

"If you don’t recognize [Miranda Cosgrove, star of a sitcom called "iCarly"]’s name, you must not be between ages 2 and 14, the parent of such a child or, possibly, British (nearly 8 percent of England’s population tunes into "iCarly").

That would be four and a half million viewers taken at face value, which would be not bad ratings for an evening programme. In the amazingly Balkanised world of kids TV and for something only shown on cable, it's impossible.

In fact, the show gets around 100,000 viewers. I can just about believe that this is 8% of the cable television audience at 1630 on a weekday, but it's not 8% of the population of England, let alone Britain. The entire channel Nickelodeon has a monthly reach of 7.7%.

So let's step on this one; dear Americans, the subjects of her majesty are not in fact mad for Miranda Cosgrove, or at least not yet in any way that shows up in BARB ratings.

17 comments:

  1. Cool, I didn't realise how easy it was to turn up BARB figures. Bloody hell, much as I like Sky Arts 2, those figures are shocking.

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  2. They're pretty inaccurate at the low end. Particularly in that demographic.

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  3. I'd just like to point to another inaccuracy in that article. I have yet to meet a single parent in the US who doesn't have extremely hostile feelings about the Disney channel.

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  4. Bloody hell, much as I like Sky Arts 2, those figures are shocking

    face it Richard, it really is just you. I don't watch it myself any more since I changed cable providers.

    Didn't you notice that half the adverts were for things like "Blood and Treasure Comments: The Movie", "Mr Singh's Newsagents: only 200 yards From Your House, Richard", and "Did You Remember To Take The Bins Out, Dear?"

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  5. Well, I like the Rite of Spring, and a different version seemed to be on every time I tuned into it last week...

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  6. This is a special case of the general principle that ALL TV viewing figures anyone quotes are lies. Sporting events are notorious for claims that more people that the entire population of China were watching.

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  7. It's interesting to ask where the number came from, though, and how it got past the fact checkers.

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  8. I would definitely watch "Blood and Treasure Comments: The Movie."

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  9. You must not be possibly British?

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  10. Indeed I am not but I am a regular reader of B&T (it's my fave blog) and occasional commenter.

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  11. I am now wondering abput casting for that one, particularly now that Pete Postlethwaite (surely a shoe-in for Jamie) is sadly dead.

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  12. The late Pete Postlethwate was a wonderful actor and by all accounts a fine human being but that's not saying much for jamie's looks now, innit?

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  13. This is perhaps over optimistic, even for an idle day dream. I'd say "Blood and Treasure Comments: the Commemorative Tea Towel" was a more realistic option.

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  14. I am seeing Robert Carlyle as Dan Hardie.

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  15. But as Hamish MacBeth or as Begbie?

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  16. Well, it's the versatility that makes him perfect for the role. Alex Horne obviously gets the part of Alex, without really any need for prosthetics.

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