How is the audience for a programme calculated?
Programme audiences are calculated by averaging the audience of all minutes covered by the programme transmission, from the start-time of the programme until the end-time of the programme, but excluding any embedded commercial breaks and promotions.
http://www.barb.co.uk/about/faq?_s=4
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I think it'll be a Doctor Who/The Gruffalo's Child/EastEnders/Downton Abbey/Absolutely Fabulous 1-2-3-4-5 finish myself.
Emmerdale traditionally does poorly on Christmas Day as does Coronation Street for some very bizarre reason.
I think 'Downton Abbey' vs. the tag-team of 'EastEnders' & 'Absolutely Fabulous' will gobble each other up for around 9m a show. The last half-hour of DA against 'Michael McIntyre...' could prove decisive though.
As a comparison as to what happened last year, 'The Royle Family' & 'Come Fly With Me' got 10.2m & 10.3m respectively against 'Poirot' over on ITV1 which only got 4.3m so there's probably around 15-18m viewers up for grabs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12080132
...a blowout like that that won't happen this year. It's gonna be a very close contest depending how you think it'll play out. How much hype for
Downton Abbey is there!? It's 6/4 to beat
EastEnders (which is 2/1
on) over at Sky Bet to get the biggest audience of the two TV shows.
Wallace & Gromit proved that getting the kiddie audience can be a winner as they snabbed a surprise Christmas Number one back in 2008 so
The Gruffalo's Child will be a strong runner but
Emmerdale should eat into it's audience. The ITV1 soap got 7.8m last year against Doctor Who last year which got 10.7m..
I think
Doctor Who has an almost clear run this year as it's up against
All Star Family Fortunes (that got 4.7m up against EastEnders' 11.7m last year). DW has been bet down from 3/1 into 'evens' or less and the seasoned TV ratings punters are probably banking on this match-up giving the good Doctor Who an advantage.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s2/eastenders/news/a294814/eastenders-tops-christmas-day-ratings.html
Elsewhere,
Strictly Come Dancing will be up against
Coronation Street yet again and they cancelled each other out last year. SCD got 9.6m and Corrie got 9.1m. It'll be very similar numbers again this year.
Last year's TV schedule:
BBC1 Christmas Day
11AM: The Santa Clause 3
12:25PM: Madagascar
1:45PM: BBC News
2PM: Top of the Pops
3PM: The Queen
3:10PM: Shrek The Third
4:30PM: The Gruffalo
5PM: BBC News
5:10PM: The One Ronnie
6PM: Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol
7PM: Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special
8PM: EastEnders
9PM: The Royle Family
10PM: Come Fly With Me
ITV1 Christmas Day
10:55AM: The Santa Clause
12:55PM: ITV News
1:10PM: The Polar Express
3PM: The Queen
3:10PM: How The Grinch Stole Christmas
5PM: ITV News
5:15PM: You’ve Been Framed
6PM: Emmerdale
7PM: Coronation Street
8PM: All Star Family Fortunes
9PM-11PM: Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express
This year's TV schedule:
BBC1 Christmas Day
11:40AM Morecambe and Wise - Christmas Show 1971
12:25PM: BBC News
12:35PM: Kung Fu Panda
2PM: Top of the Pops Christmas Special
3PM: The Queen
3:10PM: Monsters vs Aliens
4:35PM: BBC News
4:50PM: Ratatouille
6:30PM: The Gruffalo's Child
7PM: Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
8PM: Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special
9PM: EastEnders
10PM: Absolutely Fabulous
10:30PM: Michael McIntyre's Christmas Comedy Roadshow
ITV1 Christmas Day
11AM: Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
1:05PM: ITV News
1:15PM: Aladdin
3PM: The Queen
3:10PM: Happy Feet
5:10PM: ITV News
5:30PM: You’ve Been Framed
6PM: Emmerdale
7PM: All Star Family Fortunes (The Only Way Is Essex vs. Benidorm)
8PM: Coronation Street
9PM: Downton Abbey
11:05PM: ITV News
11:20PM: Benidorm Christmas Special