Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » Quote: : » This question was triggered by the discussion on viewing figures for Euro 2020 and the “battle” between BBC and ITV to try to secure rights to those matches which will attract the most viewers (normally England games obviously).But I guess it also applies generally for any programs.

A commercial channel like ITV gets its income from advertisers.Its obvious why ratings will be important to them as advertisers are going to pay more for an advert which is going to be seen by a larger number of viewers.So it makes sense that ITV would be desperate to secure the rights to say an England semi-final, or would be driven to make programs that might appeal to the largest UK audience (like X Factor and BGT) rather than something more niche and educational.Higher ratings equals higher income for ITV.

That’s not the case with the BBC though who gets a fixed income from the license fee.I thought its remit was supposed to be to inform, educate and entertain.To promote creativity, provide for a culturally diverse audience, support local communities etc.

So why should they care about ratings? Why does it matter to them at all if the football matches that they broadcast get a higher or lower audience than those matches broadcast by ITV? Is it just a case of pride and one-upmanship by the corporation or is there a proper reason?

It’s a rather odd set up that both are treated equally.

One has a guaranteed income (to a point) the other is a business that is dependent on advertising revenue.

There are loads of articles about this subject and that the BBC shouldn’t actively be chasing ratings hence all the criticism over their acquisition of The Voice.

But it was probably ‘worse back in the 80’s.Dallas, Dynasty etc,making up their top programmes, but that would never happen now.

The Euros is an odd one.One could argue the BBC doesn’t need something off the shelf with guaranteed huge ratings , and that ITV would benefit far greater from it in terms of adverting slots.

Thanks for your reasoned reply Polly.

In response to others I am not a “troll” trying to criticise the BBC.It was a genuine question asked out of curiosity.(Not sure if there are a few BBC employees/moles on here as some of you seem very defensive of them).

I understand why when the BBC make and broadcast a program, like “Line of Duty” or “Eastenders”, they are pleased that they get high ratings.Like people have said it is an indication that they have made a quality/popular product that people want to watch.

What I don’t understand though is why the BBC feel the need to engage in a ratings battle with other stations, particularly ITV?

Getting back to the Euros, throughout the tournament there has been a lot of discussion on the Euro specific thread about the viewing ratings of various matches and which channel would prefer to show which match etc.

Take the semi-finals for example.BBC are showing Italy vs Spain and ITV who got first pick are showing England vs Denmark.

From a purely financial perspective ITV will have been delighted that England got through.

They will be guaranteed a huge audience on Wednesday which will mean they can charge a higher fee for any adverts shown during their broadcast.Its common sense based on simple economics.

I’ve also seen comments about the BBC matches though along the lines of “The BBC will be glad that Spain got through, because Italy vs Spain will attract a larger audience than Italy vs Switzerland”.

While this is probably true, so what? Why would the BBC care that more people are likely to tune in if its Spain rather than Switzerland.The additional viewing figures for Spain are no indication that the BBC have created a superior product with better visuals and commentary.Its simply that Spain themselves are seen as a more attractive footballing side and would likely provide a more exciting encounter vs Italy.Which is just luck of the draw and completely out of the control of BBC.

So I ask again why would the BBC care who plays in their semi final and what the viewing figures are likely to be?

Because as a licence fee payer I want the BBC to have the best content, Spain.

Vs Italy is a match of high quality and if the BBC decided to give the best matches to ITV and settled for matches like Macedonia Vs Ukraine I would question why I am paying the licence fee when the BBC are producing crap.

Again high TV ratings are a good indication that the licence fee is value for money.

The second choice semi final that the BBC got is Italy vs Spain but it could have been Ukraine vs Czech republic if results had gone a different way.

Whichever it was is completely out of the BBC’s control (unless they’re involved in some kind of match fixing scandal!).Its not a question of them producing quality or crap, so why do they care?!

Sigh.

Are you deliberately being obtuse?

You have been told numerous times why the BBC care about ratings.

If the BBC were consistently showing programmes at peak time which no one hardly watched how would that be good use of licence fee cash?

The fact that millions have tuned into the Euro’s on the BBC shows that is good use of the licence fee.Why? What difference would it make to the BBC if all the games had been on ITV?

Interesting how several anti-BBC posters jump to the conclusion that ITV would want to screen every EURO 2020 match if given the chance.

There are plenty of ITV (and BBC) viewers who groan whenever football wrecks their preferred programme schedule.

Even some football fans are not that keen on early matches with two outsider teams.It seems to me that the BBC and ITV have an amicable arrangement which makes all the matches available to view FTA while reducing their costs and the annoyance of a large group of their regular viewers.But to your point, do you really think a few disgruntled Corrie fans being annoyed for a couple of weeks vs massive viewing figures would put them off? Come on.

If you bothered to check your facts (eg on BARB) you would see that only a few matches so far had, for obvious reasons, anything like “massive viewing figures”.The rest, whether on BBC or ITV, pull in a similar audience to the soaps and other popular programmes.So there is no advertising incentive for ITV to broadcast every match.

Many matches may get similar 5 million totals to the soaps, but the makeup of that audience is very different.It is generally younger and more male than the soap audience, and advertisers will pay higher rates to advertise to them because they generally don’t watch as much TV.So there is a significant financial incentive for ITV to air the football.

ITV airs a quite incredible 600 hours of Coronation Street or Emmerdale every year, but will air scarcely more than 50 hours of primetime football this year.If you’re an advertiser that wants to reach those 5 million soap fans then ITV serves you amazingly well all the year round – but the Euros is ITV’s chance to serve advertisers who need a different audience and they’re very keen on capitalising on it!.