[wwe]

Exploitative scheduling causes ratings dip

Big Brother dipped to 2.4 million viewers last night, including viewers on Channel 4+1, because of a Channel 4’s decision to include an extra advert.

The show was scheduled between 10pm and 11.15pm last night, but finished several minutes early. This means the overall average drops because most viewers would have tuned out the minute the show ended, and not waited until 11.15pm.

Channel 4 is taking advantage of Ofcom’s decision to allow an extra ad break, milking the rule by extending the programme to 11.15pm in order to squeeze another one in. Had the show ended nearer its scheduled end time, its rating would have undoubtedly been higher.

The show used to run for less than an hour, before Channel 4 leapt on the new ad rules. It is undoubted that the show’s ratings have suffered as a result.

The show still managed to beat BB10’s first Monday showing by 400,000 viewers, despite finishing over 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

The official ratings will help us to ascertain the true figure for these extended shows.