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19 Oct 15
17:50
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Date Joined:
10 Nov 07
VIEWING FIGURES for Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday fell by 34 per cent compared to last year as the £4 million raceday attracted a fraction of the viewers for Bargain Hunt on BBC1.
Channel 4 reported a record low average audience of 367,000 for live coverage compared to last year's figure of 557,000.
Saturday's rating for a marathon broadcast from 12.30pm to 4pm was 67 per cent less than the 1.1m average achieved by the BBC in 2012, the corporation's last Champions Day.
Channel 4 is seeking to win a new racing deal from 2017 and gave Britain's richest raceday an unprecedented amount of coverage with all six races shown live following a special edition of The Morning Line that included Frankie Dettori, new champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa and an interactive audience.
However, the afternoon show, which peaked at 530,0000 viewers (equivalent to a 6.1 per cent share) had a smaller average audience than the previous two Saturdays, with Future Champions Day getting 411,000 viewers and Cambridgeshire day 398,000. The Morning Line averaged 186,000 viewers.
BBC1's Saturday afternoon presentation of the world amateur boxing championships, on air during the racing, was more popular than the Ascot fare with 500,000 watching, while the edition of Bargain Hunt that competed with the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Qipco Champion Stakes had an 800,000 average.
Channel 4 reported a record low average audience of 367,000 for live coverage compared to last year's figure of 557,000.
Saturday's rating for a marathon broadcast from 12.30pm to 4pm was 67 per cent less than the 1.1m average achieved by the BBC in 2012, the corporation's last Champions Day.
Channel 4 is seeking to win a new racing deal from 2017 and gave Britain's richest raceday an unprecedented amount of coverage with all six races shown live following a special edition of The Morning Line that included Frankie Dettori, new champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa and an interactive audience.
However, the afternoon show, which peaked at 530,0000 viewers (equivalent to a 6.1 per cent share) had a smaller average audience than the previous two Saturdays, with Future Champions Day getting 411,000 viewers and Cambridgeshire day 398,000. The Morning Line averaged 186,000 viewers.
BBC1's Saturday afternoon presentation of the world amateur boxing championships, on air during the racing, was more popular than the Ascot fare with 500,000 watching, while the edition of Bargain Hunt that competed with the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Qipco Champion Stakes had an 800,000 average.
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doesn't surprise me - considering channel 4 persist with cunningham harping on about the form book
when will they learn that this is not everybody's cup of tea... if we wanted this all the time we would just watch racing uk zero camaraderie and a poor excuse for a racing channel |
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I am quite IT savvy but would love someone to explain how they know how many people watch a program? Or am I just missing something? Also how do they know how many people are watching it on any given TV? We all were in my house on Ruk of course is that taken into the viewing figures account.
C4 has lost the plot and viewing figures with stream after stream of fence sitting, jockey loving , public hating et etc etc egomaniacs of which the latest have the most dreadful of the lot in Mick Fitz. Why oh why ?? |
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Dreadful coverage of racing in general on CH4 ,only watch it in the most dire situations when cant access RUK or god forbid ATR and the dreadful mark chapman what a ****.
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The trouble with showing a complete meeting is it is too long between races
for the casual viewer. A 2 hour programme with races every 10-15 mins is better imho. Plus there was no Frankel. Plus Cunningham & Fitz do peoples heads in!! |
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seems to be a trend now, after every meeting we read how C4 figures have plummeted, its not at all surprising when actual racing fans cant even suffer the program never mind the general public
they tried to appeal to a wider audience, gok wan, fashion, clare balding etc, and only served to pissoff the viewers they already had only great horses can attract non racing fans, just make a racing program for racing fans and when a horse comes along the interest will happen naturally |
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I'm afraid I have to agree with the criticism. The morning line was difficult to watch and the coverage in the afternoon was nonsense at times. With viewing figures consistently dropping surely they need to change things.
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I don't think it's just channel 4 , it's more horse racing in general , this forum is very quiet compared to a few years ago , the betting shops take a fraction of the bets they used to , I'm sorry but it's a dying game as the old ones pass away the younger ones have no interest at all in horse racing , probably the Cheltenham festival is the only thing left .
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Anyone who thinks mick fitz is suitable for to is clearly incompetent
C4 just give excuse after excuse.......they would would even come up with something if the figures were zero |
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Patches l agree that betting shops are dying but online betting must have more than made up for lost shop revenues(even withouut fobts),l wonder more about actual attendances at meetings,my local track Hamilton still does very well and l see little difference in numbers from say 20-30 years ago.
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I was there on Saturday and was most surprised that throughout the afternoon the annual members' trackside room had unused tables .I've frequently been to meetings when that hasn't been the case.When I ventured out to the paddock it wasn't as rammed to the gunnels as i'd anticipated it would be so would be interested to know how many people were at the racecourse and a comparison with previous years.Have to say though the car parks seemed crammed full.
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C4 Racing needs Matt Chapman.
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But patches why do youngsters have no interest?? There is far too much low grade garbage and no one criticises jocks or trainers.....
Who would find fitz blowing wind up jockeys holes entertaining. Compare to the premier league where players managers are frequently hammered |
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POSY
"However, we are still surprised by the figures, as we believe Qipco British Champions Day is worthy of a larger number of viewers, especially since we recorded our best attendance on Saturday [30,967] since Frankel's last race in 2012, reflecting great interest in the day. "Channel 4 introduced some terrific innovations, including the interactive Morning Line and new drone coverage, which is really encouraging and we must build on that when we return to the correct slot in 2016." |
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Harry do you work for ch4?
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Channel 4 to blame. Action required
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no it's written on the racing post page jrw...
i so wish i was on the gravy train though, my mercenary approach may lead to a total channel melt down  still got to be better than listening to cunningham rant on about what a saturday punter has no interest in listening to, never mind a royal ascot punter who tunes in once a year |
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Many thanks Harry...I was wondering whether the attendance was affected by the rugby ;as I wrote the carparks were full but the stands weren't uncomfortably crowded.
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Enjoyed the races , good quality cards ....apart from a ludicrous ill suited handicap at the end.
But , I watched the races after the football and rugby , fast forwarding to the races . Racing was always my fav sport , but I cannot abide the modern presenters , who are clueless in my opinion and I have no intention of listenimg to their drivel. |
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C4 decided to aim their racing program at 'newbies' instead of keeping actual racing enthusiasts interested in their show. Now they've lost a lot of their original viewers and aren't attracting any new ones. The Morning Line was supposedly started at the time to preview that afternoon's racing. Now we're lucky if they preview one race in the first half of the show. But they've plenty of time for slimebag bookies reps. Just like they'll no doubt have Nicholls and/or STD on every two weeks they seem to think having Dettori on it ad nauseam will attract viewers. Same dislikeable pundits, same smarmy Luck presenting who goes totally ott for everything, same ridiculously long ad breaks. It's time C4 racing was put to sleep.
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Sixtwosix. Thoroughly agree that modern day presenters and pundits are the reason why so many viewers,such as yourself, find horse racing so unbearable to watch on television.
The professional racing fraternity likewise think they are a waste of space so the C4 marketing advisers persistently get it completely wrong in aiming for an urban audience who have no real instinct for what is fundamentally country sport. Nothing is likely to change unless Middle East and bookmaking advertising revenue dries up in which case racing will probably disappear from our screens forever. |
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Feck me who watches Channel Four apart from freaks..
And when you tune into the programme has been taken over by them.. You know the rest but I am still wondering who is transgender - as the rest of the minorities are covered... |
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There is nothing wrong with c4 coverage of racing...the truth is that BBC will ALWYS get bigger audience viewers no matter if they showed two 90 year olds playing tiddlewinks and c4 had live s#x....
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Have to agree with what racing queen said , people love controversy and there is no such thing as bad publicity ,people love watching awkward moments on tv especial the younger generation , so if a jockey makes a mistake grill the fecker after it , cause some heated moments , i'll guarantee it will be big new's the next day .Like racing queen said who doesn't love seeing a manger chucked under the bus after a bad result , am sorry but it sells and it gives the media some thing to run with and milk .
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If you have RUK,6ou watch it so any analysis of audience numbers needs to be included.
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Champions Day is a poor imitation of Arc day and the Breeders cup. They should forget it and give the Champion Stakes back to Newmarket.
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the early start didn't help...just felt like things were dragging on and on...Muraharer lit up the show but really the whole thing was generally flat...no surprise with the other sports on people found something better to do with their time.
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racing has had a regular audience since it began hundreds of years ago but the current generation are now losing interest and the upcoming generation have little or no interest in it at all.
the racecourses wrongly assume that sticking a concert on after racing will attract more people to racing. meanwhile the folk who do enjoy racing are staying away in their droves from these drunk fests which only have racing as a sideshow. while greedy courses make extra money out of these booze ups, they are not attracting even one more person to racing. the concert drunks don't bother with the racing and are only there waiting for the concert to start. meanwhile regulars who would normally bring their families are avoiding these fixtures like the plague and so the courses are effectively cutting off their only supply of future customers. |
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Outpost. Spot on.....and C4 simply encourage such a culture.
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chelters16 19 Oct 15 18:16 Joined: 02 Jun 10 | Topic/replies: 757 | Blogger: chelters16's blog
Dreadful coverage of racing in general on CH4 ,only watch it in the most dire situations when cant access RUK or god forbid ATR and the dreadful mark chapman what a ****. Was never a fan of Lennon, but still a disgrace ATR giving the man who shot him a job. |
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Weekend was busy with alternative sporting events. Also does having champions day in mid October really work ? Even Hills Jnr said the champion sprinter had gone in his coat.
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BBC ditched --The Open golf 2016
you know viewing figures will plummet SKY SPORTS not because the quality of the players people have to use disposable income in a targeted way It's the way sport is now -better or worse |
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BBC probably glad they ditched it as they got more viewers for the amateur boxing!
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One problem is that Champions day is a a staged event with a lot of overhype but dont worry proper racing returns shortly.
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Champions day is meant to be flat racings grand finale so if nobody's watching it on terestrial TV then surely not good for the sport long term?
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The sport is absolutely dying on its arse due to declining public interest.
Channel 4 viewing figures are just a symptom of this. |
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Surely Ch4 racing are the shop window for UK horse racing. If they aren't getting the footfall then maybe its time to change the window display?
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The public love to watch utter tosh progs with DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES(soaps),and other rubbish like British Bake,Strictly,I'ma Hasbeen,that is the way it is.These progs get very high viewing figures!!!
This presenter,that presenter,it doesn't make one iota of difference,as racing is just for us aficionados. Duracell must be doing well,as we search night after night for something decent to watch. |
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I would imagine the folks associated with GB Racing are reviewing their positions....given the way Champions Day is now unfolding.
Aside from getting lucky with Frankel they've messed around with the end of season Pattern calendar almost to the point of destruction. |
