C4 ratings catastrophe for The Derby

clivex said:
They should have jack douglas doing the interviews and freddie parrot face davis the commentaries


Professor Stanley unwin would be excellent for explaining the form
Click to expand...

you'll never forget the Jack Douglas post...your reply to that still makes me laugh when i think about it
 
an capall said:
They need to riff Tanya.."massive gamble for xxxxx in all the offices it's now into 18/1 from 20's' - completely useless. Or stop having people like Doris Pilchard on cos she won a scoop six once...

If fact - They should reset the show and have contributors from here - would be excellent..

- Steve M's dosage ditty
- DO/EC1 - ratings dissection
- Edgt - Conformation corner
- Slimchance - stable girls I've shagged this week
- clivex - Racing this week - a view from the man on the Clapham Omnibus
- Grey - why racing should be governed from Brussels
- BtB - the doping daily
- Ardross - whip count in Ireland statitics
- etc, etc
Click to expand...

Nice one :lol:

And grasshopper can serve the tea and clean the bogs
 
EC1 said:
you'll never forget the Jack Douglas post...your reply to that still makes me laugh when i think about it
Click to expand...

Wasn't it teh other bloke who said he did impressions of jack Douglas at work and no be knew what the fck he was doing

I still crease up at that

What about Norman collier and his broken mic for the presentations?
 
clivex said:
Wasn't it teh other bloke who said he did impressions of jack Douglas at work and no be knew what the fck he was doing

I still crease up at that

What about Norman collier and his broken mic for the presentations?
Click to expand...

yes that was it..your sarky response was funny

is NC still alive?..i never liked the broken mike thing..went on a bit
 
Last edited:
Went down to the local pub to have a sandwich and watch the first race on C4. (Ashton's Slim)

Got there at 2.28 - took the numpty barman 5 mins to find the remote, so got the last furlong - he couldn't turn up the sound cos the only other bloke in the place might object. So watching in silence was interesting.


~2.34 race finishes.
~2.36 couple of interviews shots of winner, last furlong replay, then ads.
~2.39 - 3 minutes of ads, most of them about how Dubai is just like the rest of us.
~2.41 - Presentation shots, some blokes kissing.
~2.47 - Went back to work - Gok Wan has now been on for 6 minutes.

So - 13 minutes of racing - about 2 of them remotely connected to the race.

No wonder they are phucked.
 
Cruella said:
Going back to the original topic...because I used to ride, I have a lot of FB friends with horses and/or an interest in at least one of the other equestrian disciplines. I'm a member of a closed FB group of around 125 horsey folk ranging in age from early 20s to late 50s.

.
Click to expand...

FB friends are fck buddies arent they?

Didnt know you were into that scene
 
the coverage this week has been nothing short of dreadful. and the figures keep plummeting. they desperately need to change things around. aside from simon holt and the races being in HD there's no draw to watching on c4.
 
You'd have to be impressed by their betting expert, who informed Gok that 0/30 was three and a quarter to 1. :lol:
 
that whole segment was cringe inducing. gok has been claiming winner after winner all week but it turned out he's backing half the field in every race!
 
JamesRB said:
the coverage this week has been nothing short of dreadful. and the figures keep plummeting. they desperately need to change things around. aside from simon holt and the races being in HD there's no draw to watching on c4.
Click to expand...

We're still not getting any proper paddock assessment. Very little seems to be done in 'real' time. Paddock shots are shown when they're going down. All to accommodate the adverts and fashion shows.

It's Royal Ascot so there does have to be a fashion slot. It's taken me 50 years but I accept it. Even the BBC did it. And thankfully it is probably shorter than before. But we don't need to see where the toffs buy their stuff. Is money being paid under the counter by the exclusive outlets to have these slots played?

Adverts on commercial TV are a necessary evil but do we need to have them just when the the build-up to the race is reaching a crescendo? It's like stopping for a sip of wine just when you're getting to the tickly bit.

Rishi is Tommo Junior. We really don't need him interacting with racegoers. Back in the days of the ITV7 we had John Rickman talking to TV viewers from Ayr with old Mick our cafe owner sitting behind him at the parade ring. Both would have been aghast at the thought of having to put on a show for the TV. Mick just wanted his boy to say he'd seen his dad on the TV.

Gleason is a clown. He makes Tanya look professional. Sorry. I'm not allowed to say that. It makes me racist.

Emma is growing on me. She's getting better, which surprises me.

I'm warming to Cunningham too but we need more in terms of his analyses as they complement McGrath's.

More later. The fitba is back on.
 
Gleeson has noticed a gap in the tv buffoon market since Big Mac left. And has up his act. He is trying hard on C4. He doesnt do the buffoonery quite as bad on RTE, but is more annoying, more arrogant. Not sure what Gareth O'Brien has to do to get a consistent spot on a terrestrial channel.
 
Emma is very profesional now she doesn't have to do the Emma/Mike Cat flirt thing [which she probably hated doing anyway]. I'm surprised at how much I've warmed to her recently as I think women are more critical of other women than men.
 
Was it only a rumour then that they were an item?

I'd like to see Simon Rowlands get a guest spot to debate sectionals with Cunningham while keeping us educated about it as they go, a sort of sectional times implications for dummies kind of thing. I suspect if the guys who are into football betting scent an edge in horseracing they might get more interested.

And I'd like to see Willoughby get a guest spot now and again.

And SteveM!
 
Why they don't give Gary O'Brien the Irish gig I have no idea, he is the best pundit/presenter around.
 
Two years ago the BBC had 1.3 million viewers on the Saturday afternoon of Royal Ascot whilst C4 had in excess of 500,000 viewers for their coverage of Newmarket and another meeting. Yesterday C4 had 600,000 so where have the one million plus viewers gone ? Bear in mind some ATR viewers who can no longer receive Ascot would have been part of yesterdays C4 figure too so they have actually lost slightly more. The statements coming out of C4 and Ascot racecourse all appear to be in denial there is something wrong when there so obviously is and it is racing in general that will suffer.
 
Have they factored in the World Cup? I only managed to really watch the coverage yesterday and it was fine (not great, wonderful or fantastic) but adequate for the Saturday punter who,just wants to try for the Scoop 6. My mine complaint would be too many ads on for too long but they have to fund the programme somehow.

If you don't like the coverage don't watch but if you feel that strongly then write into Channel 4 and tell them WHY it's not working.

I can't stand Brian Gleeson personally find him too smug but it won't stop me from watching I just choose to ignore him when he is on!

ideally would love Matt Chapman to be on but he is too "off piste" for them (plus he must be doing something weird as he is obsessing about about tractors....)
 
A number of interesting comments over the weekend on media.
Singing Detective has the ATR Sunday Forum view and thanks for bringing it up.
Pat Keane in his Saturday slot in Irish Examiner wondered what all the fuss was about having watched C4 for the first time in ages this week.
Tom Kerr has an interesting take on the problem in Racing Post today.
Even Terry Prone (media advisor Carr Communications) gave pointers in an article about Hilary Clinton ( she made no mention of C4 coverage directly may I add)
It appears people that watch BBC do not watch C4 and have no great desire to do so.
It also appears that racing is a minority sport becoming more so people get less attached to the land, the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable and all that.
Years ago, Tony Bennett, having sold out The Irish National Concert Hall was moved by his promoter to a larger venue in Dublin to facilitate those that could not get tickets for the Concert Hall. The concert was cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. Explanation ?

Some of the best Irish tv programmes at the moment are on TG4.
Realising they have a small audience they get on with making good programmes while obviously enjoying themselves doing them.
Perhaps that is the key.
Racing is about betting, horses and personalities (in that order) for most viewers.
The betting information is skewed by whichever bookie is sponsoring the programme.
On course v exchange v tote price comparison is important.
Horses: pedigree and paddock examination and course/distance form is all important.
The use of headgear, ear muffs etc, even the function of same is all important re betting.
Personalities come to the surface naturally; make the most of the Ml Winters of this world when you get the chance.
Presenters that are enthusiastic, informative and happy to be there is essential.
Get that right and a satisfied (if small) audience will follow.
Size is not always important; satisfaction is .
 
Ballydoyle said:
Have they factored in the World Cup? I only managed to really watch the coverage yesterday and it was fine (not great, wonderful or fantastic) but adequate for the Saturday punter who,just wants to try for the Scoop 6. My mine complaint would be too many ads on for too long but they have to fund the programme somehow.

If you don't like the coverage don't watch but if you feel that strongly then write into Channel 4 and tell them WHY it's not working.

I can't stand Brian Gleeson personally find him too smug but it won't stop me from watching I just choose to ignore him when he is on!

ideally would love Matt Chapman to be on but he is too "off piste" for them (plus he must be doing something weird as he is obsessing about about tractors....)
Click to expand...

Matt Chapman would be great
 
The other thing you need to bear in mind regarding these ratings is how they are gathered. BBC will always be the 'default' channel and therefore will always generate higher figures.

I know, for example, that I'll switch the tv on in the morning at BBC1 (default but I like Carol Kirkwood) then go about the business of getting ready for the day, leving the tv on at BBC1. I would only ever switch to C4 to watch a programme I didn't really want to miss.

There was also a mention in the RP article today about the viewing figures actually being up in 'real' terms.
 
EC1 said:
Gok reminded me of SteveM this week...lots of winners ..but backed first five in betting in every race
Click to expand...

Jealousy is a terrible thing EC. It’ll only eat away at your innards. Although I did some place only betting, it was a particularly efficient week of winners, betting against myself only a couple of times. People sometimes do this to defend downside rather than maximise upside. Let me know when you start making it pay.;)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top