C4 ratings catastrophe for The Derby

I do.. 30 times a year

It's a great day out for many but how many follow it when they don't attend ? We know lots of people who go racing once a year say but never have a bet let alone know the derby winner, otherwise
 
Aragorn said:
Isn't racing the second most attended sport in the uk after football? Maybe you lot should get off the sofa and go racing....... :ninja::D
Click to expand...

Two kids under the age of 10 at the moment-it's easier for me to stay up until 4 in the morning drinking Jack Daniels,playing poker and watching Flemington then it is to get to The Curragh for the afternoon.
 
LUKE said:
Two kids under the age of 10 at the moment-it's easier for me to stay up until 4 in the morning drinking Jack Daniels,playing poker and watching Flemington then it is to get to The Curragh for the afternoon.
Click to expand...

:lol: Fair enough, can't imagine the next morning is pleasant!
 
clivex said:
Again... dont agree at all

Rugby an example...again

The absolutely baffling success of F1 another example.

Rugby League and Darts are other sports that have prospered under sky
Click to expand...

I disagree .

1 Six Nations Rugby was off terrestrial TV for about a year and soon went back to the BBC for the very reason that its audience was badly damaged

2 I am far from sure that rugby league has prospered it was doing pretty well before going to Sky. The big events of the year have much less wide exposure than they once had .

3 Darts is not a sport ! The difference is that the BBC only ever covered the world championship and Sky gives it more exposure and the PDC tournaments concentrate on the best players .

4 F1 has massive terrestrial exposure and always has done

The Sky audience is quite large and comprises sports obsessives and they get the old Grandstand like fix from watching it but it has nowhere near the reach of the BBC.
 
yes but look at how club rugby has taken off? As a sport it has a massive following. I ahve always lived within a stones throw of Harlequins ground. It used to be one small stand and barely one man and his dog. Now its as big as a championship ground. An astonishing turnaround

Darts is i dont know what, but as horrible, vile and completely charmless F1 is (a sport for window lickers IMO) it has a far higher profile and seemingly followed by more than ever before . The BBC slaver over it and it is promoted everywhere. baffles me . Everyone i know absolutely hates the "sport"

I would rather have two hours of root canal than watch a grand prix.

Point is that racing is aesthetically a very pleasing sport. The polar opposite of F1. why does it continue to fail? And i wonder how jump racing compares with the seeming drift in interest in the flat. I suspect positively and i wonder if there overemphasis on betting and perhaps the detached feeling of po faced billionaire owners who look like they have been presented with a big gas bill, evasive shifty looking trainers and rather drab big handicap fields where you couldnt give a monkeys who won or lost is not perhaps as appealing as it might be?
 
Last edited:
Clive, 4 buddies are season ticket holders at Quins and I go sometimes when one of them can't make it - you're exaggerating the size of the ground - the average crowd is around 13,000, capacity 14,000.
 
Hamm said:
Clive, 4 buddies are season ticket holders at Quins and I go sometimes when one of them can't make it - you're exaggerating the size of the ground - the average crowd is around 13,000, capacity 14,000.
Click to expand...

No im not. Many clubs in the championship have grounds of that capacity and crowds of that size
 
He felt the C4 did a very good job but even the inclusion of Go Wank (my edit) could rescue the figures and there were no 'sexy' world cup games competing. Big plus for Gina.

'..sterile environment of the on-course studio...' hopes producers rethink.

Too many pictures from the infield cameras.

If every show was like last Saturday the team can't be faulted for effort.

C4 not admitting to a problem, it's in danger of dying.

Test cricket, F1 & FA Cup big successes.

Cheltenham a big success. (True?)

Get Andrew Franklin back in.
 
A 6 o clock start might help get it back on the national agenda if they market it on course and off course-first Saturday of the summer family barbecue watching the Derby -maybe get one of the big breweries to sponsor a free pint if the favourite wins.
 
I can remember as far back as 1994 working in the west end of London -I took a late lunch to watch the Derby and wanted to enjoy the build up and not just watch the race in the bookies.I eventually found a pub in but there were probably half a dozen at most watching even though Lester was riding.
 
Personally im all for it. its summer and lifes to short to be stuck in front of the box on a sat afternoon. I barely watch C4 real time myself
 
Colzoss said:
Won't make an 'apeth of difference in my opinion.
Click to expand...

You disagree with the broadcasting experts who say that Epsom could get a million extra viewers by putting the race back by an hour.Do you have a reason for this or are you just being negative for the sake of it.
 
Colin Phillips said:
What are the "broadcasting experts" reasoning on this?

Not saying they are wrong, just wondering what the thinking behind this is.
Click to expand...

They might be taking into account the improved tv audiences for Punchestown and the Irish Derby since they moved to evening slots.
 
Grey said:
They might be taking into account the improved tv audiences for Punchestown and the Irish Derby since they moved to evening slots.
Click to expand...

Would there not be an argument that Ireland is a different kettle of fish in how horse racing is viewed in that country?

1 hour later on Channel 4 would put it right into Come Dine With Me repeats territory - most people are scared to turn over to Channel 4 at that sort of time of day just in case they catch a bit of it. (and those that aren't are gonna be ******* raging that a re-run of a show they've seen 4 times already has been bumped in favour of some horse racing)
 
Strikes me that the simplest reason for more viewers in the evening is because more people watch television at say 6:30 than they do at 3:30. Whether that would translate into better ratings is anybody's guess.
 
Last edited:
Not to mention it will most likely have a negative impact on betting turnover.

Ever been in a betting shop on a Saturday evening?
 
Back
Top