User:Junipers Liege/ratings

Popularity and viewership

EastEnders proved highly popular and Appreciation Indexes reflected this, rising from 55–60 at the launch to 85–95 later on, a figure which was nearly ten points higher than the average for a British soap opera. Research suggested that people found the characters true to life, the plots believable and, importantly in the face of criticism of the content, people watched as a family and regarded it as viewing for all the family. Based on market research by BBC commissioning in 2003, EastEnders is most watched by 60–74 year olds, closely followed by 45–59 year olds. An average EastEnders episode attracts a total audience share between 35 and 40%. Aside from that, the 10 p.m. repeat showing on BBC Three attracts an average of 500,000 viewers, whilst the Sunday omnibus generally attracts 3 million. EastEnders is one of the more popular programmes on British television and regularly attracts between 7 and 12 million viewers and while the show's ratings have fallen since its initial surge in popularity and the advent of multichannel digital television, the programme continues to be largely successful for the BBC. EastEnders two main rival's are ITV soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale. EastEnders generally rates lower than Coronation Street, and has been beaten by Emmerdale on numerous occasions. In 2001, EastEnders clashed with Coronation Street for the first time. EastEnders won the battle with 8.4 million viewers (41% share) whilst Coronation Street lagged behind with 7.3 million viewers (34% share). EastEnders often clashes with Emmerdale, and this gives the show some of its lowest viewing figures, dropping to below six million. However, the BBC Three repeats often top one million viewers because of this. The live 25th anniversary show on 19 February 2010, which revealed Stacey Branning as Archie Mitchell's killer, received 16.6 million viewers.

[[:Image:Den Ange Divorce.jpg|right|thumb|200px|30.15 million viewers watched Den Watts serve Angie divorce papers (Christmas 1986).]] The launch show attracted 17 million viewers in 1985; this was perhaps helped by the amount of press attention it received, something which continues today.

On Christmas Day 1986, EastEnders attracted 30.15 million viewers who tuned in to see Den Watts hand over divorce papers to wife Angie. This remains the highest rated episode of a soap in British television history.

Since EastEnders began in 1985, at least one of its episodes has rated higher than any other British soap opera throughout each decade. This includes the 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s.

2004 ratings decline

On 21 September 2004, Louise Berridge, the then executive producer, quit following criticism of the show. The following day the show received its lowest ever ratings at that time (6.2 million) when ITV scheduled an hour long episode of Emmerdale against it. Emmerdale was watched by 8.1 million people. The poor ratings motivated the press into reporting viewers were bored with implausible and ill thought out storylines. Since then, Emmerdale has managed to beat EastEnders in the ratings many times, establishing itself as a serious contender for the second most popular UK soap. Kathleen Hutchison, who had been the executive producer of hospital drama Holby City, was announced as the new executive producer. Within a few weeks, she announced a major shake-up of the cast with the highly-criticised Ferreira family, first seen in June 2003, written out at the beginning of 2005. Hutchison went on to axe other characters including Andy Hunter, Kate Mitchell, Juley Smith and Derek Harkinson. Whilst she was there, she set about reversing the previous executive producer's work. It indicated a fresh start for EastEnders after declining ratings in 2004.

In January 2005, after just four months, Kathleen Hutchison left EastEnders. John Yorke who led EastEnders through what Mal Young (the then head of BBC drama) said was one of its most successful periods in 2001, returned to the BBC as the head of drama, meaning his responsibilities included the running of EastEnders. He also brought back long serving script writer Tony Jordan. It is reported that the cast and crew did not get on well with Hutchison as she had them working up to midnight and beyond. She is also said to have rejected several planned storylines and demanded re-writes. This was one of the reasons storylines such as the Real Walford football team were suddenly ignored. But through her short reign she led EastEnders to some of its most healthy viewing figures in months. John Yorke immediately stepped into her position until a few weeks later when Kate Harwood was announced as the new executive producer.

2005 saw EastEnders go through some of its worst ratings in its 20 year history. ITV continued to screen hour-long episodes of Emmerdale against it, in which Emmerdale continuously remained victorious. On 1 March 2005 EastEnders received its second lowest ratings at that time, when both EastEnders and Emmerdale aired one-hour episodes starting at 7pm. The episode of Emmerdale, which saw the exit of one of its most popular characters Charity Tate, attracted 9.06 million viewers, leaving EastEnders with just 6.2 million viewers.

Two weeks later on 17 March 2005 EastEnders received its lowest ever ratings at that time, when ITV screened another hour-long special of Emmerdale to mark the show's 4000th episode. Emmerdale was watched by 8.8 million viewers, whilst EastEnders was watched by 6.2 million viewers. In the autumn of 2005, EastEnders saw its average audience share increase. This was thanks to a succession of ratings-grabbing storylines which included the arrest of Sam Mitchell for the murder of Den Watts, the marriage of Sharon and Dennis Rickman, the return of the Mitchell brothers, Chrissie Watts being arrested after she was discovered to have been Den's real killer, and the death of Dennis Rickman at the hands of a mysterious attacker. Weeks after this, ITV again scheduled episodes of Emmerdale against EastEnders, in which Emmerdale came out on top for a few times. One episode of Emmerdale, which saw the departure of long serving, popular character, Zoe Tate, attracted 8.3 million viewers, leaving EastEnders with 6.5 million for the funeral of Den Watts. However, this indirectly helped increase the audience of digital channel BBC Three as 1 million (10% share) tuned in to see the second showing. However, the battle between EastEnders and Emmerdale saw EastEnders come out on top with 200,000 more viewers on 1 December 2005. EastEnders was the top-rated soap on Christmas Day 2005, attracting 10.6 million viewers while Coronation Street got 9.8 million, and Emmerdale got 7.9 million. 12.6 million viewers watched as Dennis Rickman was stabbed by a mystery attacker on 30 December 2005, and the aftermath attracted 12.34 million viewers on 2 January 2006.

Since then EastEnders has beaten Coronation Street in the ratings several times, although Coronation Street continues to average more on a regular basis. Ratings reached an all time low in July 2006 with 5.2 million viewers, followed two days later by only 3.9 million when it was scheduled against an action packed hour long episode of Emmerdale featuring several characters trapped in an exploding show home. Emmerdale was watched by 9.03 million people. [[:Image:Pauline dead.jpg|left|thumb|10.7 million viewers watched the death of Pauline Fowler, following nearly 22 years on-screen.]] Christmas Day 2006 saw EastEnders as the top rated soap; 10.7 million viewers watched to see the death of Pauline Fowler. In previous two weeks to that, it reached 9.90 and 9.85 million viewers.

In February 2007, the show was criticised for boring storylines and acting. EastEnders was consequently snubbed from the Royal Television Society awards. EastEnders received its second lowest ratings on 17 May 2007, when 4.0 million viewers tuned in to see Ian Beale and Phil Mitchell's car crash, part of the show's most expensive stunt. This was also the lowest ever audience share, with just 19.6%. This was attributed to a conflicting one hour special episode of Emmerdale on ITV1 which revealed the perpetrator in the long running Tom King murder mystery storyline. Emmerdale's audience peaked at 9.1 million. Ratings for the 10 p.m. EastEnders repeat on BBC Three reached an all time high of 1.4 million. However, on Christmas Day 2007, EastEnders gained one of its highest ratings for years and the highest ratings for any TV programme in 2007, when 13.9 million viewers saw Bradley Branning find out his wife Stacey had been cheating with his father, Max. The earlier first half had achieved 11.8 million viewers. The second half of the double bill was the most watched programme on Christmas Day 2007 in the UK, while the first half was third most watched, surpassed only by the Doctor Who Christmas special. When official figures came out a few weeks later, it was confirmed 14.38 million viewers had watched the Christmas Day episode of EastEnders, and that it had the highest UK TV Audience for ANY TV show during 2007. On 24 March 2008, EastEnders attracted a strong audience of 11.4 million viewers a 42.4% audience share, which saw Max Branning buried alive by his wife Tanya Branning. This episode beat the double bill of Coronation Street which attracted 10.9 million viewers at 7.30pm a 41% audience share and 9.9 million viewers a 36.5% audience share at 8.30pm.

2008 ratings recovery

On Christmas Day 2008 EastEnders attracted 11.5 million viewers, when Sean Slater discovered he was not the father of Amy Slater. It was the most watched soap opera on Christmas Day. The 2008 New Year's Day episode attracted an audience of 9.9 million viewers, making it the most watched programme of the day.

On 2 April 2009, a peak of 11.5 million viewers tuned in to see the special hour-long episode, which featured Peggy and Archie's nuptials as well as the controversial death of Ronnie's covert daughter Danielle Jones. This episode marked the highest audience attraction since Christmas Day 2008. As of December 2009, it is the second most watched programme on BBC One, behind Strictly Come Dancing.

EastEnders was the most watched television programme on Christmas Day 2009, drawing in an average of 10.9 million viewers, with an audience share of 45.9%. The hour-long episode featured the murder of Archie Mitchell.

On New Years Day 2010 EastEnders started the year with two episodes that peaked at 10.84m and 12.34m for Syed Masood and Amira Shah's wedding day. EastEnders' average viewing figures for January 2010 were 10.8million (40.4%) compared to Coronation Street's 10.4million (38.2%), making EastEnders the most watched soap opera on British television for the first time in three years.

Ricky and Bianca's second wedding gained 11.35m on 18 February. The live-episode of EastEnders on 19 February 2010 averaged 15.6 million viewers, peaking at 16.6 million in the final five minutes of broadcast.

Popularity rankings

Between 2001 and 2002, EastEnders was the 10th most searched-for TV show on the Internet. It was the 2nd most popular UK search term in 2003, and the 7th in 2004. EastEnders holds the record for the most watched soap episode in Britain.