Flicking between the two major players in Scotland last night (BBC & SMG) I now think they should give up and show a big movie.
BBC Scotland came out on top as the best of the two but it started at 11.45 and just as we were in the mood to party it ended under a hour later at twenty to one!!!!!!
In one of the (IF NOT THEEE) big party nights of the year we get news24 before 2am.
SMG offering was the usual cheap budget production that you come to expect with them now and was fronted by the (Lets wheel him out - he is the only presenter we have) Stephen Jardine - he must be cheap ehhh!!
I wouldn't like the Hogmanay shows to be ditched altogether. I always watch the BBC Scotland one, but it's become so formulaic. When I was younger I always remembered they used to make an effort at Hogmanay. But now it's exactly the same every year - you could write the script. And having to watch the chronically unfunny Karen Dunbar was just too much.
I wouldn't like the Hogmanay shows to be ditched altogether. I always watch the BBC Scotland one, but it's become so formulaic. When I was younger I always remembered they used to make an effort at Hogmanay. But now it's exactly the same every year - you could write the script. And having to watch the chronically unfunny Karen Dunbar was just too much.
I agree with Karen Dunbar - she was bad..........it was also poor that they gave so little time to the Ricki Foulton tribute.
BBC Scotland have run with this format (and Jackie Bird) for years now I think it needs a change.
Mind you SMG were awful - Grampian always won the battle for the bells - bring it back up North.
The problem you have is that the majority of relatively young people will be out on Hogmanay, slightly intoxicated, and nowhere near a television. Those who are will no doubt be hosting parties and will only pay attention to the TV when the bells toll.
Your main audience on New Year's Eve is the older, more conservative viewer, and therefore the type that like the fiddley-diddley-dee music and very very light comedy we always get. It's hard to see what the alternative is.
Doing a live broadcast of the Edinburgh gig would be great, but will never happen as it would cost a flippin' fortune, and alienate said older viewers.
Btw, why SMG even bother nowadays (apart from to maintain their regionally-produced quota) is beyond me - I don't know one person who bothers with Scottish for the bells.
Overall TV audience this year in Scotland was slightly up on last year for Hogmanay. The split was:
BBC 54%
SMG 27%
Other 19%
SMG audience up this year, but still well and truly beaten by the Beeb.Note the huge increase in viewers watching other channels, up from around 10% last year.The BBC lost out and dropped back to their audience level of 2 years ago.
SMG will have benefitted from the fact Lorraine Kelly was involved, and the publicity that was gained when this was announced. Also, the percentage would always be up on last year's farce when everything was cancelled and they all went into an atmosphere-less studio to conduct the new year celebrations.
Still encouraging for them though, although their show is a long way from being the definitive way to bring in the new year (in the pub we were in, they went to a live feed of the BBC show for the bells. I still don't know anyone who watched the SMG show). You wonder if it would be cost-effective to produce a separate Grampian show, seeing as that used to corner the market up there.
The BBC - even if they're down, that's still half the available audience. The difficulty is how you can gain on that without alienating the loyal viewers. The present format, as derided as it is, seems to have a hardcore audience.
Which leaves the most intriguing figure - the increase for Other. Is this an indication that people who are staying in on Hogmanay are doing so because they don't particularly care about the event, and are watching a film or something instead? Have they dismissed the BBC and STV as out-dated guff? Are they watching the options on offer down south on Sky Digital? Or is it just simply a by-product of more viewers having an increased choice of channels? I suspect the latter, but it should be something the BBC and SMG should keep an eye on.
Out of curiosity, and possibly OT (in which case feel free to put it into a different thread), what was the network BBC offering like? And how much of a random choice was shoving on The Wicker Man on ITV1?