TV Ratings 2026

lolly

lolly

Rowena? From Kuwait?
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Feb 3, 2004
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December 29 - January 04 (7 day consolidation)

01 The Traitors 11.366m
02 New Year's Eve Fireworks 10.927m
03 Wild London 6.099m
04 The Night Manager 5.789m
05 Stranger Things (episode 8) 5.467m
06 Ronan Keating and Friends: A New Year's Eve Party 4.483m
07 Coronation Street 4.242m
08 Red Eye 3.889m
09 BBC News at Six 3.865m
10 Antiques Roadshow 3.864m
11 The Graham Norton Show 3.806m
12 The Celebrity Apprentice 3.797m
13 EastEnders 3.710m
14 Emmerdale 3.709m
15 Would I Lie To You? 3.702m
16 Countryfile 3.551m
17 Amanda & Alan's Greek Job 3.408m
18 The Masked Singer 3.284m
19 Celebrity Escape To The Country 3.104m
20 The Great British Bake Off: Festive Special 3.095m
 
The Traitors Uncloaked got 3.064m for the second episode and 3.175m for the third, but the first didn't chart so I can't calculate an average. It may have had enough to sneak into the bottom of this chart, though.

The Floor got 3.082m.

Run Away got 3.509m on Netflix for episode one, 3.043m for episode two, but the remaining 6 episodes all failed to chart. That seems to be quite a step down from Harlan Coben's 2025 effort Missing You which had an average of 3.754m, and 2024's Fool Me Once with 4.801m.
 
I enjoyed Wild London. Notably a seagull drowning a pigeon trying to eat it.
 
That figure for the final Stranger Things episode seems really big for Netflix.
 
That Traitors figure.


amy-poehler-chefs-kiss.gif
 
Haven't yet seen Louise helping Ronan out. I trust the figures peaked at their duet and then slammed to zero afterwards.
 
That looks pretty rough for The Masked Singer. Just checked last year's thread for the same week and it had 4.7m.
 
FetchFugly said:
That looks pretty rough for The Masked Singer. Just checked last year's thread for the same week and it had 4.7m.
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It was really fun to start with but I am pretty over it now. Looks like I am not the only one…
 
Ronan was down on Sophie Ellis-Bextor last year, I was pleased to see.

2025 Ronan Keating 4.483m
2024 Sophie Ellis-Bextor 4.688m
2023 Rick Astley 5.751m
2022 Sam Ryder 5.569m
2021 Olly Alexander 4.176m
 
Not exactly a HUGE drop considering how much ratings are dropping like a stone. :D
 
I’m not sure it would matter that much but have we noticed an upturn in EE viewing figures since it is not on head to head with Emmerdale anymore?
 
Thenyes, we should see it next week. I wonder if it will benefit Emmerdale more than EastEnders, given I think EastEnders fans are more likely to be used to using iPlayer to watch it as it gets shunted around reasonably frequently, and performs better on catch up than Emmerdale.
 
lolly said:
Thenyes, we should see it next week. I wonder if it will benefit Emmerdale more than EastEnders, given I think EastEnders fans are more likely to be used to using iPlayer to watch it as it gets shunted around reasonably frequently, and performs better on catch up than Emmerdale.
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I think it probably will benefit Emmerdale more as it probably has an older audience or possibly everyone who still watches soaps regularly are all a similar age these days? 🤷‍♀️
 
As I've said before, I'd imagine EastEnders does skew younger, but I suspect there isn't THAT much in it. And I suspect of the 3.5m to 4.5m who regularly watch the big three, there is a lot of overlap.
 
January 05 - 11 (7 day consolidation)

01 The Traitors 11.738m
02 Call The Midwife 6.131m
03 The Night Manager 5.137m
04 Coronation Street 4.662m
05 Lynley 4.450m
06 BBC News at Six 4.195m
07 Red Eye 4.159m
08 Would I Lie To You? 4.085m
09 Emmerdale 4.019m
10 Countryfile 3.909m
11 The 1% Club 3.844m
12 The Traitors: Uncloaked 3.839m
13 The Masked Singer 3.749m
14 EastEnders 3.689m
15 Can You Keep A Secret? 3.653m
16 Millionaire Hot Seat 3.243m
17 Ant and Dec's Limitless Win 3.107m
18 Amanda and Alan's Greek Job 3.061m
19 Grantchester 2.997m
20 The FA Cup 2.915m
 
So that's the first week of Emmerdale and EastEnders not being head to head - but also the week of the Corriedale crossover, which gave both soaps a boost, so I think it's likely that the lead over EastEnders this week may not be sustained to the same degree next week.
 
Halli said:
I wonder if they will 'rest' the Masked Singer after this series.
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Possibly. But not even being bothered to create a new format for Ant & Dec considering Limitless Win has never done that well for them suggests they may not have many ideas what to replace it with.
 
What were the ratings for the actual Corriedale episode shouldn't that be seperate?
 
Halli said:
What were the ratings for the actual Corriedale episode shouldn't that be seperate?
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It wasn't listed separately in the BARB figures - I'm assuming it was recorded as the top rated episode of Coronation Street that week which got 5.606m. Unfortunately BARB no longer includes the broadcast date and time in the chart so I can't be 100% certain.
 
So if that IS the case, the chart above credits it to Coronation Street rather than Emmerdale, and there would be an argument for including it in both - which would increase Emmerdale's average to 4.284m. Or alternatively you could list the crossover episode itself separately as 5.606m, and then reduce Coronation Street's average to 4.473m.

To me it feels unfair to solely credit it to either. They either both should get it, or (probably my preference), neither - and view it as a separate thing in its own right.
 
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Interesting that Red Eye grew in the second week and The Night Manager dropped. My preference is definitely The Night Manager and it isn't doing badly, but wonder if its performance has been a mild disappointment. Obviously the first series was a decade ago and ratings were very different then. I guess the 28 day numbers will say more.
 
January 12 - 18 (7 day consolidation)

01 The Traitors 11.653m
02 Call The Midwife 6.063m
03 Michael McIntyre's Big Show 5.427m
04 Gladiators 5.140m
05 The Night Manager 4.990m
06 Red Eye 4.324m
07 Would I Lie To You? 4.154m
08 Lynley 4.125m
09 Coronation Street 4.100m
10 The Traitors: Uncloaked 3.968m
11 BBC News at Six 3.827m
12 Countryfile 3.809m
13 The 1% Club 3.795
14 EastEnders 3.760m
15 Emmerdale 3.725m
16 After The Flood 3.429m
17 The Masked Singer 3.218m
18 The Weakest Link 3.216m
19 Match Of The Day 3.213m
20 Amanda and Alan's Greek Job 2.997m
 
PercyPig said:
Oh that’s an uptick for Gladiators isn’t it!? 👏
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I'm not entirely sure - I recorded 4.762m in the chart for the series opener last year on 7 day figures, which is still what is recorded on the BARB website I was using then at https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/most-viewed-programmes/

But the new chart link https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/as-viewed-top-50/ (the one above only recorded until August last year) shows 5.380m after 7 days, and 6.290m after 28 days. No idea why it is different - the figures appears different for all shows, but in all other cases the difference is more slight. I wonder if it's a difference in methodology, but I'm not sure why it would impact Gladiators more significantly.
 
So it's up or down a little, depending on which chart you choose to consider. But at the very least I'd say it's holding its own, after the much bigger drop from the series one opener to series two.
 
Incidentally the 28 day data definitely wasn't available this time last year, and I'm surprised (but pleased) so see nearly a million added from 7 to 28 days; I would have assumed that it was much more 'event' TV that people watched live (or at least within the first 7 days, considering it is broadcast early evening). That's getting up to the 28 day catch up figures that dramas get.
 
That is very good for Gladiators, as I thought it was seriously dwindling last series. It is nice to see that although viewers can drop they can then bounce back again.
 
My dearest Call The Midwife looks like it has tailed off a bit but in the grand scheme of things it is still the second most watched programme of the week so must still have plenty life in the old dog yet.
 
The Masked Singer will be an interesting one - yes its still making the list, but I'm wondering to get the names what the fee is for each of the celebs and if its plausible to keep running.
 
Over 4 million for Mia Brooks in the snowboarding Big Air last night

(According to Clare Balding)
 
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