5.9 million? Ha ha ha. The BBC only have themselves to blame putting it on at 6pm and all because of their low-rating Over the Rainbow. Wouldn’t be surprised if the season finale goes out at 5.30pm. The fools.

I don’t really know if 5.9/6.2 is good for that time of day or not.

Regardless, it truly is a shame that the program’s scheduling isn’t accessible to a larger audience. “Vampires of Venice” was terrific stuff that deserved to be viewed by a larger audience, and a larger audience deserved a better time period to view the episode!

It was brilliant

The earlier timeslot obviously has an effect; but do try and remember, as per previous episodes, the official figures will be somewhat higher.

If DW was on at 7pm every Saturday it would be getting close to 9-10m viewers each episode.

The BBC don’t seem to care.

@David
Not really, no. It doesn’t matter what time Doctor Who is on, the overnight ratings would still be somewhat consistent. The repeat of The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End on BBC One – on a Sunday – proved that.

Besides, in the world of modern day television, ratings don’t matter anymore. I mean, take The Vampires of Venice as an example: the episode achieved a figure of around 6.2 million, yet it was the second most watched programme of the day. The fact that it was the second most watched programme, despite it only being watched by 6.2 million proves something.

@TE
6.2 million at the moment, that’s not the real figure remember, that will jump considerably, like every other week.

@TE
I wasn’t meaning overnight ratings. I still think that the final ratings for each episode would be higher if the series had a later, and fixed, timeslot.

Of course ratings still matter. They may not matter too much to us, but broadcasters still rely on them to make decisions about a tv show’s future. Numerous programmes; Ugly Betty, The OC, The Bill, Survivors, to name but a few, have ended recently, due to poor ratings.