[F4C]

I know from my research, that ITV always want to be seen to be caring about Christmas Day, when in reality they don't. And so, their schedule reflects that.

ITV this year did reasonably well but I do feel with no big soap plot lines for Emmerdale and Corrie, that was the achilles heel for their schedule. If Emmerdale and Corrie had a big event on Christmas Day, that would prove decent competition to BBC One, however Emmerdale and Corrie this Christmas night people have said just felt like a regular episode.

I believe the BBC has always won out on Christmas day for a fair few years now. ITV probably decided it wasn’t worth it and just put in the bare minimum.

Maybe they’ve got some surprises for next year, maybe they just wanted to save a few quid.

[fanoftv]

Everyone keeps say that Emmerdale didn’t have a gripping storyline for Christmas Day, there was a hostage with gunshot to end the episode on a cliffhanger, however it all seemed rushed imo.

I think the schedule from the day worked well for ITV1. People seem to be criticising Nolly airing this week when it’s been available on ITVX, but surely this is what we’re going to see more often, the linear channels used as a shop window for the demand services. It’s not as bad as looking at some of the Sky channels which have aired the same shows in different orders all week.

[JMT1985]

I believe the BBC has always won out on Christmas day for a fair few years now. ITV probably decided it wasn’t worth it and just put in the bare minimum.

Maybe they’ve got some surprises for next year, maybe they just wanted to save a few quid.

This goes all the way back to the launch of ITV in 1955 when that Christmas they didn't really bother to provide anything too special for the Christmas period.

Problem for ITV is the advertising, their attitude is why waste their money on producing expensive Christmas television, when the ad revenue will be at it's lowest?

ITV since 1955 have always poured their money into their big programming in the autumn, and so when Christmas week comes, there is little left to use.

So, the original ITV companies who coordinated networking of ITV shows, decided the mantra for Christmas ITV would be cheap and cheerful.

On occasions, they did compete hard, but when they did, they usual got beaten by BBC One, however there were some Christmas times when ITV came close to beating BBC One, and even did, for example Christmas Day 1999.

[Andrew]

I believe the BBC has always won out on Christmas day for a fair few years now. ITV probably decided it wasn’t worth it and just put in the bare minimum.

Maybe they’ve got some surprises for next year, maybe they just wanted to save a few quid.

By a fair few years, you probably mean pretty much the last 50 years give or take one or two outliers

People always say ITV should make “an effort”, but that big effort that people want seems to exclude episodes of their biggest soaps, entertainment shows or special episodes of their biggest dramas

[interestednovice]

As somebody who doesn’t watch soaps myself, I view it as the BBC attempt to cover Christmas Day as something for everyone throughout the day, as much as possible: they have a children’s animation, usually a big film, comedies such as Mrs Brown’s Boys and popular programmes throughout the day on BBC One. They provide the alternative of classics such as Dad’s Army on BBC Two, mainly to suit older people.

ITV, on the other hand, I view as king of soaps. They have specials of their various soaps and special editions of their ITV daytime programmes. So for people who enjoy ITV 1 programming generally, it provides a solid lineup. But it won’t appeal to anybody who isn’t already a fan of ITV 1 programming, so it isn’t exactly an audience “draw”. It does, however, have its place.

Channel 4 wheel out the films and other content, to provide a proper commercial alternative to ITV 1, which isn’t so soap heavy.

Channel 5 major on their “easy watch” talking heads documentaries.

All the major digital channels try to schedule good quality programmes too, so anybody channel flicking who isn’t drawn in by the main channels has alternatives to watch.

So overall I feel it’s a bit of a Christmas Truce in the general ratings war and more about providing genuine alternatives from different channels, not really looking to “poach” audience share.

[Brekkie]

I know from my research, that ITV always want to be seen to be caring about Christmas Day, when in reality they don't. And so, their schedule reflects that.

ITV this year did reasonably well but I do feel with no big soap plot lines for Emmerdale and Corrie, that was the achilles heel for their schedule. If Emmerdale and Corrie had a big event on Christmas Day, that would prove decent competition to BBC One, however Emmerdale and Corrie this Christmas night people have said just felt like a regular episode.

Yes, it might be fairer to say it was the lack of a big story rather than the shorter episodes which may have been an issue - fair play to EE they played a blinder promotion wise. I think with Corrie the attention has been on that Boxing Day episode with Peter leaving. Perhaps a split episode on Christmas Day might have been a solution there.

Back to presentation and I assume there have been no new addiitons to the Christmas idents this year? Have they only aired on ITV1 as well?

[eyeTV]

Based on what I have seen there are no ITV1 additions to the Christmas idents. And I believe it's only ITV1 that has festive idents at all.

[tellyblues]

Apart from the finale of Downton Abbey in 2015, you have to go all the way back to 2000 when an ITV show (Corrie) topped the Xmas Day ratings and ITV were strong overall. The BBC1 offerings around this period were ropey (Changing Rooms, David Copperfield, Ground Force) but to be fair to ITV they had WWTBAM which was massive at the time and deserved the viewers it got. Since Strictly and Dr Who were added to the mix and although there have been duff choices like To The Manor Born and a few episodes of The Royle Family which were below par (and people only in hindsight would have decided not to watch), the BBC haven't looked back.

It may well be that ITV don't try that hard but I think aside from The X Factor, I'm A Celeb and Saturday Night Takeaway which haven't been shown on Xmas Day, their light entertainment slate has been really poor over the years so what could they have done (assuming they don't try)? The 1% Club and Limitless Win have been hits but aren't in the same league. The Masked Singer I don't think works as a standalone episode and because of various other things. On the whole, if creating an Xmas Day schedule using just their own shows, ITV have managed it well. It could be better but that work has to be done all year round and sadly I'm not sure that Wheel of Fortune, Password etc are good enough.

[interestednovice]

Yes, that’s really what I was trying to say earlier.

For creating a Christmas Day schedule using their biggest shows, ITV 1 wasn’t bad schedule-wise.

It’s just that they don’t have programmes which rate particularly well of a general variety throughout the year. If you think about it, a lot of their hits are hits with a niche audience - great in the demographic, but not something you can air for all on Christmas Day.

That’s why falling back on their status of “solid” daytime lineup plus soaps isn’t too bad, and does make sense. Although I’d be disappointed if the BBc adopted the same approach. I suspect we’d view a pre-recorded best-of One Show Special as really scraping the barrel, for example!

[Brekkie]

Would be interesting to know what the most streamed shows were on Christmas Day and if there is any pattern there which might tell us what non-linear viewers are looking for.

Maybe it's how drama has evolved but although ITV still has success with the two hour detective dramas and the stripped weekly shows it doesn't really have the weekly dramas now that could deliver a Christmas special. They've never really replaced Downton and although they've tried a few things in the old Heartbeat slot like The Durrells and The Larkins they've not particularly stuck around or made an impact.

As with the BBC really the strength of the Christmas schedule is dependent on the strength of the overall schedule. BBC1 has enough to fill the big day at least with specials for their main flagship shows, even if beyond that content seems to be spread a bit thinly. ITV have far fewer options it seems outside their entertainment slate, which isn't quite what it was.