The first of four hourlong episodes topped Tuesday night in the ratings with 5M viewers for a 21.7% share. But according to overnight data, it was the lowest series debut in the show’s history and 600,000 viewers off from the last Luther episode which aired in 2011.
Source: deadline
Source: deadline
It lost half a million viewers between its first five minutes (5.09m) and its final five minutes (4.59m).
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised, some people will probably have been scared off by the change in tone, since when was this a horror show? That first under the bed scene was probably too much for some.
ReplyDeleteI was scared off by the change in quality, huge drop off versus the first 10 episodes.
ReplyDeleteAnyway this is confirmed to be the final season or not yet?
I wasn't that impressed either, pretty boring messy plot that relied on the aforementioned shocks for interest. I'll probably still watch next week though if only for Idris Elba.
ReplyDeleteA solid start which is in line, or above, other dramas, Deadline obviously don't know much about current British viewing figures from what they have written above, lol. It's currently one of the top shows on iPlayer, my guess is it will easily time-shift another million to 1 1/2 mill.
ReplyDeleteExactly and the BBC take IPlayer figures pretty seriously, so yeah no need to worry Luther is doing fine.
ReplyDeleteI think all the channels tend to ignore the overnights now from what I've seen. All shows are down on them by quite some margin, but catch up TV has sky rocketed here recently. Last night before this episode of Luther there were 3 ads for shows on iPlayer in a row, that would have been an unthinkable campaign to push even 12 months ago, lol.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think the UK more than other countries have really embraced online catch up services. I would be lost without IPlayer really it is just so good!
ReplyDeleteLet's make this clear: after 2 YEARS off the air, that kind of drop off is actually good. We're talking thousands, the kind of difference that can be had between episodes, never mind years. So it could've been a lot worse, and 5M is still a great number for BBC and that time slot. BBC will be very happy with it. On top of that there's the higher than ever social media buzz for the show, the countless number of people sure to record/watch it on iplayer and the highly positive reaction from most critics and fans (the episode was great) and this is a definite WIN. I've not even mentioned the shows growing popularity in the US, where this season airs next month.
ReplyDeleteLONG LIVE LUTHER.