Site Menu

September 8th, 2012 17 comments

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Doctor Who Simulcast New Ratings Record

Doctor Who international Simulcast sets new Ratings Record

With thanks to BBC Worldwide Ltd

Doctor Who – the world’s longest running sci-fi television series – attracted large audiences in America, Canada and Australia when the first episode of Series 7 – Asylum of the Daleks – was broadcast last weekend.

Consolidated figures from the US over the weekend showed that the Series 7 premiere delivered BBC America’s highest-rated, most watched telecast ever in Live + Same Day. Doctor Who delivered 1.55 million viewers and ranked #1 in cable (excluding sports) among A25-54 in its timeslot. This record audience was 23% up from the Series 6 premiere in 2011.

In Australia, ABC made the series premiere available on the iView service immediately after UK transmission. The episode attracted a record number of overnight views which stood at 75,000, and nearly 130,000 have watched in total since it became available. The episode is broadcast on ABC1 in Australia on Saturday 08 September.

Canadian broadcaster SPACE also reported strong figures, with over 620,000 viewers tuning in to watch Asylum of the Daleks. The episode is the second highest rated episode in series history on SPACE and was the most watched programme on Canadian television in its timeslot on Saturday night.

The international success of the show consolidated an impressive performance in the UK, where the Series 7 premiere was the highest rated show in its timeslot, pulling in an overnight average of 6.4 million viewers on Saturday evening.


Adverts/Affiliates

17 comments

  • Helen

    September 9th, 2012 - 9:16am

    I watched “The Asylum of Daleks” last night and in this show Amy told Rory “she had to let him go, as she could not have children”. Yet in previous episodes she did have a baby. What’s the story here??

    Reply
  • Helen Clement

    September 9th, 2012 - 9:12am

    I watched “The Asylum of Daleks” last night. In this show Amy told Rory she let him go “as she could not have children” yet in previous episodes she had a child? What’s the story here?

    Reply
  • Justininferno

    September 6th, 2012 - 5:21pm

    6.4million in the UK is awful for a season opener. I can only see it staying at this level or dropping to 5million.

    Reply
    • booboo

      September 6th, 2012 - 5:25pm

      overnights are a waist of time now, final figure for Asylum is already over 8.00 million

    • John Smith

      September 8th, 2012 - 8:51am

      6.4 million isn’t that great at all. I would of thought that the long wait would of made people look forward to Asylum of the Daleks more but obviously it just buzzed people off!

    • booboo

      September 8th, 2012 - 8:55am

      not really, final figure is already over 8.00 million, people are just choosing different ways to watch these days

  • TheWhomobile

    September 6th, 2012 - 4:02pm

    To be honest for a country the size of America 1.55 million doesn’t seem that impressive. I thought it would be a lot more.

    Reply
    • Lbunithq

      September 6th, 2012 - 4:22pm

      seing as programs such as Fringe which is shown on a major network and has a production budget that would make Steven Moffat weep struggles to hit 4 million In usa i would say 1,6 mill on a cable station is excellent most cable stations would give their right arm for figures like that

    • Rooners

      September 6th, 2012 - 6:07pm

      Exactly – those are excellent US viewing figures for a Sci-Fi show on a Premium Cable channel (meaning you have to pay for it).

      I know the show enjoyed a cult following in the Tom Baker years, in the US and began to attract a more mainstream audience since the 2005 relaunch but the show seems to have really taken off since Steven Moffat and Matt Smith have come aboard. Lets just hope the US networks dont try and makea US version as they do with so many BBC programs. I think even American fans would prefer the show to remain as it is.

  • Jason doctorwhoone

    September 6th, 2012 - 3:12pm

    DOCTOR WHO RULES THE ENTIRE WORLD – EVEN AMERICA CANNOT RESIST IT !!!! 😀

    DOCTOR WHO 😀
    DOCTOR WHO 😀
    DOCTOR WHO 😀

    Reply
    • Commander Strax

      September 6th, 2012 - 3:44pm

      Nothing can resist the power of Doctor Who! 😉

    • Jason doctorwhoone

      September 6th, 2012 - 3:47pm

      Damn right 😀

      “The ability to destroy a planet or the power of the Force is insufficient next to the power of Doctor Who”

      That’s what Darth Vader really should have said in Star Wars to Grand Moff ‘Dr.Who’ Tarkin 😉

    • Sebatron

      September 7th, 2012 - 2:37am

      Doctor Who rules the world Muhahahahahahaha!
      Sorry just had to do that!

    • Jason doctorwhoone

      September 7th, 2012 - 7:32am

      No need to apologize for a slight moment of madness Sebatron, the Master has his moments of madness all the time 😀

    • John Smith

      September 8th, 2012 - 8:54am

      100% true! Doctor Who is the best show of all time and nothing can ever beat it! Star Trek sits in a corner and cries at the success of Doctor Who and Star Wars self destructs in shame and why have a Time Traveling car when you can have a Time Traveling Police Box? That’s what I ask Mardy Mcfly!

    • Whovian

      September 8th, 2012 - 9:57am

      What would the american companies call it anyway, if they dared to make a copy? Is anyone else curious or is it just me?

  • CG

    September 6th, 2012 - 1:41pm

    Yes, I watched it on iview in Aus and I know many people that also did.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

By clicking submit you agree to our terms and conditions (below), we reserve the right to edit or delete inappropriate messages.

Comment rules

The Doctor Who site welcomes constuctive comments related to the news article in question. Links posted in comments may not be displayed. We reserve the right to delete or edit any post entirely at our discretion. If you leave unacceptable comments your IP address will be banned and reported

Click here to read full comments terms and conditions

Twitter

Facebook