Royal Wedding & Better Baking: Best British Factual, 2018. The Top 200

The “Best of British” is one of my more popular posts.

I list the year’s highest-rated unscripted programs, usually to honor UK producers in time for their PACT party at Realscreen.

For a different look at 2018, I combined the Documentary, Factual, Lifestyle & Current Affairs categories, showing the best single episode for series.

It’s not exactly chalk and cheese, but the data is highly informative.

I’m busy in Mexico City, so my Takeaways are brief. And excuse the lower case show titles. More to come…

TOP 10: SHARE

• The Harry / Meghan wedding earned a whopping 62.9 share of the audience that was actually watching TV at the time!
• In 2017, Blue Planet topped my list with 14 million viewers and a 45.8 share.
• Here is the UK Top 10 for 2018, measured by Share (Individuals 4+):

Formats score: Spy in the Snow

AUDIENCE 2018: TOP 100 + TAKEAWAYS

Here is the 2018 #1-100, measured by Individuals 4+.

• Royals always find a way to dominate! (#2, 5, 7, 11, 13 in the Top 20 alone.)
• Natural History is strong, though lagging a bit versus versus previous years.
• Wildlife leaders are:
  • Attenborough’s Dynasties (#3 / 8.1 Mn)
  • Pets specialist Paul O’Grady’s Love of Dogs (#15 / 5.3 Mn).
  • The BBC’s Blue Chip Spy in The Snow (#20 / 5.1 Mn) extends the “Spy” franchise.
  • Attenborough scores again with Giant Sea Dragon  (#25 / 4.9 Mn).
• With Netflix investing heavily in Super- Blue Chip projects, often led by BBC-trained creatives, the BBC faces a challenge to retain its dominating wildlife audience.
• The Great British Bake Off finale earns 10 Mn viewers, plus great #’s for Celebrity and Christmas spinoffs.
  • Its audience is even more notable because C4 is not one of the two main channels.
• It makes me happy to see the BBC’s under-appreciated anchor franchises Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow consistently pull Top 10 rankings and spin off successful specials.
• The “Spinoff” deserves a separate Takeaway:
  • The global video conversation has shifted to binge-able scripted series.
  • Broadcasters and Cab / Sat channels must mine their strong franchises for compelling spinoffs that offer efficient development, production and promotion.
• The Anything-But-Royal History genre takes a knock: It’s a long way to # 43 for RAF at 100.
• The creative juice driving the imaginative Occu-soaps that marked recent decades seems to have run dry.
  • Heathrow is at #34.
  • It is followed closely by Ambulance which is well-regarded for its special access.
• Gogglebox slips from 5.5 Mn viewers in 2017 to 4.4 Mn.
  • It’s been a while since British creatives came up with such an innovative hit format.
• The Science genre seems to need fresh vision: Wonders of the Moon leads at #40.
• The True Crime genre seems to lack the intense interest shown by U.S. video consumers.
• And note the strong showing for Current Affairs programs, reflecting our troubled times.
• Weight Loss is an expanding category as big personal health issues speak to viewers in the Lifestyle category.
• Hosted Travel and DIY are well represented, too.
• Final thought: I’m always very envious of the range and creative quality of British unscripted programs.

The Great British Bake Off

AUDIENCE: TOP #101-200

• And here is 2018’s Top 101-200 Factual, including Documentaries, Lifestyle and Current Affairs. (Individuals 4+)

Source: BARB