ITV nabs 2.7m with Gogglebox-type holiday show Travel Guides
From an onslaught of recent ads to many of the broadcasters’ latest schedule-filling disposable output, the Goggleboxisation of TV continued last night with the launch of Travel Guides (9pm), another review show with ‘relatable’ stars.
Like most broadcasters, lately ITV has been attempting to take Channel 4’s successful Gogglebox format and stuff the ‘realness’ into any conceivable format, in a valiant effort to emulate the rival broadcaster’s low-risk rewards.
First came Big Box Little Box back in June in which REAL families gave REAL opinions about gadgets no one would ever need and enjoyed relative success, usually pulling in over 2 million live viewers.
Monday night saw the horror show of daytime-TV cringe-fest Coach Trip mashed in with the straight-talking realness that only non-scripted reality shows can bring, resulting in the first episode of Travel Guides.
Representing us, the normal everyday plebs of Britain, were gobby spray-tanned ladettes straight out of the TOWIE reject line, a caustically sassy middle-aged man who hated everything as well as the bog-standard family thrown in for good measure.
Featuring people from different demographics and market segments with scientific marketing accuracy, our reviewers descended upon the paradise island of Koh Samui in Thailand to give it the old Four in a Bed treatment.
[advert position=”left”]Despite the Frankenstein’s monster approach to pilfering existing formats, the ‘fresh’ methodology to holiday shows secured the 9pm slot with an audience of 2.7 million viewers and a 14% share, proving this just may be exactly what people want.
At the same time on BBC One was the third and final part of Britain at the Bookies (9pm), a documentary looking at the going ons in a small Coral shop and the industry as a whole.
The final episode saw the four big companies displaying some consciousness about the personal cost that generates their obscene profits and spent some time with some sorrowful punters. 1.9 million viewers and a 10% share tuned in to see the actual cost of being addicted to the flutter.
Meanwhile, those melancholic talented young things of Bloomsbury’s yesteryear were littering BBC Two again with the second instalment of Life in Squares (9pm), the high cost and moody period fashion shoot with soul.
Opening up with 1.9 million viewers last week, just 1.1 million tuned in to see the Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf navigate their way through their own self-built maze of narcissism, resulting in a 6% share.
On Channel 5, 1.6 million viewers (a 9% share) tuned in to see an adventuring TV presenter spend some time with a possible serial killer in the Appalachian mountains on the latest Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild (9pm).
Over on Channel 4, things were getting a little tense in the interview room as 24 Hours in Police Custody (9pm) once again refused to pull any punches.
An audience of 1.8 million viewers tuned in to see a doctor and a school worker pulled into the station for distributing child pornography, with the latest downtrodden taste of life policing the streets, netting a 9% share.
Afterwards, Channel 4’s 10pm offering generated the most amount of tweets of the day which is probably the very reason that A Very British Brothel (10pm) was commissioned. The documentary about a little Sheffield establishment run by a mother and daughter team secured 1.8 million viewers and a 10% share.
Earlier at 7pm Emmerdale (ITV) kicked of its latest ‘disaster’ week by sending Debbie and Pete out on their prospective hen and stag dos, only for both parties to end up in the one village pub. Who’d have guessed it?
6.2 million viewers tuned in to see the latest round of shouting and completely obvious ‘secret guilt’ expressions, netting a 35% share.
On EastEnders (BBC One) at 8pm, prodigal daughter Little Libby was also heavily fond of the whole palpable hidden inner turmoil, with the latest trip to E20 netting 6.2 million viewers and a 31% share.
There was more teatime violence on offer with a double helping of Coronation Street (ITV) as terminally stupid Sarah Platt and her even more inane love life came to a head when she found out her fella was using her daughter as a drugs mule. As you do.
7.3 million viewers and a 38% share tuned in at 7pm, falling to 7.2 million viewers and a 35% share an hour later at 8:30pm and securing Monday’s top two spots for ITV.
Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.
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