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by dmurray
719 days ago
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> the "tea kettle" effect every time the BBC was between programs or went to commercial This effect is famous, although of course the BBC does not show commercial content in the UK. I wonder if the effect has diminished with the increased variety of entertainment. Coronation Street now peaks around 5 million viewers, down from 20 million in the 90s [0], and is on a channel that does show ads. Perhaps half time in England football games still creates a big power draw. [0] https://coronationstreet.fandom.com/wiki/Viewing_Figures |
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Half time of a pivotal England World Cup game, shown only on commercial TV. I'm pretty sure finals (and maybe semi-finals) are always simulcast on the BBC so it's unlikely to have that commercial break element. There were a few big ones (>1GW) this century for big England games, and a notable one during COVID responses when people put a kettle on and then went outside to clap thank you to NHS workers.
But the other types of events, soap character's murderer revealed, long running drama ends, that sort of thing, are casualties of modern viewing habits - no longer a single identifiable (and potentially disastrous if not allowed for) bump.