Huge British audience watched the Games

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33455, 9 February 1974, Page 5

Huge British audience watched the Games

(By ROBERT HORROCKS, N.Z.P.A. staff correspondent) LONDON'.

Television coverage of the Commonwealth Games boosted audience ratings for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Figures for the first four days cover included an audience rating of 10 million, two and a half times greater than usual, for the “Grandstand” programme on Saturday. January 26. Games cover was interspersed throughout the afternoon's cover, and a 8.8. C. spokesman said it obviously was responsible for the increased interest.

Even higher figures were recorded for some of the evening programmes, shown in the peak viewing time, between 6.45 p.m. and 8.05 p.m. The first day of competition, Friday, January 25, was watched by 14.5 million viewers, and on Tuesday, January 29, 16.5 million people tuned into the Games coverage. This latter figure was undoubtedly influenced, however, by the programme which followed — a recording of the previous night’s heavyweight boxing fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. But the spokesman described the 16.5 million audience rating as “a knockout”, and said it would be one of the most popular programmes of the month. The peak-time viewing audience during the 8.8.C.’s extensive cover of the Munich Olympics in 1972 was 16 million. Another comparable rating, he added, was 17.5

million for the Miss Kingdom contest last year. The coverage of the Games given on 8.8. C. television received glowing praise in a lengthy review by Chris Dunkley, television critic of the “Financial Times” on February 6. N.Z.B.C. film was mainly used by the 8.8. C., which provided its own editing team in Christchurch to

compile and condense each day’s activities into a programme lasting about 90 minutes. The “Financial Times”, which is strong on arts coverage but usually confines sporting matters to one article an issue, carried its television review over five columns of its main arts page, under the heading “Commonwealth Triumph.” Dunkley said the 8.8. C. coverage was superb. He watched every broadcast, and would have been happy viewing a further hour each night. “The competition was in-

finitely more exciting than any quiz contest; the suspension between heats on one day and finals on another was much greater than the Suspense in any of the cliff-hanging serials; the tendency to produce adrenalin outclassed the abilities of police thrillers, war movies and ‘Match of the Day’ all rolled together; and the heroes ” Dunkley said the close-up shots transformed the record of a sporting event into “what can truly be called human drama.” The instant slow-motion i replays added education and) elucidation and the digital clock in the top right corner, of the screen, and super-! imposed captions listing competitors, kept viewers better informed than anyone!

. watching in the'stadium. ■ He added that the cov-| , erage had the mark of true ■ professionalism. “Great tele-1 i vision.” he wrote. “Roll on 19 7 8 and Edmonton,! Canada.”