Challenge Response

[Trial_by_Spikes]

Don't knock It's a Knockout. People fall over a lot. Just like Knightmare. People struggle moving around on their own. Just like Knightmare. Too many similarities...

[Thanatos]

It'll be a VERY different story when the new series airs.

IF, Malefact, if.

[Porsmond]

Oh, and Knightmare isn't in the top 10 in any week.

Although this is true, have you noticed what is so weird about all of the programmes that are in the Top 10 nearly every week(look closely and think hard)

YEP, ALL of the programmes listed especially on 16/02/03 had the benifet of advertising, and look at the week before that(9/2/03) WOW all of those again had the benifit of advertising, and look at the week before that(2/2/03) once again all those programmes had adverts ADVERTISING them, Need I go on and on

Simply put, Challenge had the oppunitity to make Knightmare a success but failed in a HUGE way simply because there was no advertising whatsoever. I mean to Challenge Knightmare was a new programme so they should have let the viewers know about it. I will admit here and now that if I did not tune into Challenge at Christmas, I would have NOT known about Knightmare appearing on Challenge throughout Jan and Feb and then it was only by coming on this website that I knew the full details.

[Whiteknight]

Well, it's not too surprising that no-one really knew about KM being shown on Challenge?  I recall that the adverts for the Xmas schedule consisted of a reel of old and popular game programmes.  Although it lasted about a minute, KM's advertising exposure consisted of flashing the famous logo on the screen for about half a second tops.

In spite of this, at the end of Saturday's 5pm episode, the presenter said that KM was receiving about as many e-mails as Takeshi's Castle which has been a really popular programme in the recent past.  Is it therefore arguable that had Challenge? released a fair amount of advertising exposure to KM, viewing figures would be higher, or did they do it on purpose to prove their point and justify buying the rights to cheaper programmes rather than those which are highly sought after by fans?

[Arcengal]

There are three things I will always loathe Challenge TV for.

One is not putting on more Knightmare.
Two is getting rid of all the QUIZ shows and replacing them with dumbass ACTION shows (Boyard). Where's Catchphrase, Trival Persuit, etc?
Three is Bargain Hunt....no-one watches it! HELLO!?

[GrimaldineGrimwold]

Is it therefore arguable that had Challenge? released a fair amount of advertising exposure to KM, viewing figures would be higher, or did they do it on purpose to prove their point and justify buying the rights to cheaper programmes rather than those which are highly sought after by fans?

It's hard to say. I'd say it's at least fair argument to make. There was really no attempt to advertise the show from the very start: it's definitely tempting to suggest they didn't bother because they knew the price of getting new series meant they wouldn't give the show a future anyway. However, lack of advertising might be down to plain old incompetence on their part. I think that's an equally plausible explanation given their record.  

I'm interested by what you say about them "proving their point". There's at least one other aspect to this. They get positive feedback on Knightmare by email and on their forums all the time. Of course some of this is from "fans", but I still hold a lot of it is from ordinary viewers who've never been to this site, or who have only done so after seeing the programme on Challenge?. However, by reasoning that all feedback comes from obsessed "fans", they're effectively saying they don't have to listen to any of that feedback because it doesn't represent the views of a cross section of their audience or potential audience.

The feedback that cheap excuse doesn't shield them from is that which shows up quite how badly they've marketed the programme. I think that's the point people are currently making on their forum. It'll be interesting to see if we get an official response.  

[Steve]

It'll be a VERY different story when the new series airs. A massive new generation of fans will come about, joined by loads more of our generation who will have seen it and remembered how much they liked it, and all the digital channels will be falling over themselves to snap up the rights!  8)

Hi Guys

Just a thought, when this new series comes out, will they need members of the public(obviously fans) to be in it? can those of us who missed out the first time go on and advise the "dungeoneer"would be great for all of us die hard fans out there!

[Malefact]

Well, from what I've read I believe the new series is going to be aimed at a children's programming thread (mind you, the BROADCAST article reports that Tim Child is steering clear of kids channels) so we might not be able to apply.

TimeGate, on the other hand, is an adult programme (no, not in that sense!) which means we could apply to go on it.