User:SOTO/Forum Archive/Tales from the Tardis/@comment-188432-20121221005604/@comment-188432-20121224134132

OttselSpy25 wrote: I think you'll find that a lot of Americans voted for Doctor Who. You see, it wasn't really until last year that Doctor Who reall got as big in America as ithad been in Britian.

This is a fantasy that non-Americans — and even some rather delusional Yanks — love to put forward. Doctor Who is still very much the kind of programme of which the majority of Americans have never heard. It's on a network that isn't even as big a deal as Dave is in the UK. Only three-quarters of the US population live in a place where BBCA is an option for them, and the vast majority of Americans do not avail themselves of that option. The very most popular episodes of Doctor Who receive Viewing figures that are only a few hundred thousand more than those who see it in Canada on Space — but of course Canada has about one-ninth as many people.

It's fair to say that Doctor Who is receiving more media attention in America than ever before, but actually its ratings high point was when it was on SyFy during the RTD era. Series 7a has been one of declining ratings, overall, at BBCA. Daleks was a record breaker (at a mere 1.5 million, mind), and from then on it flirted with the 1 million mark. The ratings stinker in the bunch was, as in Britain, A Town Called Mercy, which didn't even get 1 million viewers.

The reason it's getting publicity is that 1 million viewers is enough in today's highly fractionalised television environment to merit comment. And because it's got great sales on iTunes. But is it mainstream television? Nah. But it is at least mainstream-ish.