Jackie Bird declared ‘Hogmanay queen’ in TV ratings report

BBC Scotland’s Jackie Bird is today being hailed as the ‘Hogmanay queen’ by the Scottish Daily Express, following what the newspaper calls a “crushing victory” by BBC Scotland over STV in the Hogmanay battle of the ratings.

Writes Rod Mills and Gavin Docherty: “[The BBC’s show, presented by Jackie Bird] pulled in seven times more than the much-trumpeted Scotland’s Greatest Album Countdown, fronted by ex-Altered Images singer, Clare Grogan, which scraped just 150,000 viewers.”

Mills and Docherty continue: “The ratings slaughter will bring cold comfort to STV’s head of content, Alan Clements, who placed major store in his unorthodox approach to New Year’s Eve scheduling.

“He had pinned his hopes on Scottish viewers shunning the traditional BBC live studio music format, for the climax of a pre-recorded album countdown show.”

It was being estimated the BBC show peaked at around 1.22million viewers, during the final moments before midnight.