I've always been intrigued by this - what exactly is the target audience for DOND?

4:15pm on weekdays has traditionally been the home of children's TV, certainly on BBC 1 and ITV 1, whilst BBC 2, C4 and C5 all had factual programmes / gameshows, such as Countdown. Clearly, in this timeslot, the programmes were aimed for children on BBC 1 and ITV 1, and adults / older children on BBC 2, C4 and C5.

I've heard many different target audiences being mentioned for DOND - toddlers, children, teenagers, students, elderly people, and so on, would all appear to like DOND. Certainly in the older days of DOND, I'd have said it was targeted more towards people over the age of 16.

However, nowadays, what with novelties such as Bunney's singing and Gabrielle's lucky slippers, is DOND now trying to appeal more to the children's audience?

It would make sense - ITV 1's children's TV seems to now stop at 4pm, meaning there is a gap in the market. If this is the case, will we be seeing more younger players appearing over the next few months? Or maybe we will see more whacky players to provide entertainment?

DOND certainly appeals to people who like the statistics - but will these viewers be alienated if the banker's joke offers and "swap" offers become a regular occurence?

I just wish it would go back to how it was in the early days.

Me too, it was far more sensible without people just wanting to be famous for 5 minutes! I just like to see them opening the boxes without all the novelties!

what you have to remember is that the "early days" were better because they were only signed up for 60 shos therefore they could afford to be more generous etc.

I think their target audience is OAP's, students, housewifes and people who have just come in from school etc.

I personally don't think DOND will last for much more than another year - I know that despite being inundated with applicants they are now struggling to get decent people - ie people who can hold a conversation and are not just out for what they can get.

Too many people who apply for the show just want the mopney and the fame and these are not the right reasons for applying.

Pam

When I said the "early days" I should have been more specific, I meant from when it first started to about the end of May. Not just the first 60 shows.

Apparently, DOND was first filmed in early october 2005 for Lynn's game

oops - well sorry but in that case I can't agree that it is not as good.

Although I think it does dpend what banker is on duty. One of the bankers is way too generous, the other is the opposite.

Pam

Got to agree with The Banker on this one.I applied of course to win a few bob but also the format appealed to me.It appears that they have now moved the goalposts and are trying to fix something that has never broke.I do not think i would now apply!

I certainly think that there have been new gimmicks introduced since Season 2 began (i.e. when it returned from its summer break on 28/8/06).

Events such as the Lucky Hats and Noel walking outside and stopping a girl on a bike were rare and special. Since series 3 (series denotes the blocks of filming) - i.e. episodes filmed from 2/10/06 - on-screen from 26/10, there have been many gimmicks, and often too many, for example, Brian (1)'s game had the dance to increase the offer, the contestants going to the bankers in the audience, and the walkout - it'd have been much better in my opinion if only one of these happened in Brian's game, and the rest happened in later games - having 3 in one game was weird, and it also meant taking up about 6 - 8 minutes of Brian's game, almost a quarter of the 36 minutes each episode is allocated (post editing, exlcuding adverts).

I also think these days there is too much emphasis on the audience, the other contestants, Noel himself and props - for example, I think Gabrielle's game would've worked just as well without the slippers and the boa. In the earlier days of DOND, it was the contestant who made the game entertaining, rather than the props - for example, Sarah H's game.

I'm not saying that the contestants these days are not entertaining - far from it - but what I am saying is that I think the gimmicks are unnecessary, and I am wondering if they are trying to appeal to a new audience (children, perhaps), by introducing these gimmicks...

I certainly think the show was more sensible when it started. The show should be on later, perhaps at Seven. I also understood early on that Channel4 didn't want a child audience and I can't see too many children tuning into deal or no deal rather than the latest Cartoon or what have you...

Gotta agree.

Gimmicks are OK if used sparingly for special occasions, to add a bit of fun to the show but they shouldn't be used ALL the time because that's when it gets a bit OTT.

speech of the century.

have £12,062.50!

you *beep*.

are you a bloody child?No.

but then am i a thicko who just watches tom&jerry all the time?no.although no-one in my school, and theres 1850 people, excluding the 125 staff members, actually said they knew what the bloody hell DOND was.so there you go, 1849 peope in my school dont know what the best programme ever is.TUT

As a self-employed person I am sometimes around to watch the 4.15 shows though not always. I think that DOND appeals to a very broad audience across the age spectrum, and with a more fluid work schedule these days than just Mon-Fri 9-5 for a lot of people it isn't just students, OAPS and housewives that watch the show. I don't agree that it is a show for young kids, but if this had been on when I was about 9 I think I would have favoured this over Blue Peter etc., so I'm guessing that a number of kids watch. That will only interest those who pay for advertising in the breaks of the show if their parents are watching, and their is a fair chance that a lot of them do! 4 million viewers has to cover a very broad range of people, male and female, and all ages!

There are a load of kids in my school who love dond and are as obsessed about it as I am.All the ones who hate it use the show in really unfunny jokes. Idiots

Why do you act as though he just insulted you?

I'm quite surprised that Noel and the banker were so clumsy as to make a mistake in saying that never before has an above mean offer been made, when I think at least 5 in-play above mean offers have been in the past, one of them happening in Wendy's game on Christmas Eve.

Does this mean that maybe they are trying to appeal to people who don't watch the show regularly more nowadays, as people who don't watch regularly won't be able to tell if what Noel and or the banker is saying is true or not.

I've also noticed Noel often these days saying "In case you don't know" and then explaining something that's happened in an earlier episode. I thought this was for the use of the audience, but they never used to actually keep it edited in...

Perhaps you should consider that the majority of Deal or No Deal viewers are not total geeks who keep note of every single little detail to do with the show and therefore do not remember/ care about what has happened in previous episodes?

Pam, do you really think that the show won't last for another year or so? I'm intrigued by what you have to say.

That may be true, but seeing as though the banker and Noel were making such a big deal out of Dennis' above mean offer, you'd have expected them to get their facts right. I think I'd rather Noel didn't mention the stats at all if he's going to get them wrong.

But very, very few people care about the stats!?