Although these ratings look quite high and make the programs look successful they are actually down by quite a lot compared to last year. EastEnders alone had over half a million less viewers than its Christmas special of 2011. Doctor Who got 7.6 million viewers which is over 1.3 million less than last year.
Controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen, said "It's been brilliant to see so many viewers watching BBC One on Christmas Day."
Despite the ratings being considerably lower than last year on all channels most stations are just blaming it on the rise of people using catch-up services like BBC player, ITV player, 4oD and Demand 5. This means that people can catch up on their favourite shows after Christmas day when they don't have the stress of their mother in law around for dinner or children crying because they didn't get what they wanted off Santa.