TEN failing 7pm test
This will come as no surprise to any reader of this site. But it’s good to hear the problem being addressed publicly.
TEN’s chief programmer has conceded it is in the doldrums due mostly to the 7pm timeslot.
“Where the problem is for us - and it’s the elephant in the room - is 7pm and there’s no question it’s our biggest challenge,” Mott told the Daily Telegraph. “It’s hurting us and we have to bring people back . . . at 7pm.”
TEN has cycled through Friends, Taken Out, Friends (again) and Will and Grace to no avail, dragging down other shows that follow.
Meanwhile Home and Away and Two and A Half Men regularly register more than 1.2 million in the same timeslot and ABC1 news counts about 1.1 million. While TEN took a risk with Taken Out, the format didn’t seem polished enough and it didn’t provide enough variety, especially with 3 weeks of female contestants.
“If you’re not performing at 7pm, and we haven’t been, then we’re not performing the rest of the night,” Mott said. “It’s particularly hard when you’re trying to launch shows when you don’t have an audience flowing through.”
Viewers have been angered by kneejerk axings, and shows moving around the schedule. There is a wholesale loss of faith that needs addressing with a new branding for 2009.
On Wednesday night the network had just 16% share, and is set to finish in its worst position in eight years.
TEN unveils its 2009 line-up on Monday.
Source: Daily Telegraph
- Previous post: iQ2Go stick allows Foxtel downloads
- Next post: Comedy Slapdown
seems like they should give Out of the Blue a shot, it cant do any worse than a) how it did over here & b) how TEN is currently doing
Overall the axings have lost viewer faith, or at least those of ratings box holders (there always seems to be way more people watching than the ratings indicate). if 10 had any guts they would completely re-do the whole schedule and then promise to stick with it and not whimp out. they need to advertise that they are doing this so that people know, make a promise to the viewers and hope to god they will give them the benefit of the doubt, coz if they go back on their word after that they will never get the trust back again so they need to stick it out. people aren’t stupid they know they are getting messed around by the networks and are reluctant to start any new shows for fear they will be axed, people have called for an assurance from the network that they will commit to the show in the same timeslot for the whole season, and without such are not willing to take the risk. they need to own up to the mistakes of the past and move on from there, recognise that they are to blame for their shows failure and give us a reason to trust them again.
they need to run ads saying something like- 10 in 2009, no more axings, no more shuffling, your printed guide will match what is on screen, tv the way it used to be, the way you want it to be, fast tracked shows will mirror american airings (this bit more to protect them from pre-emptions and axings there, although they should mention when this is the case in the voice overs to stop everyone wondering what is happening), ten promises you committment and consistency.- something along those lines, and if people believe them they will flock back if good shows are on offer.
…And yet they schedule Out Of The Blue at 10:30pm at night?!??! Monkeys!!
This idea is probably horrible, but I think that Ten could benefit by starting their primetime programming half-hour early. So their programming runs 7:00-8:00, 8:00-9:00 and 9:00-10:00 - if they could put something they know would succeed on at 7-8, they could be set for the night.
David. 7pm weeknights on Ten is a really interesting timeslot. Do you have past ratings history for the last 3 or 4 years for Ten Nine Seven and ABC where you could do some analysis and tell us what has rated the best for Ten there, and the trends on other nets with Home & Away, 2.5 Men, Temptation, Frasier, Sale of Century etc. Would sure be interesting to go back and see what Ten got at 7pm with Hinch, Alan Jones Live, Big Brother (at its peak) and all the other things that have been there.
Its about time time that they admitted that they have no clue.
Good ridance and may they bow out of the picture completely and take their rubbish with them.
The few good shows that they have can then be shown on another network.
Put Everybody Hates Chris on at 7pm!
3 options:
1. Everybody Loves Raymond
2. Purchase the rights to Frasier
3. Out of the Blue
TEN get ‘Out of the Blue’ into the 7pm timeslot quick smart. Problem solved!!!!
Problem number 1…
90s sitcoms! Everybody’s already seen them before! And for those who were never interested during their initial runs (like me) are no more inclined to watch them while they’re in repeats. There’s a place for sitcom reruns on TV… just not on primetime, where viewers would ordinarily expect programming that is NEW (or at least reruns of shows that are still running).
Taken Out was a bad idea right from the start. It wasn’t anywhere near as spontaneous or engaging as Big Brother was (which got axed, so what hope did a shallow “dating show” like Taken Out have?). Not to mention that the Ten programmers completely ignored the disasterous precedent that was Yasmin’s Getting Married (which didn’t even last the week).
A lot of people here have been requesting The Office in the 7pm timeslot. It can’t possibly do as badly as Will & Grace has been doing. If The Office has an audience loyal enough to stay up until 11.30pm on a Sunday to watch it, then imagine how much higher the ratings can be in an earlier timeslot. Or hell, there’s King of the Hill, an underrated sitcom that Ten can play alongside Simpsons, Futurama, Sit Down Shut Up and Cleveland in 2009.
Out of the blue would be ideal for 7pm!
Ten just need to arrange what time their shows air a bit better!
deeeerrrr state now, what everybody in the tv world and viewing world has known for many many many months. How about filming paint dry and run that for half an hour at 7.00pm because it might be more exciting than the constant re-runs and bad shows you come up with ten!
Ten , Seriously sloooooowwwww.
the term ‘elephant in the room’ tends to talk about a gaping flaw or issue that nobdoy is talking about…as far as im aware, TEN’s dismal performance since after Dance and Loser finished back in April has been the main topic of conversation for people with any more than a passing interest in television..particularly the 7pm slot issues..
is it safe to assume a re-tooled (for about the 5th time) Idol will be back next year..yawn!
Bite the bullet and put classic Simpsons repeats in there. Or Seinfeld. Comedies that have aged well, not one-off hits like Friends etc.
Here’s a suggestion, networks.
Don’t compete directly with a show that targets the same demographic as your competitors. Instead complement the slot with something that appeals to a different demographic, and grab all of the lost souls who are not being catered for.
Question: What demographic actually watches TV at 7pm weeknights???
Is it the typical 10 target audience … or are they aiming at the wrong age group?
Home And Away is very successful at that time … Put Neighbours on at 7pm!
Jack!
How can anyone think Out of the Blue would be a serious contender at 7pm?
I can imagine the pitch in the Ten boardroom “I know - lets put another beach-side Australian soap, that the poms already didn’t take to, up against an existing, high rating beach-side Australian soap, that has a dedicated, long term fan base and easily wins its time slot! There’s no possible way this will faill! Right guys?”
Ten needs to steal Temptation off Nine, or find a less craptacular game show than Taken Out, or an inexpensive (but not cheap) reality show to fill the slot.
Ten is failing the 7pm test & the 6pm test & the 6.30pm test, etc
they should put on Whose Line is it Anyway and promote it as the show that inspired TGYH.
Lets face it, they aren’t going to get back the people they lost to their growing competitor: Channel BT. Since their prime target audience is people who know and will use this channel, they need to provide consistency, as mentioned above. Forget the deceit that 9 and 7 continue to pull off, make sure that all your shows always start on time. We don’t buy the idea that things live are unavoidable to finish on time. Dancing with the stars, American idol, and every other american show finishes on time, your audience knows this, we aren’t stupid.
For fast-tracked shows, tell people there is a break in the US, and how long for. Otherwise they will assume it is gone from schedule, and will source it elsewhere. It is their responsibility to inform viewers, not them to find out for themselves. Like channel nine: at the end of the last episode of the mentalist aired, they didn’t have a promo and anything mentioning the next episode, just that a movie was in its slot next week. To the average viewer, they would just assume it is gone forever.
Put simply, it is their fault viewers are leaving them, so it is their responsibility to slow viewer erosion. But they won’t get me back for new shows, and they won’t get many people back.
It’s funny how that one timeslot can cause so much drama to the rest of their schedule! If we remember back to the beginning of the year when Loser was there, Ten had the most stable schedule out of all 3 commercial networks (Nine chopped shows and filled the schedule with Ramsey & 2.5 men and Seven messing around with Lost, Prison Break, Ghost Whisperer etc). Once Loser finished and Big Brother started to tank, it’s been all downhill since!
I agree they should try Out of the Blue there (what have they got to lose?) or The Office (Ten are the best at marketing & promos - surely they could make it work!), or try something bold (I’ve been thinking lately they should get the Good News Week guys to do a Daily Show type show for 7pm - GNW is actually very clever and funny). But one thing they shouldn’t do (sorry Alex) is run their schedule on the hour (eg 7-8, 8-9 etc) - they tried it once in the ’80’s (I believe), to disastrous results!
Ten have no excuses for airing all these shitty 90s sitcoms in the 7pm. They have so many options which already have established audiences…
* The Bold and the Beautiful (I hate the show, but it could work)
* Everybody Hates Chris
* The Office
* Out of the Blue
More consistency e.g. H&A or ABC News seems to keep viewers rather than wholesale changes every few weeks. Use the 2nd channel to experiment but the main channel to give viewers (who make your money with advertisers) some expectation that shows can last a series.
My suggestions
If desperate - The SImpsons
Each way bet - Sports Tonight early edition
Left field - some sport/recreation based show e.g. fishing or travel
Each has a different demographic to the other programs
when i first heard that Will and Grace would air at 7pm on Ten, i thought ”cool, a sitcom that hasn’t been repeated a trillion times like other sitcoms” (like Raymond, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Friends)”. However, i watched the first 2 episodes of it, and didn’t like it. Wasn’t funny. I didn’t mind Friends, as i hadn’t watched most of the ‘later episodes’. Now i’ve gone back to watching the slightly funnier than Will and Grace - Two and a Half Men.
I reckon Ten should air a game show at 7pm, like Temptation. Yes, i know Nine has the rights to Temptation, but ten should bring in a ’similar’ type show to air, as Nine ain’t showing it anymore (however i did hear that nine may air temptation over summer. May be wong, but that’s what i’ve read in another forum)
Put in It’s A Knockout!!
I’m not an expert but…
At 7:00, if 10 want to be successful amongst 16 to 39 year olds, up against BitTorrent and YouTube, they have to go a little leftfield.
Ideas.
1. A Jon Stewart type news show could work, especially when to do with federal and state politics in Australia.
2. A show that has D-I-Y filmakers putting videos in and maybe showing three five minute stories in a half-hour show, introduced by a host.
(Both could fill the Australian drama quota.)
3. If that fails, try The Office or something like that.
Forget “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader” it’s now, “Are You Smarter than Channel Ten!” I wonder how many people can say that they are smarter than a commercial network.
Deal or no Deal came out of Holland.
Surely Endemol has a red hot game show format up its sleeve?
I think channel 10 has got much more problems than just the 7pm. Main problem is Home and Away as it drags all the teen viewers (10’s prime audience) .
Maybe 10 should put on Two and A Half Men on at 7pm. Maybe it will beat Two & A Half men on 9. lol. just another silly idea.
Ten should stick with Will & Grace until February and then replace it. The Biggest Loser is the only thing that has worked at 7pm this year and it got similar ratings to Home and Away. By May, 10 needs a stable 7pm show that people will want to watch and not one that we have seen countless times before or if not many people have seen it. Frasier, Raymond, Friends and Will & Grace will not work and Taken out was a flop. Time for something new and something fun.
10 can have a success here if they really try and as long as people will give them a chance. Time to start fresh with the networks in 2009 and put the past behind them.
Game shows are a bad idea for such an important time slot.
If I were doing programming on ten, I would switch Neighbours with Will & Grace. An audience of those who don’t want to watch ACA or TT will mean a half decent sitcom will pull decent ratings.
What ten needs at 7pm is a loyal viewership. Neighbours is the only show they have that will be able to take on two and half men or home and away.
I acknowledge that it is a risk, but it needs to be given a shot for 2 or 3 weeks. If it fails put it back to 6:30, no harm done.
Put in a Half hour talk show that people will watch or another current affair show that is hosted by a big name. A Hamish and Andy show based in Melbourne. They will travel all over Australia.
what on earth makes anyone think that Neighbours would beat H&A at 7pm? Neighbours struggles to 800K viewers most nights while H&A gets between 1.1m and 1.3m, its pretty clear which one viewers prefer..putting Neighbours in the 7pm would be suicidal for the show!
Agree with Andrew.
Nine were sitting on a goldmine with Whose Line. It would have been perfect 7pm fodder. A bit dated now unfortunately (with all those Clinton references), but probably no more so than Friends!
Antoinette - no more Hamish & Andy please. They are overkill at the moment. They have certainly replaced Eddie Everywhere, because they are on radio, tv, internet - even on the ABC (well one of them are).
Most Home and Away Viewers watch Neighbours as well, Stupid to put them against each other. There was a time when Neighbours was on at 7, H&A at 6.30 about 20 years ago. When one of them moved, the other quickly took the oppisite slot for that reason (forget exact sequence of events but there was a week or so when they were both on at the same time).
As I read the story I thought Sports Tonight early edition (like another reader suggested above). Guaranteed success.
Another option which is no different than the way 7 and 9 do 4.30 news and 6pm news, why not have 10 news at 7pm as well as 5pm (5.30 on HD)? ABC news will take a beating!
Think having a soapie on against H&A will not work. H&A too strong.
TEN could make more use of their CBS News content and have a 7pm news. Or move Tim-Life from 12:30am to 7pm. Why not try infomercials in prime-time!
I’d love to have neighbours on at 7pm - purely for the fact that instead of having 1hour of crap each week night - it’d only be 30 mins
My vote would be the office, maybe 30 rock? People know it, like it, and would watch it - the people who stay up late to watch it will say to their friends - “check this out, it’s the show im always raving about - the one you dont stay up late for”…..Basically, fans will hook fans and it’ll snowball….
Hopefully they try “the office” at 7pm over summer. Although personally, I would like to see them abandon the ’standard’ way of having the same show on at 7pm every day. 7-8:30pm could be a “comedy timeslot”, showing different shows each day.
I remember suggesting Bold and the Beautiful to Channel 10 as an evening show many many years ago in forums such as the Green Guide.
If it can rate half a mill at 4.30, imagine what it can do at 7pm!
The number of people I know who work and tape B&B, and watch it when they get home, multiply that Australia wide and you have ready-made viewers for 7pm.
I don’t know about Bold and the Beautiful its daytime tv, and trash tv, I wouldn’t like to see it in primetime personally, but it could work maybe….
Everybody hates chris is funny and has quite a large number of episodes, I love the office more, but chris is a much more broadly appealing show that TEN could get to perform.
The Office at 7pm would be ideal though…ahhh wishful thinking.
The Office at 7pm is the ideal option. It has 4 seasons now, thats the same amount Nine had before they started flogging 2.5 men to death and look where they are now! Its the highest-rated sitcom on NBC, come on Ten, give it a shot.
How about repeats of The Goodies - I would watch that.
Congrats to Mott for admitting the obvious.
Shame that next day Ten does the usual and axes another programme (Big cat diary)
Maybe they shouldn’t have been so hasty in axing BB it outrated every single show that has been put in the 7pm timeslot since it was axed they should bring BB back in 2010 I hear john Howard is itching to be the host
Here’s another idea:
Rove does a daily show at 7pm rather than once a week on Sunday nights. It will rate better then rather than Sundays with varying start time constantly affected by the previous shows’ end time. Would be great to have some original comedy, with guests, music, political satire, skits, etc - the works. To me, Rove is out of place on Sundays in any case.
Further to above comment:
Call it Rove Daily like his web site, and yes, agree with Earthquake - enough Hamish and Andy. Really over them! Have them on the show occasionally!
Hmm.. How about TEN make a current affairs show? Like.. One that contains respectful journalism. TT and ACA seem to get a lot of viewers, so imagine if TEN made a better current affairs show? That may draw in more viewers.
Hamish and Andy should have a show. There heaps busy with radio guests but whats the hastle filming them with there guests everyday??
I know it was lambasted strongly on this site, but I really enjoyed Taken Out, sure it was trash tv and an easy target, but arn’t there people out there that kind of miss it and wouldn’t mind giving it another chance? Maybe over summer and see how it goes….As some peple have said it was getting better numbers than Will & Grace.
i agree bring back good old everybody loves raymond too the 7pm timesolt it is much funnier than the simpsons,friends,will grace and at least its a good show not like some of the other crap you see on tv these days
I’ve had enough of everyone and everything associated with “Roving Enterprises”. *shudders*
bb wouldnt work, it did rate better but not by much, plus bb cost alot of money
The Office should be on, but not at 7pm. I would put it on daily at 8pm over summer to build an audience. What can they do at 7pm? I’m not sure and they don’t pay me anything to tell them.
I could probably come up with some idea’s, so those execs reading this my contact details are available. 90’s sitcoms are not going to work it’s plain and simple.
Unfortuatley the problem 10 has now is that 2 1/2 men has established itself as a genuine contender to H&A and it does not leave much room for a replacement.
Two ideas for Ten. First Alex is on the mark - there is no law that i am aware of that says 7pm must have a half hour show. Second, stop flogging ‘reasonable’ shows that could help your lineup by playing 25 hours a week of them. I avoid Ten because either a) they pull a show after 2 weeks, or b) they play it every night and I cant keep up. Just a thought - be innovative and back your judgement for more than a fortnight.
King of the Hill would be perfect - but unfortunately Ten dont hold the rights!
With neighbours as the lead in, any show is doomed to fail. Put the simpsons back on at 7, with an early sports tonight at 6 instead.
You forgot to mention their failed attempt at Bondi Rescue reruns David!
Judge Judy worked for while in primetime some years back, to the point Ten almost made an Aussie version - prehaps that could be worth another shot - there’s be several episodes that most people haven’t seen.
Its interesting just how many shows has Ten tried at 6pm / 7pm slots in the last decade or so, and seeing that most turned out to be duds.
No…no….no more Rove please. I think Rove is a bit Mel-and-Kochie (and he’s not even funny) but I’ll admit he does get the job done.
I think the Office or Everybody Hates Chris would do really well! Maybe even the British verison of the Office.
Putting soap against soap is always suicide. Neighbours at 7 pm would die fast,
though the idea of putting Out of the Blue there during Home and Away’s summer break could be very interesting. The ridiculous thing is that Ten used to have Neighbours at 7pm for years, then were so scared of Channel 7 moving Home and Away to the same timeslot they played defensive and moved it. In my opinion this was the most monumentally stupid decision in Ten’s history and years later they continue to pay the price every single weekday.
As the above posts prove yet again, contributors to this esteemed blog would make better tv programmers than the chumps at 9, 7 and 10!!
Maybe Ch10 should try The Hills? I know it’s already been on Foxtel but it may pull some of the viewers from Home and Away. I’m sure the kids out there aren’t that interested in Alf’s latest squeeze.
TEN is just failing the year. Not even the news can pull out a decent figure. Lets all wait and see what TEN’s 2009 line up will be. All I can say is thankgod for Biggest Lose and Dance..
I agree entirely with those calling for Whose Line to be played at 7pm. A show where it doesn’t matter if you miss an episode, and something that was never given a fair go by channel 9.
failing that, something that has never been given a real go in an early primetime slot is what should be there. The Office woudl be great in there as well.
Why don’t ten re-work their entire evening line-up. Why not put Neighbours on at 6pm following directly on from their successful hour long news bulletin then back it up with something like Dr Phil at 6.30 or even Oprah 6.30-7.30 to take on the likes of ACA and TT in the trashy tv stakes.
The Simpsons (classic - 1990-1996), Seinfeld (classic - 1990-1996), The Office.
They should buy the rights to Arrested Development and put that on while they figure out a game plan.
what’s wrong with Will and Grace? Hasn’t it only been on for 1 week anyhow? And during the racing carnival, too.
I think a show like The Panel could work in that spot- talk about the events of the day, interveiw someone, reveiw something, have a music act.
Also it would be great to see something like Spicks and Specks in the spot- it suits all ages and Ten could do themed nights based on guests, times of year and things. Maybe Ten should just buy the format from ABC like they did with GNW years ago.
What ever they do- no more Hamish and Andy .
Isn’t it all largely Neighbours fault - not enough people are watching at 6.30pm to stay tuned to find out what’s on at 7pm.
I guess this does increase the chances of Big Brother rising from the ashes, but although it might help the channel, it wouldn’t help the show itself if it remained stuck in the 7pm slot.
Yeah i agree with the hamish and andy statement. I like hamish when he is on thank god you’re here, but rarely them on anything else.