TEN’s woeful Wednesday
If Tuesday was terrible for Nine, then Wednesday must have been woeful for TEN, fourth behind the ABC.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
If Tuesday was terrible for Nine, then Wednesday must have been woeful for TEN.
It landed fourth for the evening, behind the ABC at only 19.4%.
The best it could manage was 999,000 for The Simpsons repeat at 8pm, pulling ahead of the new episode on 960,000 (surprisingly, it’s often the trend).
TEN’s Jamie Oliver special was only 543,000 -which makes it tricky given TEN has another Oliver special up its sleeve. The ABC again won the slot with United States of Tara on 1.06m.
ABC’s premiere of The Librarians was strong on 1.05m even though it lost some of the Spicks and Specks audience (1.5m).
Seven’s World’s Strictest Parents also impressed at just under 1.5m while Nine’s Australia’s Perfect Couple slipped further, now just 672,000. It had better news with Hot Seat‘s 710,000 neck and neck with Deal or No Deal‘s 716,000.
42 Responses
What sort of lead in show is Criminal Minds to a Night of Comedies over at Channel Seven for Wednesdays.
I only watch Seven for Earl,Scrubs and Family Guy.If I don’t have an early start on Thursday then I stick around for American Dad.
David, I think you’re well within your rights to report on Ten’s ‘Woeful’ Wednesday as they came fourth in total ppl. However I think the point the others are trying to make is that you really should have mentioned somewhere in the body of the article, that despite doing so poorly in the pensioners, that TEN came second in the demos.
To be honest I think you realise now that it was a silly omission.
Your forgiven.
Russell there are many people in the general public who love this site, I am one of them, i have also gotten all my friends onto it and they love it as well.
David, you are doing an awesome job! I always go into it at least three times a day to see the ratings and hear the latest tv gossip.
David, do you get the demos for individual shows each day or a list of the top shows in the different demographics? It would be great to have a list of the top shows in total people, and the top shows in 18-49 for example.
Thursday night Nine easily won the night in total people, but did they also win in the all important 18-49 or 25-54 demographic? I think Ten may have beaten them in 18-49 (or it was very close).
Also, Wednesday night Ten came fourth, as this story is all about, but Nine’s demos were so old that they were beaten by Ten in 25-54, but still managed to do over 40% in the 50+ audience whereas Ten only had around a 14% share of the 50+ audience.
If a network wins the night in all people and that is because they have a massive share of the 50+ audience, then that is not good news for them at all…yet without that extra information, most people reading this site would never know.
Or how about Seven’s shows get a thumping on Thursday? Amazing Race, Double Take, TV Burp and True Beauty are all easily beaten by Nine and all but Amazing Race are beaten convincingly by Ten. Seven will always have a huge early evening so their nightly share will always look respectable, but from 7.30pm onwards Thursdays would be a worry for Seven.
As Janey said David, we love this site. Love it, and we really do appreciate all the work you put into it – and wish you every success with it. I know I check in a couple of times a day to see the news and read all the comments. So please don’t take this criticism negatively.
But as Janey said, that is how the ratings industry is geared. I understand you are not writing for Mott or advertising executives. But you are also not writing for the general public. The general public is not interested in this site. You (correct me if I am wrong) and writing for industry people such as myself, and those that have a strong interest and fascination with the TV industry, and the inner workings of it and news pertaining to it. The Daily Telegraph can talk all people, as their readers would not understand nor care about demos and how it drives the industry. But as an insider / industry site, I think it is important that you write and talk in demos, as that is what drives and runs this very industry.
It’s not so much that ‘network execs and advertisers prefer demos’ as you put it. But more, it is all – plain and simple – that matters. If it does not matter what network wins or loses all people, then why is there a story there? You say “winning a night” still comes down to an OZTAM total people share between 6-Midnight. But again, that is only “winning a night” in one of many measures of ratings. And the least important one at that. A win in the demo is a lot more important that a win in all people. You still seem to be holding on to the dated theory that ‘winning the night’ in all people is more important that ‘winning the night’ in 18-49 or 25-54. That just is not the case. Not anymore. In fact it is the exact opposite. And as a site that writes for the industry and people that closely follow this news, I think you need to recognise that trend.
At the end of the day, the deadline should be who won 18-49 and 25-54 for the night and week. All people should be very secondary.
Site is actually a mix of public & industry. I don’t know how many ways I can say that networks don’t issue the complete demos. They issue the ones they care about, frequently in ways that elevate their own image. I understand that, that’s what a publicist is for. But I’m not about to report half the demos, or become their mouthpiece. So I note them in a weekly ratings report. I’ve also acknowledged before that getting Aus media to shift from its historical reporting of ratings is no overnight task, to the the frustration of some execs, and clearly some readers.
Bring on SBS’s Freaky Friday and Seven’s Sewn up-Saturday, I say
David i wasn’t trying to be misleading, and i acknowledged that they are aren’t the full demo figures that industry gets.
David, do you know why ratings exist? They exist for advertisers to decide which network has the audience that best suits the product that they are trying to sell. I love this site and appreciate all the hard work you put into it, but to admit that you don’t take what’s important to advertisers or networks into account when you write a ratings story is very surprising. Without advertisers and networks there wouldn’t be any ratings to write a story about…so I think it is relevant to include what’s important to them in the story.
Acknowledging just total people figures without demographics is like reporting only goals in an AFL game without including the points. The team with the most goals isn’t always the winner
I would love to add demos daily if networks would bother to supply it in a balanced, comprehensive and easily presented form. Trust me, they skew it with editorialising (case in point: TEN), so I’m left to report it weekly rather than daily. Even then our yardstick on winning the night isn’t on a single demo it’s on evening share.
Benno: I know….
id been expecting tolog onto this site this afternoon and to have seen an article titled “Axed: Australias Perfect Couple” or even “Bumped: Australia’s Perfect Couple”…surely, its not far off, nine cant be going to leave it there after last nights dismal peformance.
David, you had an interview with Ten’s programmer, David Mott, recently who told you straight out that total people doesn’t mean anything to Ten or to advertisers for that matter. He said that no advertiser targets all people, and when you think about it…why would they? Why do you still put so much emphasis on total people when reporting ratings and writing stories like this one? You could have at least mentioned that Ten came second (not fourth) in their target demos.
When Nine come third for the night they are usually also a distant third in 18-49 & 16-39 demographic, which is a real concern for them as they have no good news at all for advertisers. That is the difference between Nine and Ten at the moment.
Also, it’s obvious that Ten are doing the best they can with the product they have until their new shows (which have already been announced) start in a little over month.
Janey, as I’ve said before, I don’t write for David Mott or any other executive, or for advertisers who are more interested in demos. It’s actually the prime time share that was disappointing last night, which I noted was fourth for the evening. And as I had written Nine was poor on Tuesday, it was appropriate to note the even worse performance by TEN the day after.
I clarified the demo results after TEN’s select demos (only commercial networks, and only for specific hours) were misleadingly written here by a reader. I get that network execs and advertisers prefer demos, and I also get that winning the night still comes down to an OzTAM figure based on commercial share between 6 – Midnight. To come under 20% and behind the ABC ain’t grand.
@ Craig
Also Ten have been quite good at promoting a “new” Simpsons on many occasions when it hasn’t actually aired. Again, it’s all about content and consistency, not CGI. Nine are paying the price for failure in this arena as we speak. OTOH, ABC2 is arguably one of the best channels we currently have, by exactly the same yardstick. (the Thurs night comedy lineup doesn’t hurt either)
@ Craig
Funnily I almost never see the ads you refer to. So they’re ineffectual at best. You’re missing the point however, if you muck the consumer around, they don’t hang around to see if you’ll gloss over the mess with an advertising campaign. They walk.