TEN’s fast-tracking of new content hasn’t managed to improve the network’s standing -but all is not lost, with high profile shows on the way.
New episodes of New Girl could only manage 425,000 last night, light years away from the 1.27m its premiere snared in January.
The night was dominated by Seven Network with a 33.8% share then Nine 27.6%, ABC 19.6%, TEN 15.3% and SBS 3.7%.
The X Factor Performance was 1.43m for Seven then Seven News (1.4m), Today Tonight (1.08m), Home and Away (1.03m), GCB (638,000), Deal or No Deal (570,000) and Up All Night (330,000).
Nine News led for Nine on 1.18m then ACA (1.1m), Big Brother (incorrectly coded with ‘Nominations’ on 946,000), the final episode of Underbelly: Badness (861,000), Hot Seat (616,000) and Person of Interest (553,000 / ep 2 was 184,000 in 3 cities).
ABC News topped ABC1 with 1.08m followed by Australian Story (968,000), 7:30 was very strong on 906,000, Media Watch (621,000), Q & A (572,000), Four Corners (567,000) and Restoration Man (279,000).
TEN News was 720,000 for TEN. Modern Family was 626,000, Can of Worms was 565,000, New Girl was 425,000 / 410,000, The Project 6pm was 387,000 and Hawaii Five-0 was 307,000.
SBS ONE had a tough night with Mythbusters (249,000), World News Australia (182,000), Derren Brown Investigates (122,000) and Shameless (82,000).
Big Bang led multichannels with 327,000.
Today: 357,000
Sunrise: 329,000
ABC News Breakfast: 43,000 / 25,000
Breakfast: 40,000
@pertinax
I totally agree with you; piracy issues are only part of it and yes those figures for Grey’s will drop as we get into the season. I also agree that fast-tracking everything is not the answer and probably impossible too. It will be interesting to see how it works out for FTA and in terms of what I watch I’m happy they’re doing it. The trick will be not to fall too far behind the US, as people will get inpatient and watch via other means.
@me
The figure for Grey’s was 635k not 685k. So it was plus 125k not 175k
@Jel
Yes showing some programmes straight after their US airing makes sense. Especially those with an established audience that are highly likely to be illegally downloaded or are not needed for the peak period of the ratings season. But everyone will want their own favourite shows to be shown and showing everything in September makes no sense.
Not all illegal downloading will be stopped and it is only one factor.
While Grey’s ratings were up on the delayed episodes from last season, a reduction in illegal downloading is only a part of that. Tuesday being a better night than Thursday, The X Factor and Winner & Losers are better lead ins, less competition from Ten, the end of the last season was affected heavily by the @l^mp!cs and it was the resolution of a cliff hanger will also have affected the ratings.
So the illegal downloading reduction will only be some fraction of the 175k increase. Which less than the timeshifting and difference in viewers due to not showing episodes in Winter when the audience in larger.
I think fast-tracking some shows will be good for ratings. I was impressed with Grey’s Anatomy numbers for last night. 685,000 for a 9.45 pm show is very good and Greys was trending in the top ten on Twitter when it screened. Sure this result will cut down on piracy, given Australia used to wait six months for this show to air.
@bindi
They were showing repeats because they had no new episodes, when they have new episodes they show those. They are available on 10s website.
Channel 7 and 9 show their promos in big banners right across the middle of shows show that people who skip the ads get to see them. Bloody annoying though.
There have been so many repeats lately people probably just assumed these were yet more, I nearly did. They really need to introduce a seperation period, remove all repeats of a show for a few weeks before you introduce new episodes, this way people might notice.
Fast tracking can not work .Splitting the season in the US & our non ratings period clash .Plus 10s problems are more than fast tracking can solve . They went for the under 39 audience which do not watch tv as in the past 20 years .They snubbed us over 60s who do watch tv .Then they saturate their shows with inane ads which turn off us older viewers. in the UK their Commercial tv have 20 mins between ads & match the ads carefully to the program style. Our ads are crass , too loud , repetitive , too long etc .It is better to watch DVDs .
@Mr. J – Revenge and PoI are very different shows, likely to appeal to different demos, one broad the other more niche. Also, attempting direct comparisons between us and the US is fraught with problems given the vastly different market structure of the two.
Lastly, I can’t remember clearly, but I think Nine only fast-tracked the first few eps of the first season of Fringe, and they rather crudely cut bits out. Again, another niche show so I don’t think you can put its unspectacular ratings down to it being fast-tracked.
Later seasons which have not been fast-tracked, have rated even lower, altho’ the situation is complicated by it moving to Go, and the last season starting after 11:30pm.
I started watching S4 of Fringe elsewhere when Nine/Go hadn’t gotten around to showing it (or telling us when) by March 2012. I got to watch it in glorious HD without ads and will prob do so again if they don’t start showing S5 soon, so there’s one data point in favour of fast-tracking.
You haven’t substantiated your claim that fast-tracking destroys shows. However, it’s not the be-all and end-all either, and won’t save a show that is not very good or which only has limited appeal.
@Craig
Most US network shows have around a month’s break for Christmas and New Year some production breaks around March where repeats are shown.
The Australian ratings season has 10 weeks over from the end of November till the middle of February and two weeks off for school holidays at Easter.
If you look at a cable show like Homeland they are usually shown in 12 or 13 week blocks. Channel 10 can’t start Homeland now because it was a long weekend, with the footy finals in the middle of school holidays. So they will show Underground at the end of the school holidays and promote Homeland during that and start it the following week. That leaves them with the choice of screening the ending at Christmas or holding a block of the final episodes over until the 2013 ratings season.
It is not an easy fit. And there are about a third less viewers at the moment than were in Winter and the number will get decline further as Summer approaches.
@andrewb
Heroes was pretty much the first show screened straight from the US. It was a show with a young geeky audience and thus considered likely to be illegally downloaded.
Heroes did well initially then got bumped to a later slot and the last couple of season screened late at night. Since then Channel 7 has screened the least stuff straight from the US, because they have had plenty of content and shown lots of repeats and have won the ratings for the last few years.
The problem ch10 face is that they are trying to promote their new shows during their other shows that don’t rate that well. So instantly the value of their own self promotion ads is perhaps half that of the other commercial networks. In order for Ch10 to drastically improve their figures they not only need decent programs but some kind of massive draw card, big event tv type program. Cricket rights perhaps ? This is where NRL would have helped.
One of the biggest problems with fast tracking is when people get used to it then the show is pulled for the non ratings period but it keeps playing in the US, leaving a few eps hanging. Some can’t wait and go else where. And of course come the next year they are ahead and keep up-to-date with the US not bothering with local air dates.
This should not be the case for most shows as the US takes a break around the same time. IMO they are much better to sacrifice a few eps in December than holding them until Feb. Ditto if a US show starts in Jan, they should start it here at the same time. It’s the only want fast tracking will work on FTA in this country.
Sorry for the some what off topic rant David.
We all knew new girl wouldn’t start well. It’s against the x factor and needs time to gain viewers.
@andrewb, heroes started in america in September and was held off until Feburary while it was sucessful.
re: promotion. it isn’t a case of not knowing the start date. it is because a network will never be able to justify millions of dollars of promotion money an a show that will only get 6 episodes in the low rating part of the year leading into summer. wheras when you have the summer to promote a show that will fill 22+ weeks of big 8:30 slots a large promotion can be warranted and the show is a hit. see revenge. but even when networks have gone for a big promotion (like 9 lauching fasttracked Fringe) there is still all the other detracting factors and it still equals flop.
i challenge the pro-fasttracking people to come up with some examples of when fasttracking has benefitted a show, because there are plenty of examples of the opposite. i predict the trend will not change this year and homeland will be the big casualty.
I wouldn’t call Revenge a ‘mediocre hit’ in America…the season two premiere did a 3.2 in the demo and 9.5 million viewers. It’s one of the highest rating shows on ABC only behind Grey’s Anatomy and Once Upon a Time
Wow, New Girl really bombed.
Mr J – My recollection is Heroes was originally fast tracked and did quite well. Also – you should not compare US to Australian ratings as we are two very different markets.
I think it is a little too premature to write off Ten and fast tracking – there’s alot more to come – and at times not against X Factor and Big Brother.
As for promoting fast tracked shows, there is plenty of time – seeing that the US networks release their exact schedules months in advance – unlike here where sometimes we don’t find out an air date and time until a week in advance.
@Qubec, Secret Squirrel, nailpolish, Craig
fasttracking means erratic scheduling, little promotion, airing in warm weather when viewers are less willing to commit to a show, and means the season will have to be cut off after a few eps when we go to non-ratings. all of which clearly have a bigger impact than audience lost to downloading.
don’t believe me believe the ratings, a fasttracked show has never been sucessful in Australia. but look at the scripted show sucesses this year: revenge, homeland, Mrs. Browns, Downton. all very slowtracked. heroes, prisonbreak, house, csi, they were all hits without fasttracking, the second they became fasttracked they bombed.
i good example is revenge vs. person of interest. POI rates much better in america, it could have done well here. revenge was only a mediocre hit in america. one was fasttracked, one was not. one was a big hit in aus and the other a big flop.
i greatly doubt that fasttracking does anything for piracy, everyone i know that downloads couldn’t care less about fasttracking. they still download either because it is easier, no ads, wanted it even more fasttracked, or just didn’t know it was being fasttracked. sorry for length of comment but networks need to stop letting downloaders dictate their schedules and cater towards the people that are actually willing to watch.
Fast tracking can only help, viewers don’t have to go looking just set their PVR and record it or watch it. I thought TEN had promoted New Girl a lot, that long with NCIS, Homeland and Underground. On the flip side I haven’t seen much promotion of BBT on Nine but I tend to watch more of TEN anyway.
It’s a shame the final new Mythbusters for a while didn’t rate better, they actually aired a few eps that have not aired in the US yet which didn’t do much better. I’m amazed more wasn’t said about those eps in the last month.
Unfortunately very little that Ten put on up against the XFactor as it starts to reach its climax, is going to rate well.
Chris Swan has been a great addition to Can of Worms. It’s a shame it’s ratings havent been stronger.
Something that should be rating better than it is, The Late News which has turned into a trainwreck. The lack of news content and repeated dribble between a panel which has nothing to offer is a snore to watch. The old version runs rings around the present offering.
Imagine the little gem Ten would have had if they used a news/interview format with Sandra Sully at the desk. “The adults have gone to bed and left us the keys to the building”…perhaps Hamish locked himself out? He has’t been on the show that was promoted as his since August 13th. Or maybe those rumours of tension between MacDonald and the executive producer were true?
Mr. J like other posters, I’m confused as to why or how fast tracking destroys shows? How does showing them very soon after original airing in the US do anything but cut down on the amount of people that turn to torrenting or for some shows even buying the whole season on DVD before it gets to screen here? Seriously, if you have data that shows that it fails at that task I’d love to see it because it’s very counter-intuitive.
blindowl, I don’t think SBS has ever aimed to pull huge mainstream numbers. It has a purpose, not everything has to have numbers like X Factor to have a place in the world.
PVR users would have no idea that the show was on last night. Or that it was a new episode.
I see little to no ads while I watch back TV, so guess I’ll have to catch it on their website now.
@Mr. J – on what are you basing that assertion? Which shows have been “destroyed” by fast-tracking?
Unclepete, TEN is reaping what it sowed. Holding the viewers with contempt has seen their shows fail to find viewers. We know what’s on, but there’s no way we’ll give them views (and I can make that dent as I have a OZTAM people meter.)
Ask yourself this: what has TEN done to redeem themselves? Have they still shafted F1/MOTOGP viewers? Yep. Have they canned Breakfast for poor ratings? Nope. Have they thought about where to place shows? Nope.
It’s a slow death but the other networks should take heed: the viewer in 2012 is king.
@Mr. J- how exactly is fast tracking destroying shows?! It minimises piracy, avoids Australians for being spoiled online about their favourite shows and is a great marketing tool for the networks. The only downside would be that we’re used to uninterrupted weekly broadcasts with shows and American shows sometimes have breaks. But this is a minor quibble. So, not really sure how it can “destroy” a show
I had no idea it was new eps of New Girl either. I guess I haven’t been watching TEN lately to pick that up.
In the Audience Inventory, readers have always rated mergers as a low priority compared to other issues of concern to them.
I find it difficult to believe that people did not realise this was two new episodes. Every ad on the TV stated as such, as did all the online guides.
For the record, tonight’s episodes of NCIS and NCIS:LA are new, as are eps of TBBT on 9.
But seriously, with the X-Factor nearing its conclusion, any show is not going to make a dent. Putting New Girl up against it is a waste and yet another stupid decision by Ten Execs.
Mind you, people whinge and whinge whinge for them to fast-track stuff and then do not watch it anyway, so it is not like the Ten Execs can really win at the moment.
SBS continues to totally underwhelm the public. It’s figures have really slipped compared to a few years back. How much lower will they have to get before the management realizes it is on the wrong path, or the funding bodies pull the plug. Is it time to join with the ABC??
I didin’t realise that was a new Ep of New Girl – I never watch Ten any more except for Puberty Blues, but sad that I missed it – hopefully they will repeat it for those of us that had no idea it was a new ep..
I had heard that Ten was fast-tracking New Girl but I didn’t know it was going to be on yesterday! I hadn’t seen any ads for it… And maybe I was use to it being on Sundays, or Tuesdays? (Vaguely remember it airing alongside Modern Family on Tuesdays)
…So I watched Big Brother and then The X Factor instead.
Fast tracking will continue to destroy shows, hopefully this is the year that bloggers and networks realise it is not worth it.