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Hot Seat losing battle against The Chase

The Chase scores its best figures for the year as the gap widens at 5:30.

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Nine’s Hot Seat has been unable to knock off Seven’s new game show, The Chase hosted by Andrew O’Keefe.

On Monday The Chase drew its highest ever audience for 5:30pm with 784,000 viewers (5 – 5:30pm: 501,000).

Hot Seat trailed on 560,000 viewers. Its best figure for the year was in late May with 693,000.

In February Nine’s Managing Director of Programming & Production Andrew Backwell said of The Chase, “Obviously it’s a very strong format and what I believe will happen is that by mid year Hot Seat will be winning the slot again. I think the gap between the two will close.”

But the gap has actually widened.

While Eddie McGuire attracting volatile headlines for his comments regarding Caroline Wilson, The Chase‘s recent rise is also linked to the introduction of Seven News on the Gold Coast on July 4.

The Gold Coast is part of the Brisbane market meaning the 5:30pm news is added into Brisbane’s Chase figures, in much the same way as Today Tonight in Perth & Adelaide adds to Seven News 6:30pm nationally.

But a win is a win.

While Hot Seat is still nabbing the occasion wins in Melbourne, Brisbane or even Sydney, nationally it is an uphill battle.

Nine declined to comment.

28 Responses

  1. I’m not surprised ratings for HS are down. Since the start of the year almost all the episodes have been repeats. I’ve recognised some episodes as having been repeated 3 or 4 times. By contrast Seven have only shown repeats of The Chase during the Easter non-ratings period. I would have thought that the advent of The Chase would have encouraged Nine to show only first-run episodes of HS but no, we are still seeing repeats every night.

  2. Here’s an idea. Why don’t Channel 9 scrap Hot Seat at 530, bring in a local Postcards, then re-launch “Who wants to be a Millionaire – in prime-time.

    Maybe they could do this on a Wednesday at 830, when people don’t want to watch “Pensioners that make you laugh out loud”.

    Last I checked, Millionaire (which the music, , dark lighting, atmosphere, phone a friend live, “lock it in Eddie” etc) use to rate okay – 1 mill nationally? It’s not going to cost Nine anymore to produce. Plus it is reality without cooking, singing or dancing.

    I think the viewing public (as per ‘The Chase’ ratings) like Game Show/Trivia and will watch in droves, provided it’s sleek and must-watch.

    Just saying.

  3. I gave up on Hot Seat years ago after Eddie just wouldn’t stop giving out the answers. Whenever an answer wasn’t locked in right away, it was a confirmation that it was incorrect, and it was infuriatingly transparent. I was sick of my blood boiling at the sight of winner after undeserving winner walking home with the cash prize thanks to Eddie’s unsubtle hinting, and they’ve lost me since. Now, if they brought back the original Millionaire format, I might be tempted, as Hot Seat as a format is intrinsically flawed and worse, brutally unfair.

    As insufferable as Andrew O’Keefe is, at least The Chase is a more honest quiz show.

  4. If The Chase was measured as one show, what would its ratings be? Is it the difference between the low & high numbers it currently splits for that hour?

    1. Not convinced the axe is required, nor was it the point of the article. Shows Nine had prior to Hot Seat did terrible business, so a change could take it backwards not forwards. But it will have to dig deep if it wants to take on The Chase.

  5. I commented on this recently. I find Hot Seat a bore in comparison to The Chase. And I’m somebody who previously could not stand Andrew O’Keefe. Truthfully, I still can’t in formats such as Weekend Sunrise, but The Chase is mostly too tight for him to carry on like a fool. I also like the British version, but I find Bradley asks the questions much slower in the rapid fire rounds.

    Never been a fan of Eddie Maguire, and his recent antics assure I probably wont be any time soon either.

  6. Hot Seat – 15 questions over 40 minutes. Contestants strategically pass rather than answering something they know. Last contestant standing at the end can get money without doing anything – said this 7 years ago when it started – its a flawed concept for a game show that does not reward knowing answers.

    The Chase – sometimes over 20 questions in the last 2 minutes alone of the final chase. Add to that, another 20 for contestants chase, plus the 4 rounds of contestants – perhaps over 100 per show – which as trivia buffs is more appealing than lengthy contestant discussions. In the end the team wins based on what they know and can answer – not as a result of strategy or pure luck.

  7. Lately I’ve been watching The Chase and realising that I’ve already seen the episode air before. Has anyone else noticed this too?

  8. Whilst I don’t watch either, I assume hot seats number includes the entire portion of the show which starts between 5:15 and 5:22. It might tell a little bit of a different story

    1. I agree. I no longer watch The Chase because of AOK.
      He laughed, mocked and bullied towards contestants.
      Hot Seat is better than The Chase.

  9. McGuire think’s it is okay to racially vilify someone because he was on ‘medication’. I will not watch anything with him on it. He is a racist and a sexist.

  10. Hot Seat is, as it appears most viewers agree, a very slow and drawn out quiz show now compared to The Chase which is a much more entertaining show and with far more questions which taxes the brain to think quicker, so can understand people being more interested and the numbers are also reflecting that.

    1. Correction : The one time I did watch Hot Seat was when my mate was on it…who bummed out on the very first question and had a hilariously awkward exit from the stage.

  11. There’s more questions in the first minute of The Chase than in a whole episode of Hot Seat. If you’re into quiz shows or trivia it’s a no-brainer

  12. The main problem now is the start time of Hotseat. It floats around 5:16 to 5:20pm in a vain attempt to reduce Chase’s 5-5:30pm ratings. Then there is the talk and stories of people because there is more time to fill in now. And finally in the inclusion a d-list celebrities as one of the contestants. This combination is probably putting some viewers off or even just recording the show and skipping all the fluff.

  13. I am a quiz junkie and therefore watch both. (Record Hot Seat and replay later). By fast-forwarding the “chat” with each contestant I can watch HS in 12 minutes. Sorry Eddie, not interested in everybody’s life story. The Chase is fine as Andrew keeps the chat to a few seconds as each player comes on. One gripe with The Chase though, some of the questions are ridiculously obscure and hard, otherwise an entertaining hour while getting the evening meal.

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