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2010: SBS looks beyond Top Gear
Next Monday night SBS bids farewell to Top Gear for the final time.
The show drives off to Nine after a ferocious acquisition battle last year that SBS lost due to being outbid.
But the network is keen to remind us it was just one hour of television a week, and that it still has plenty to bring its “six billion stories” theme to life.
This year SBS has the World Cup exclusive, a third series of East West 101, Eurovision in Oslo, more Mad Men, Skins, Inspector Rex, Entourage and Shameless.
Over summer, the …
So what’s been your summer gem?
The other week a journalist asked me for some quotes on how our TV summer season was faring and I pointed out that historically, the 09 / 10 season has offered an abundance of choice -at least compared to when we had just 5 channels, half of which were stuck on sport.
This year the amount of content has boomed, thanks to our extra digital channels.
But when the article appeared in print, readers hit back saying summer is still a dead zone. I got slammed. Well, it is if you stick with …
Extra 7PM Project pays off
The first weeknight of summer ratings was good news and bad news for TEN.
Its move to extend The 7PM Project has paid off with 826,000 viewers. The network is airing one hour episodes on Mondays and Fridays through summer as a way of attracting new eyeballs to the show. Last night it spent longer on topics and didn’t have its first commercial break for 15 minutes. It also tweaked the set with more orange and brown hues.
But it wasn’t all going their way. Futurama dropped to 664,000 while Supernatural was only …
Birth for a nation
The final week of the ratings year is over and it was a Rafters baby that defeated singing Idols, Celebrity Masterchefs, new Apprentices, Geeks and Robbie Williams. Seven enjoyed a clean sweep of Week 48, winning all 7 nights, 3 key demos and all 5 cities -it was almost a microcosm of 2009, but this year Nine has seen to it that it didn’t quite enjoy that triumph.
The Seven Network won Week 48 with 31.3% over Nine’s 26.8% and TEN’s 21.3%. The ABC had 15.2% and SBS 5.4%.
GO! had 3.1% over …
Say bye to variety for me
The Noughties will end with a nail in the coffin of variety after Rove McManus announced he was winding down his show last Sunday. It closed a ten year chapter for the genre with a string of Logies, A-List guests and live memories to take home. Without any advance warning it also didn’t pull the kind of figures such a farewell deserved. Both the night and the week went Seven’s way for the second last week of the ratings season.
The Seven Network won Week 47 with a big 30.0% ahead of …
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet? Just two weeks to go until the 2009 ratings end, with a baby Rafter, a new Idol, a Celebrity MasterChef, and a first Apprentice all due. Audiences are already showing signs of switch-off as numbers diminish -either from fatigue, daylight saving, multiple entertainment choices or all three. But they are hanging on for Julie Rafter whose motherly condition ensured she was the week’s top show. And Seven again won the week.
Seven Network won with 30.1% over Nine’s 26.3% and TEN’s 19.8%. The ABC had 18.0% and SBS …
Race that tops the nation
Week 45 saw Seven launch its new digital channel 7TWO with a mix of broad entertainment offering. It addressed the Nine / GO! combo that had upstaged it in the last few months. In sheer audience figures the 2009 Melbourne Cup’s record 2.67m viewers was the week’s top story. It was even Seven’s biggest audience all year. But the real news of the week was actually a lot more humble: the government’s lifeline to Community Television. After a lengthy campaign it will begin to dual-cast on analogue and digital some time …
Top Gear loss “not the be-all and end-all”
TV Tonight continues its interviews with key executives in television. Following on from last week’s interviews with Seven, ABC, TEN and Nine, today the spotlight turns to SBS Director of Content Matt Campbell.
The last two weeks have not been without their challenges for Campbell, who learned the fate of Top Gear, a programme he had taken a punt on many years ago when no other network would touch it.
Having spent a lot of time trying to convince the BBC it should be staying at its natural home, he admits the loss …
All the drama of Week 44
In Week 44 viewers bid farewell to All Saints after 12 seasons across 11 years. The 70 minute episode ensured the show departed with its reputation intact and possibly signalled the end of an era of long running weekly dramas. It finished on 1.5m viewers -time will tell if Packed to the Rafters ever comes close to its legacy. Seven, which has been top-heavy in local drama with an embarrassment of riches, won the week and with the introduction of 7TWO today may have ended a winning run by the Nine …
Variety the spice of Nine’s life
In the week that Seven announced its new digital channel it lost another week to Nine and its GO! channel. Nine’s win included its tribute to a favourite son, Don Lane. On the back of the Hey Hey reunions it was another reminder its audience loves Variety. It was also a week in which the networks trumped one another in the publicity stakes. After the ABC launched ABC3, Seven stole its thunder the next day with 7TWO, which was subsequently trumped that afternoon by Nine winning Top Gear.
The Nine Network won …
Face the factuals. Seven rules the week.
After five straight losses, an aggressive Seven Network showed it wins on consistent programming and not events or boosts from digital shares. It dominated the week’s top shows, as its factuals continue to underpin the network’s schedule. Seven took 14 of the week’s Top 15 shows.
Seven won the week with 29.0% over Nine’s 26.5% and TEN’s 21.8%. The ABC had 17.1% and SBS 5.5%.
Seven also won two key demos 18-49 and 25-54 while TEN won 16-39.
GO! had 2.4%, ABC2 1.2%, ONE 1.6% and SBS TWO 0.4%.
Seven won Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, …
Sport wins the ratings trophy
If 2009 has been remarkable for one thing, it has been comic tone put under the spotlight. But in a week when our sense of humour was questioned once more, it was sport that ruled the week. The NRL Grand Final topped the week with 2.41m viewers, ahead of Hey Hey the Reunion. Both were Nine properties and gave the network a decisive victory -its fifth successive win.
Nine finished with 31.1% ahead of Seven’s 26.2% and TEN’s 19.6%. The ABC had 17.8% and SBS 5.3%.
Nine won 3 key demos 16-39, 18-49 …