Audience Inventory 2012: Free to Air results
Free to Air results: The ABC gets the thumbs up from viewers in TV Tonight's annual Audience Inventory.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories
The ABC gets the thumbs up from viewers in the results of TV Tonight‘s annual Audience Inventory.
The public broadcaster is the most-watched channel, the most reliable for starting on time, the most trustworthy at delivering shows and the best at rescheduling cancelled shows.
Nine has again taken the title of most unreliable, most untrustworthy and worst at rescheduling cancelled shows -but this year TEN has seen significant rises in these categories as audiences view the TEN brand with more contempt than at the same time last year.
This was the fourth year of the Audience Inventory, with more than 1,100 surveys of over 30 questions completed.
New categories this year indicate second-screen engagement is high. 60% of viewers use second screen platforms several times a week or more, with Facebook and internet surfing via PC or Mac the most popular. By contrast, network apps such as FANGO and Jump-In were low in popularity.
Three burning issues lead the pack in viewer complaints: “Keeping an EPG up to date” has now eclipsed “Shows starting / finishing on time” as the #1 gripe. The third was “Finishing a series once it starts.” These were also the three biggest complaints last year.
Here are the results of the Free to Air questions (includes some Pay TV info).
* denotes multiple answers allowed
Which of the following do you watch regularly?*
Free to Air Commercial TV 88%
Free to Air Public Broadcaster TV 50%
Subscription TV 37%
Community TV 2%
Do you have Digital or Analogue TV?
HD TV 75%
HD Set top Box 18%
Analogue TV 4%
SD Set top Box 3%
Which FTA channels do you watch regularly?*
ABC1 71%
TEN 68%
Seven 67%
Nine (incl. WIN metro) 61%
ELEVEN 52%
GO! 46%
ABC2 42%
SBS ONE 38%
7mate 37%
GEM 31%
7TWO 28%
ABC News 24 26%
ONE 25%
SBS TWO 13%
Southern Cross 12%
WIN (Regional) 12%
Prime 11%
ABC3 7%
NBN 4%
Community TV 3%
Imparja >1%
Last year TEN was in first place, but it has slipped 11% this year, while ELEVEN has slipped 7%. 7mate and GO! are down 5%, 7TWO and ONE are down 4%.
Nine has risen 6%.
Which PVRs do you have:
Other 39%
iQ / iQ2 28%
No PVR 25%
Tivo 5%
MyStar 3%
Many wrote “None” beside Other.
How often do you watch TV on official catch-up sites?
Rarely or never 37%
About once a month 19%
About once a week 15%
Less than once a month 14%
A few times a week 12%
About once a day 3%
Which network is the most reliable for starting on time?
ABC 58%
Foxtel 23%
SBS 9%
TEN 4%
Seven 3%
Nine 3%
And the most unreliable?
Nine 47%
Seven 34%
TEN 17%
Foxtel 1%
ABC 1%
SBS 0%
Nine has risen 4%. Seven has dropped by 7%.
Which network is the most trustworthy at delivering your shows?
ABC 51%
Foxtel 22%
Seven 11%
TEN 6%
SBS 6%
Nine 4%
ABC is up by 6%, TEN is down by 5%.
And most untrustworthy?
Nine 57%
TEN 24%
Seven 17%
ABC 1%
Foxtel 1%
SBS 0%
Nine still leads this by a long mark, but it “won” by a 50% margin last year. Now TEN has eaten into its share by doubling from 12% to 24% -a very bad sign.
Who is best at rescheduling cancelled shows?
ABC 27%
Seven 24%
TEN 18%
Foxtel 18%
Nine 10%
SBS 3%
ABC snatches the lead from Seven which won this category last year.
And worst?
Nine 53%
TEN 26%
Seven 20%
Foxtel 1%
ABC 0%
SBS 0%
Once again Nine is out in front, but we see TEN lifting from 15% last year to 26% this year.
Which do you use for TV guide info?*
On screen EPG 56%
Online guide 48%
Foxtel EPG 33%
Weekly Newspaper Guide 26%
App on smartphone / tablet 25%
Daily Newspaper guide 11%
Magazine guide 9%
ICE Guide 6%
Electronic forms of Guides, especially those on screen, remain the preferred format and the gap is widening as print guides continue to slide.
And which do you most prefer?
On screen EPG 32%
Foxtel EPG 22%
Online guide 20%
Weekly Newspaper Guide 10%
App on smartphone / tablet 8%
Magazine guide 3%
ICE Guide 3%
Daily Newspaper guide 2%
Foxtel EPG rises 4%.
Which best sums up your position on switching from analogue to digital ?
Already switched 96%
Not sure 2%
Will switch by 2013 1%
Hoping to switch this year 1%
Hoping to switch next year 0%
Degree of satisfaction with multichannels* (majority results below)
Excellent: None
Very good: ABC2
Good: GO!, ELEVEN, 7TWO, ONE, 7mate, ABC News 24
Fair: Gem
Terrible: None
Not Applicable: ABC3, SBS TWO
ELEVEN and Gem have both dropped in rankings on last year. While there were votes for ABC3 and SBS TWO the majority of readers chose N/A.
Which second-screen platforms do you use regularly?*
Facebook 57%
Internet surfing 56%
Twitter 43%
Blogs / Forums 24%
Other Option 6%
Fango (Seven) 3%
Jump-In (Nine) 1%
Many people put “None” beside others, although some noted other Apps. Network apps have a lot of work ahead of them it seems.
How often do you use second-screen whilst watching TV?
Every day 41%
Never 21%
A few times a week 19%
A few times a month 9%
Less than once a month 7%
About once a month 3%
There is a high engagement of second-screen use at 60% using weekly or more.
Which is your preferred second-screen device?
PC or Mac 42%
Tablet 30%
Smartphone 28%
Do you use an IPTV service?
Apple TV / iTunes 47%
Other Option 20%
BBC iPlayer 12%
Telstra TBox 11%
Quickflix 7%
FetchTV 3%
Many wrote “None” beside other. Next year this category will need more than one option.
Rate any or all of the following FTA issues:*
VERY IMPORTANT:
Keeping an EPG up to date
Shows starting / finishing on time
Finishing a series once it starts
Fast-tracking
Punishment for breaches of the Code of Practice
More HD content of flagship shows
Playing sport live and in HD
Reducing on screen clutter (watermarks etc)
Online catch-ups
More funding for public broadcasters
ABC maintaining in-house productions
Regional viewers getting digital channels
Allowing more sport on Digital Channels
IMPORTANT:
Promos that fairly represent the show
More subtitles for the hearing impaired
Requiring Aussie content on Digital Channels
Having TV classifications match Film classifications
Letting credits roll at the end of a show
NO OPINION:
Implementing new Anti-Siphoning List rules
SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT:
None
NOT IMPORTANT:
3D broadcasts
Merging public broadcasters
While the voting numbers may have changed, the topics still fell under the same answers. This year “Keeping an EPG up to date” has now eclipsed “Shows starting / finishing on time” as the #1 gripe. Together with “Finishing a series once it starts” they are far and away the biggest complaints from viewers.
Which is the more offensive on TV?
None 46%
Violence 35%
Strong language 10%
Sexual content & references 9%
Have you ever participated in a Ratings survey?
No. Never been asked. 80%
Yes, in the last 5 years. 9%
Yes, more than 10 years ago. 6%
No, but I have been asked to participate.3%
Yes in the last 5 -10 years. 2%
91% voted TV Tonight Excellent or Very Good and 75% visit once a day or more.
Audience Inventory: Pay TV results soon.
10 Responses
@ David Knox…thank you for taking the time and effort to put up this survey and then collate and publish the results….thus giving we viewers a little voice….
This viewer appreciates your dedication and diligence.
David
Next time you do a poll, ask a Balance in Journalism question
Good stuff. Confirms what most of us already knew.
It beggars belief that there are some 30 to 40 people who genuinely believe that either Seven or Nine are the most reliable for starting on time. I guess we know how many network shills there are trying to influence things here. Fortunately the sample size is sufficient to drown out aberrant noise.
tomothyd; “And always will be as the networks continue to want viewers to see out their shows by other means rather than watching their channel and helping their revenue.”
Odd, though, that the situation appears to be much worse in Australia than it is in any other comparable country e.g. UK, USA. You’ve only got to look online to see that in those places people get up in arms whenever a programme fails to keep within +-2~3 mins of the advertised times – yet here, in Aus, 15 mins difference is not unusual. Why the difference?
It’s a strategy that only works when they all do it, there are no / few alternatives, and networks believe they ‘capture’ viewers rather than viewers choosing to graze wherever they find interesting content. And, as the survey results show, that’s changing…
I say good on the ABC. They are finally getting the recognition they deserve. They’ve stuck to their game plan and it is paying off. They have always had a steady and reliable stable of excellent shows. They’ve usually stuck to their schedules and they start/finish on time. I think it’s a case of slow and steady finally winning the race. In contrast the flashier, trashier commercial channels are so busy trying to out bid each other that they have actually forgotten their reason for existence and the viewer is now starting to see through the glitter and gloss. Back to basics guys. At the moment TEN is the fall guy but 7 and 9, you’re not far behind.
Nine’s an irrelevant network for me since i only watch 1 show, and generally think it’s a terrible network with terrible shows, so my votes went to Ten this year. Seems many feel the same. Ten was once a viewer favourite but how the mighty have fallen. They’re really gonna need to work hard to win viewers back.
My advice…look at the 4 most important things as voted by viewers.
Keeping an EPG up to date
Shows starting / finishing on time
Finishing a series once it starts
Fast-tracking
If Ten can promise all of these, I guarantee viewers will come back. This will also set them apart from the networks because let’s face it, Seven and Nine will never start shows on time, and Nine rarely finishes a series. At least not in same timeslot.
“Keeping an EPG up to date” has now eclipsed “Shows starting / finishing on time” as the #1 gripe. Together with “Finishing a series once it starts” they are far and away the biggest complaints from viewers
….And always will be as the networks continue to want viewers to see out their shows by other means rather than watching their channel and helping their revenue.
so 80% of those of us who took part in your survey have never taken part in the ratings survey, in fact have bever been asked,,,I think that says it all !
Always interesting reading, even as a non-Aussie. BTW what happened to the idea of somehow logging the shows starting late?
I agree the ABC is the most reliable as well as SBS. Although I hope next year they’ll have at least one science show at 8pm most of the year. Preferably Thursday. Also maybe put Mad as Hell on Wednesday. But I do love the repeats if someone misses something. Thanks for Doctor Who. There’s too much to comment on. I’m glad many of the problems have been highlighted.