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Why The Project is doing it tough, with no help from TEN.

Pitting The Project against Neighbours is a great way to cannibalise your audience.

2013-03-21_2315Question without notice to Network TEN:

Why on earth are you playing a premium first-run Drama series in Neighbours against a premium first-run Light Entertainment series in The Project, when they are both shooting for the same demographic?

How is this good business sense?

Which show is it supposed to be helping?

Aren’t you asking your viewers to decide between one or the other?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to protect your first-run local content rather than cannibalise the audience?

The Project has endured so many Programming changes that it has now ended up competing for the same audience as Neighbours, yet this was never the intent.

When Neighbours moved to ELEVEN in January 2011 it was scheduled against state-based news editions, with George Negus at 6pm. It was an alternative offering and The 7pm Project, as it was then known, was running against reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.

By April 2011 TEN moved Negus to 6:30 against Neighbours, but the two shows were still arguably shooting for a different audience -one was serious current affairs and the other a youthful soap audience.

By October of the same year the Negus experiment was axed and The 7pm Project became The Project, running for an hour at 6:30pm. That was the first time it went head to head with Neighbours. But by February 2012 the show moved again to 6pm as TEN moved its Reality juggernauts back to 7pm. It was a big ask to compete with 6pm news bulletins.

The most recent move was a return to 6:30pm last December, again commencing head to head with ELEVEN’s soap. The show has now endured so many timeslot changes that it has impacted on a loyal audience.

Two years ago when it was a half hour 7pm Project, the show was frequently above 700,000 viewers. Admittedly TEN was in much better shape and the landscape had not fragmented as much as it has now.

But last week it averaged 435,000, only just ahead of The Bold and The Beautiful on 400,000. At the same time another 300,000 viewers are watching Neighbours on ELEVEN.

Both are arguably shooting for the 16-39 and 18-49 demographics. TEN is effectively forcing one mass audience of 700,000 to split into two.

Even more bizzarely, all this time Neighbours has not attracted Drama points for the network when it could have if it had been played at 6pmon TEN. As of this week the government has ruled that first run Dramas on multichannels will finally attract points.

But it’s time to consider moving Neighbours to 6pm to encourage the same audience to feed into The Project at 6:30pm, coaxed by direct promos. Lifting The Project would also help give TEN’s 7:30 shows a stronger lead-in.

There has been some chatter that the license fee TEN has paid for Neighbours precludes it from switching it back to TEN. Both the network and FremantleMedia Australia declined to comment when asked by TV Tonight.

On Monday, TEN’s CEO Hamish McLennan acknowledged to the joint Senate committee that TEN paid lower or “market” rates for content that was designed to screen on a multichannel.

Whatever the limitations, my message to TEN is to put your first run local content against US reruns and find a better way to flow audiences from one local show to another.

Stop making the audience choose. Do what you can to protect your talent. Programming 101.

67 Responses

  1. I have never watched the Project but occasionally catch Neighbours because a family member watches it. Yes, from what I have seen, it has certainly improved in recent months but I just wish that they’d find a way to write some episodes that don’t have love-triangle angst stories. These are so tired and cliched!

  2. Eleven is full of sitcom re-runs so neighbours seems so odd on that channel. It’s almost lost amoungst the schedule. I can only think the decision is based on wanting neighbours to be no1 show on eleven whereas without it eleven would have nothing. What’s the point in having one good show when they’ve got mothing else.

  3. The thing I like about The Project (over ACA and TT) is the virility and the fact they don’t take them selves too seriously most of the time but when they have a serious topic they get on with the job. The other 2 shows are nothing more than infotainment masquerading as news shows. The ABC has the only real news shows in this country on FTA.

  4. Good point, I haven’t seen The Project since it moved to the same slot as Neighbours – I’m watching Neighbours. Maybe they could stop being cheap ***** and pay a bit more for a show that, if they tried (like, did something nuts like a proper promo campaign), could get some decent numbers for them considering how poorly their numbers are?

  5. There is more to this than unusual programming choices. ASIC should be paying more attention here since it has implications to the longterm owners of Ten and it all started when Murdoch and Hancock and her crew started to rule the roost.

  6. I have never watched neighbours but i am quite proud of that!

    The project is entertaining compared to aca and tt i really dont know how they rate so well??

  7. Sorry David, but if The Project was a good show, it would be pulling the numbers (even up against Neighbours). Yes the damage was probably done when Ten expanded to an hour moved it out of the 7pm timeslot, but viewers clearly don’t care enough about the show to follow it to a new timeslot.

    I would move The Project back to 6pm – its a more compatible lead out of Ten news, it rates better than Simpsons repeats and provides a quality alternative to Seven and Nine.

    Put Modern Family back at 7pm including a new episode on Mondays – it would rate more strongly than The Project and new episodes at 7pm would get people watching throughout the week.

    As for Neighbours, there’s no way it would rate any better than what The Simpsons is currently doing on Ten. Moving it back to Ten with a significant timeslot change to 6pm only risks alienating the audience further. I agree with Beverley McGarvey’s comments in that its become a staple for Eleven and helps prop up the rest of the night’s programming.

  8. The Project is rubbish. Viewers prefer Today Tonight and ACA because The Project have comedians acting as presenters. But I do agree with you about moving Neighbours back on Ten.

  9. Hmm.. those thinking The Project is left wing, Is Steve Price left wing? He quite often appears on The Project. Also Joe Hockey basically makes weekly appearances too ( though not at the desk ).

    Also Bolt would appear on it at times too before he had his own show.

  10. For the same reason, I don’t understand them programming Wednesday night on one with 4 great first runs dramas and putting them up against first run dramas on ten and then wondering why none of them rate well! I think they think these are male orented shows on one and female oriented on ten but you should never decide what your audience wants to watch…

  11. The Project is a uniquely refreshing program. There is nothing else like it on free-to-air TV. It is the best commercial TV available at 6:30 pm by a country mile! Long may it survive! Worryingly though, Andrew Bolt listed it as part of the left-wing media a couple of weeks ago in his regular weekly newspaper rant (left-wing being anything he doesn’t agree with). Given his close association with Ms Rinehart, Mr Murdoch & others, perhaps there is another agenda causing The Project to be doing it tough. Wear it down, don’t promote it, program strongly against it to get the ratings critically low enough and then you have no choice but to give it the chop. Wouldn’t that please certain people? Go Charlie & co!

  12. PJs Ronin – the project does deal with sensitive stories on many occasions. Not sure how much you’ve watched it, but they can be on quite regularly and afterwards its common for a few members of the panel (especially Carrie and any other female it they’re on at the time to get emotional). It isn’t all fluff and jokes.

  13. @ trev, I did say the project was a consistant performer, not the best. Yet everyday in DKs ratings report it is nearly always in ch10s top 5 performers, yesterday it was 2nd for ch10.

    Ch10 will not continue to exist as a going concern if its ratings doldrums persist, but do you ditch one of its shows that provides consistant numbers?

  14. Spot on, David. I see the effort that 11 puts into promoting Neighbours, via guests on Couch Time and reruns of earlier series at 9.30am, etc. And the producers are doing everything they can via social networking. etc. It’s just a shame that Ten doesn’t support the product. Pitting Neighbours against The Project is simply dumb.

  15. I can’t stand Neighbours, but I appreciate I am in the minority. Thus I agree that it deserves a better channel/timeslot.

    On the other hand, The Project suffers such an identity crisis that no amount of scheduling will help it. Comprising two ‘comedians’ and a fluff, no real news story is going to see the light of day. Can you imagine these folks dealing with issues such as rape, paediatric oncology, domestic abuse or (heaven help us) politics or religion to any degree of depth… yep, lots of laugh material there folks. That resolves the program to addressing issues of little consequence.

    Dump the project and fill the hour with Neighbours/Simpsons. God, did I just say that?

  16. The Project has never known exactly what it wants to be. Yes it presents news in a different format but the transitions from a serious, sad story to something silly and amusing are incredibly jarring and uncomfortable. You invariably have comedians attempting to debate serious, complicated issues and its clear they often don’t know what they’re talking about, or don’t care.

    I think this format has a place but it cant be everything to everyone. The Panel was brilliant because it was such a simple, clearly defined format – comedians having an amusing look at the days events – they never bothered pretending to be serious, or genuine – they’re comedians, and there’s serious news for that.

  17. Why is the Project doing it tough?
    According to Jezza the first, it’s one of Ten’s most consistant performing shows, even though it struggles to average 500 K in peak viewing time and very rarely finishes above fourth place in its time slot.

    The show is stuggling because hardly anyone is interested in watching a talentless anchor, an unfunny comedian and the nation’s worst newsreader acting like complete idiots each and every night.

    To answer carolemorrissey’s question, Neighbours was relegated to 11 because hardly anyone was watching it on 10, simple as that.

  18. I like the idea of Neighbours moving back to Ten, but I’m wary about changing the timeslot to 6pm. I think one of the major reasons the ratings dropped when it moved to Eleven was that it broke viewing habits. People who would normally leave their TV on Ten for the News, The Simpsons then Neighbours probably stayed on Ten or found other alternatives rather than switching to Eleven. It didn’t help that the move happened after the Summer break and with no warning of the switch in the final episode of 2010 on Ten. As a Neighbours fan it’s surprising how many people I come across who don’t realise the show is still on air! A move to a new timeslot could cause more viewers to abandon the show. Perhaps a marketing campaign promoting the timeslot and channel to a mainstream audience rather than just Channel Eleven viewers would be a better alternative?

  19. @Pertinax – I don’t think secondary channels were a mistake. The mistake is that Ten effectively agreed to create a channel that canibalised its own audience. More programming across free to air is a good thing. There’s a bunch of programs I watched that I would have missed if it hadn’t been for the secondary channels. Ten’s issue is there’s programming on Eleven that would rate just as well if it were on the main channel – probably better.

  20. Yeah makes more sense Neighbours being on Ten at 6pm. But The Project Is become abit all the same. And sick of the panel laughing at unfunny stuff – Especially from Dave. He’s not funny! Lemo or Pete Helliar are soooo much better. If you are there to be funny – it’s quite important that you are!

    But it is still better than the alternative rubbish on 7 and 9.

  21. Yeah, David should take off programming for ch 10.

    I tape Neighbours and The Project, and watch the news and A Current Affair or Today Tonight and Home & Away. Can’t even remember why Neighbours was switched to 11.

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