Secret agent’s secret ratings

FOX Classic’s Bond movies are surely doing well, with You Only Live Twice being the most watched programme on pay TV on Sunday night. It passed the channel’s previous high set by Dr. No last month.

Foxtel sent out a press release chuffed by its success with the Bond season yesterday.

But despite trumpeting the success of the film, nowhere did the broadcaster bother to indicate the number of viewers for the film.

Instead it referenced FOX Classic’s “combined 3.1% share, up 1.2% on the Sunday year-to-date average.” Great. And that means what, exactly?

Foxtel continues to display an ongoing issue with actual numbers, because it feels media and audience are too quick to compare them to Free to Air figures, which in their arena is like comparing apples to oranges. As we know, subscription TV will never match the numbers of Free to Air. In raw figures, a hit on Foxtel can look like a flop on Free to Air. In addition, the industry thrives on repeats and +2 time-shifting which distort audience averages.

TV Tonight has previously been told Foxtel publicists were prevented from revealing actual figures for this very reason.

So instead it sends out press info that means nothing to nobody. Up 1.2%? That sounds like a flop too.

To get an idea of how the Bond movies are faring, Dr. No previously averaged 59,000 in metro cities with a weekly reach of 470,000 (reach equals total audience across all city and regionals for multiple screenings). Goldfinger averaged 51,000 with a weekly reach of 432,000.

The top show on pay TV last week NRL Storms v Rabittohs averaged 118,000 with a weekly reach of 593,000.

Press Release:
FOX Classics’ ‘Bond. Classic Bond’ movie You Only Live Twice was the most watched program on subscription television on Sunday night and has become the channel’s highest rating program to date.

The impressive result for the 1967 movie, with Sean Connery in the lead role, broke the channel’s viewing record set by the ‘Bond. Classic Bond.’ season opener Dr. No on August 31.

The solid result for Sunday’s Bond double bill – You Only Live Twice in the 8.30pm slot and On Her Majesty’s Service (1969, starring George Lazenby) at 10.25pm – lifted FOX Classics to be the third most watched channel overall for the day, with a combined 3.1% share, up 1.2% on the Sunday year-to-date average.

FOX Classics has secured the television rights to the first 16 James Bond films and has launched the six-month ‘Bond.Classic Bond.’ season by presenting the movies in chronological order as Sunday night double features – going from Dr. No (1962) through to Licence to Kill (1989), thus featuring Connery, Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton in the 007 role.

Sunday was also the launch of a new feature on the ‘Bond. Classic Bond.’ website, with Bill Collins blogging on the site and giving members the opportunity to ask him questions about the Bond films.

www.bondclassicbond.com.au also features an interactive trivia game, plus clips and information on the movies.

Bill Collins’ interview special Roger Moore – Classic Bond, recorded in Monaco last month, will premiere Sunday, September 28 at 7.30pm, on FOX Classics.

Having played the James Bond role in seven films, Sir Roger Moore is the most experienced ‘Bond’ of them all. In the exclusive interview, he looks back on his time as 007 and provides some great insights into the production of his movies in the phenomenally successful Bond franchise.

Next Sunday’s ‘Bond. Classic Bond.’ movies are:

Diamonds are Forever (8.30pm) and Live and Let Die (10.35pm).