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TEN failing 7pm test

Programmer David Mott admits the 7pm slot has been a disaster. You can hear the silent screaming.

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This will come as no surprise to any reader of this site. But it’s good to hear the problem being addressed publicly.

TEN’s chief programmer has conceded it is in the doldrums due mostly to the 7pm timeslot.

“Where the problem is for us – and it’s the elephant in the room – is 7pm and there’s no question it’s our biggest challenge,” Mott told the Daily Telegraph. “It’s hurting us and we have to bring people back . . . at 7pm.”

TEN has cycled through Friends, Taken Out, Friends (again) and Will and Grace to no avail, dragging down other shows that follow.

Meanwhile Home and Away and Two and A Half Men regularly register more than 1.2 million in the same timeslot and ABC1 news counts about 1.1 million. While TEN took a risk with Taken Out, the format didn’t seem polished enough and it didn’t provide enough variety, especially with 3 weeks of female contestants.

“If you’re not performing at 7pm, and we haven’t been, then we’re not performing the rest of the night,” Mott said. “It’s particularly hard when you’re trying to launch shows when you don’t have an audience flowing through.”

Viewers have been angered by kneejerk axings, and shows moving around the schedule. There is a wholesale loss of faith that needs addressing with a new branding for 2009.

On Wednesday night the network had just 16% share, and is set to finish in its worst position in eight years.

TEN unveils its 2009 line-up on Monday.

Source: Daily Telegraph

71 Responses

  2. when i first heard that Will and Grace would air at 7pm on Ten, i thought ”cool, a sitcom that hasn’t been repeated a trillion times like other sitcoms” (like Raymond, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Friends)”. However, i watched the first 2 episodes of it, and didn’t like it. Wasn’t funny. I didn’t mind Friends, as i hadn’t watched most of the ‘later episodes’. Now i’ve gone back to watching the slightly funnier than Will and Grace – Two and a Half Men.

    I reckon Ten should air a game show at 7pm, like Temptation. Yes, i know Nine has the rights to Temptation, but ten should bring in a ‘similar’ type show to air, as Nine ain’t showing it anymore (however i did hear that nine may air temptation over summer. May be wong, but that’s what i’ve read in another forum)

  3. More consistency e.g. H&A or ABC News seems to keep viewers rather than wholesale changes every few weeks. Use the 2nd channel to experiment but the main channel to give viewers (who make your money with advertisers) some expectation that shows can last a series.

    My suggestions
    If desperate – The SImpsons
    Each way bet – Sports Tonight early edition
    Left field – some sport/recreation based show e.g. fishing or travel

    Each has a different demographic to the other programs

  4. Ten have no excuses for airing all these shitty 90s sitcoms in the 7pm. They have so many options which already have established audiences…

    * The Bold and the Beautiful (I hate the show, but it could work)
    * Everybody Hates Chris
    * The Office
    * Out of the Blue

  5. It’s funny how that one timeslot can cause so much drama to the rest of their schedule! If we remember back to the beginning of the year when Loser was there, Ten had the most stable schedule out of all 3 commercial networks (Nine chopped shows and filled the schedule with Ramsey & 2.5 men and Seven messing around with Lost, Prison Break, Ghost Whisperer etc). Once Loser finished and Big Brother started to tank, it’s been all downhill since!

    I agree they should try Out of the Blue there (what have they got to lose?) or The Office (Ten are the best at marketing & promos – surely they could make it work!), or try something bold (I’ve been thinking lately they should get the Good News Week guys to do a Daily Show type show for 7pm – GNW is actually very clever and funny). But one thing they shouldn’t do (sorry Alex) is run their schedule on the hour (eg 7-8, 8-9 etc) – they tried it once in the ’80’s (I believe), to disastrous results!

  6. Lets face it, they aren’t going to get back the people they lost to their growing competitor: Channel BT. Since their prime target audience is people who know and will use this channel, they need to provide consistency, as mentioned above. Forget the deceit that 9 and 7 continue to pull off, make sure that all your shows always start on time. We don’t buy the idea that things live are unavoidable to finish on time. Dancing with the stars, American idol, and every other american show finishes on time, your audience knows this, we aren’t stupid.

    For fast-tracked shows, tell people there is a break in the US, and how long for. Otherwise they will assume it is gone from schedule, and will source it elsewhere. It is their responsibility to inform viewers, not them to find out for themselves. Like channel nine: at the end of the last episode of the mentalist aired, they didn’t have a promo and anything mentioning the next episode, just that a movie was in its slot next week. To the average viewer, they would just assume it is gone forever.

    Put simply, it is their fault viewers are leaving them, so it is their responsibility to slow viewer erosion. But they won’t get me back for new shows, and they won’t get many people back.

  9. How can anyone think Out of the Blue would be a serious contender at 7pm?

    I can imagine the pitch in the Ten boardroom “I know – lets put another beach-side Australian soap, that the poms already didn’t take to, up against an existing, high rating beach-side Australian soap, that has a dedicated, long term fan base and easily wins its time slot! There’s no possible way this will faill! Right guys?”

    Ten needs to steal Temptation off Nine, or find a less craptacular game show than Taken Out, or an inexpensive (but not cheap) reality show to fill the slot.

  10. Question: What demographic actually watches TV at 7pm weeknights???
    Is it the typical 10 target audience … or are they aiming at the wrong age group?

    Home And Away is very successful at that time … Put Neighbours on at 7pm!

    Jack!

  11. Here’s a suggestion, networks.

    Don’t compete directly with a show that targets the same demographic as your competitors. Instead complement the slot with something that appeals to a different demographic, and grab all of the lost souls who are not being catered for.

  13. the term ‘elephant in the room’ tends to talk about a gaping flaw or issue that nobdoy is talking about…as far as im aware, TEN’s dismal performance since after Dance and Loser finished back in April has been the main topic of conversation for people with any more than a passing interest in television..particularly the 7pm slot issues..
    is it safe to assume a re-tooled (for about the 5th time) Idol will be back next year..yawn!

  14. deeeerrrr state now, what everybody in the tv world and viewing world has known for many many many months. How about filming paint dry and run that for half an hour at 7.00pm because it might be more exciting than the constant re-runs and bad shows you come up with ten!

    Ten , Seriously sloooooowwwww.

  16. Problem number 1…

    90s sitcoms! Everybody’s already seen them before! And for those who were never interested during their initial runs (like me) are no more inclined to watch them while they’re in repeats. There’s a place for sitcom reruns on TV… just not on primetime, where viewers would ordinarily expect programming that is NEW (or at least reruns of shows that are still running).

    Taken Out was a bad idea right from the start. It wasn’t anywhere near as spontaneous or engaging as Big Brother was (which got axed, so what hope did a shallow “dating show” like Taken Out have?). Not to mention that the Ten programmers completely ignored the disasterous precedent that was Yasmin’s Getting Married (which didn’t even last the week).

    A lot of people here have been requesting The Office in the 7pm timeslot. It can’t possibly do as badly as Will & Grace has been doing. If The Office has an audience loyal enough to stay up until 11.30pm on a Sunday to watch it, then imagine how much higher the ratings can be in an earlier timeslot. Or hell, there’s King of the Hill, an underrated sitcom that Ten can play alongside Simpsons, Futurama, Sit Down Shut Up and Cleveland in 2009.

  20. Its about time time that they admitted that they have no clue.
    Good ridance and may they bow out of the picture completely and take their rubbish with them.
    The few good shows that they have can then be shown on another network.

  21. David. 7pm weeknights on Ten is a really interesting timeslot. Do you have past ratings history for the last 3 or 4 years for Ten Nine Seven and ABC where you could do some analysis and tell us what has rated the best for Ten there, and the trends on other nets with Home & Away, 2.5 Men, Temptation, Frasier, Sale of Century etc. Would sure be interesting to go back and see what Ten got at 7pm with Hinch, Alan Jones Live, Big Brother (at its peak) and all the other things that have been there.

  22. This idea is probably horrible, but I think that Ten could benefit by starting their primetime programming half-hour early. So their programming runs 7:00-8:00, 8:00-9:00 and 9:00-10:00 – if they could put something they know would succeed on at 7-8, they could be set for the night.

  24. Overall the axings have lost viewer faith, or at least those of ratings box holders (there always seems to be way more people watching than the ratings indicate). if 10 had any guts they would completely re-do the whole schedule and then promise to stick with it and not whimp out. they need to advertise that they are doing this so that people know, make a promise to the viewers and hope to god they will give them the benefit of the doubt, coz if they go back on their word after that they will never get the trust back again so they need to stick it out. people aren’t stupid they know they are getting messed around by the networks and are reluctant to start any new shows for fear they will be axed, people have called for an assurance from the network that they will commit to the show in the same timeslot for the whole season, and without such are not willing to take the risk. they need to own up to the mistakes of the past and move on from there, recognise that they are to blame for their shows failure and give us a reason to trust them again.

    they need to run ads saying something like- 10 in 2009, no more axings, no more shuffling, your printed guide will match what is on screen, tv the way it used to be, the way you want it to be, fast tracked shows will mirror american airings (this bit more to protect them from pre-emptions and axings there, although they should mention when this is the case in the voice overs to stop everyone wondering what is happening), ten promises you committment and consistency.- something along those lines, and if people believe them they will flock back if good shows are on offer.

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