0/5

Merlin zaps homeMADE premiere

Nine's new renovation series fails to live up to the hype, with a magical kid causing havoc for rival programmers.

merlin-colinThe idea of renovating homes on Channel Nine’s homeMADE did not resonate with viewers, coming third in its timeslot with just 1.02m viewers.

With all the promotion Nine did for the show it was a disappointing result, and Nine is counting on the show performing mid year along with Sea Patrol as its big local brands.

Winning the timeslot was Merlin on 1.3m viewers with Sunday Night a close second on 1.29m.

Most concerningly for Nine, the show had a strong lead in with 1.49m for Nine News. Sunday Night also dropped from its lead in of 1.57m. It seems Merlin is proving a little magic can go a long way. Viewers with long memories will well remember the Sunday 6:30pm slot was once the mainstay of family entertainment and TEN appears to have struck a chord with a well-made fantasy.

TEN would also be pleased with the 1.47m for MasterChef Australia -that’s better than So You Think You Can Dance was netting. So early in its life, the figure is an encouraging sign for TEN. Rove also charted over the 1m mark although Harper’s Island was somewhat softer on 575,000.

On the ABC Dirt Game seems to have plateaued on 566,000 -a disappointment for local drama.

This year Sunday viewing has been all over the place. The commercial networks have each won Sunday shares, making life very testy for programmers.

Still healthy competition and variety is good for all.

Week 20

31 Responses

  1. I’m loving the fact that Ten’s doing repeats of Merlin on sundays. I’ve never been happier to watch repeats 🙂 It’s an engaging show, I think it’ll get a long run. Colin Morgan and Bradley James are just too cute.

  2. Reno shows and done and dusted, they had there day, About time channel 9 pulls something else out of that bag. People dont have the money to revamp there homes and they dont want to watch what they cant do. RIP Renovation Shows, u wont be missed…..

  3. I think Nine would be very disappointed by this – it was meant to be a central part of their offerings mid-year, now it just looks like they’ll have to find something else to plug the gap. If this doesn’t kick it on Tuesday and next Sunday, it’ll be gone in a couple of weeks.

  4. I am soooo pleased that Merlin won the ratings in this time slot. I saw that last week 60 Minutes (cos of the logies) just beat Merlin – but was hoping it was in the bag this week. Well done.

    It’s nice to have a show on TV that is so different – not a soapie or a reality show – but a family show that adults like me enjoy. Keep it up Channel 10 – and please don’t move it…it’s at a good time 🙂

    I was worried what Tepee said re: Master Chef and 7 trying to bid for it next year….I am sick of 7 bidding for things e.g Thank God Your Hear…get your own show 7!!! I personally don’t watch Master Chef but am pleased Channel 10 is having a good year on Sunday Nights…

Leave a Reply