Audience Inventory: Viewers plea for shows to be completed
In the annual Audience Inventory survey, readers demand shows to be completed, nominate Nine as the most unreliable and ABC as the most trustworthy in programming.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
The number one grievance of television viewers is networks failing to finish a series once they have started it.
It is closely followed by networks failing to keep their EPG up to date and problems with shows that never start or finish on time.
These were the top 3 viewer complaints in the annual TV Tonight, Audience Inventory, an extensive survey of over 1300 readers. They were also the three burning issues in the 2010 and 2009 surveys.
Typical of some of the comments were:
– Viewers are treated with such contempt.
– The most frustrating thing is the constant shifting on shows between time slots and the sudden cancellation of many new shows after 1 or 2 episodes.
– Television is meant to be relaxation. When it turns into work to track down where a show has gone, what time it’s on etc, then the networks have lost the plot, totally.
– Programming decisions sometimes appear to have been made so that a show delibrately fails.
– Keep it fresh and stick to times and gives show a longer go before axing or moving time.
– Shifting timeslots of a series is a pain in the derriere, all good shows on late at night.
– Really annoyed at starting times of programmes 7.05 etc instead of just 7.00.
– Stop cancelling good shows !!!
– Broadcasters now seem more fixated on each other than on the viewer.
– Consistency please!
Of least importance with viewers were calls for ‘More 3D TV broadcasts’ and ‘Merging public broadcasters’, also mirroring 2010 responses.
Channel Nine was again regarded as the network which is most unreliable, most untrustworthy at delivering shows and worst at rescheduling cancelled shows.
Yet again ABC wins the most reliable and trustworthy at programming. Seven, which ranked second in the untrustworthy question, at least got the nod as the network which best reschedules cancelled shows. A backhanded, compliment perhaps?
With the amount of changes to programming, electronic guides are the preferred choice of Guide. The on-screen EPG is the most popular Guide, up by 7% on 2010. Guide apps on tablets and smartphones were up 10%. But it’s bad news for the print industry with both newspaper and magazine Guides diminishing in popularity.
95% of TV Tonight readers have made the switch to digital television, up 5% on 2010. 70% have an HD digital TV, up 11% on last year.
ELEVEN has made a good debut with readers, ranking well as both a channel watched and in viewer satisfaction.
82% of readers indicated they had never been asked to participate in a Ratings survey. 5% had participated in the last 5 years.
Here are the results in the Free to Air sector. I have left a comment where there are significant shifts from 2010.
* denotes multiple answers allowed
Which of the following do you watch regularly?*
Free to Air Commercial TV 91%
Free to Air Public Broadcaster TV 49%
Subscription TV 34%
Community TV 4%
Do you have Digital or Analogue TV?
HD TV 70%
HD Set Top Box 20%
SD Set Top Box 5%
Analogue TV 5%
Which FTA channels do you watch regularly?*
TEN 77%
ABC1 72%
Seven 68%
ELEVEN 59%
Nine 55%
GO! 51%
ABC2 44%
7mate 42%
SBS ONE 38%
GEM 32%
7TWO 33%
ONE 29%
ABC News 24 29%
SBS TWO 11%
Prime 11%
Southern Cross 10%
WIN (Regional) 9%
ABC3 7%
Community TV 4%
NBN 3%
Imparja 0.2%
Which PVRs do you have?:*
Other 31%
No PVR 27%
iQ / iQ2 25%
Topfield 8%
Tivo 5%
Beyonwiz 4%
There has been a bigger uptake in PVRs with 38% indicating they had no PVR last year.
How often do you watch TV on catch-up sites?
Rarely or never 37%
About once a week 17%
About once a month 16%
A few times a week 14%
Less than once a month 11%
About once a day 5%
Which network is the most reliable for starting on time?
ABC 58%
Foxtel 20%
TEN 8%
SBS 8%
Seven 4%
Nine 2%
And the most unreliable?
Nine 43%
Seven 41%
TEN 14%
ABC 1%
Foxtel 1%
SBS 0%
Which network is the most trustworthy at delivering your shows?
ABC 45%
Foxtel 20%
Seven 14%
TEN 11%
SBS 6%
Nine 4%
ABC wins again, but a word of warning, last year it was 53%. Seven rises from 8% last year.
And most untrustworthy?
Nine 68%
Seven 18%
TEN 12%
ABC 1%
Foxtel 0.5%
SBS 0.5%
Nine ‘wins’ this again, rising from 63% last year. Seven improves, last year regarded by 23% as the most untrustworthy.
Who is best at rescheduling cancelled shows?
Seven 26%
ABC 24%
TEN 24%
Foxtel 14%
Nine 9%
SBS 3%
And worst?
Nine 65%
Seven 18%
TEN 15%
ABC 1%
Foxtel 1%
SBS 0%
Last year 55% of readers felt Nine was the worst at rescheduling shows, but it increases to 65% this year. TEN gets an improvement this year, down from 21% last year.
Which do you use for TV guide info?*
On screen EPG 57%
Online guide 49%
Foxtel EPG 30%
Weekly Newspaper Guide 30%
App on smartphone / tablet 21%
Daily Newspaper guide 12%
Magazine guide 11%
ICE Guide 8%
Apps on smartphones and tablets rise by 10% and EPG usage is up 7%. Weekly newspaper guides drop by 5%.
And which do you most prefer?
On screen EPG 31%
Online guide 22%
Foxtel EPG 18%
Weekly Newspaper Guide 12%
App on smartphone / tablet 6%
ICE Guide 4%
Magazine guide 4%
Daily Newspaper guide 3%
The preference for the EPG rises by 4% but it appears to come at the expense of the weekly newspaper guides down 4%.
Which best sums up your position on switching from analogue to digital?
Already switched 95%
Will switch by 2013 2%
Not sure 1%
Hoping to switch next year 1%
Hoing to switch this year 1%
Degree of satisfaction with multichannels:
Excellent: None
Very Good: ABC2, ELEVEN
Good: ABC News 24, 7TWO, 7mate, GO!, GEM, ONE
Fair: None
Terrible: None
Not Applicable: ABC3, SBS TWO
ELEVEN gets the thumbs up and there’s a positive reception for 7mate and GEM. ABC3 and SBS TWO are still failing to engage readers.
Rate any or all of the following FTA issues:
(results in order of importance)
Very important:
Finishing a series once it starts
Keeping an EPG up to date
Shows starting / finishing on time
Fast-tracking
Reducing on screen clutter (watermarks etc)
Playing sport live and in HD
Regional viewers getting digital channels
More HD content of flagship shows
Punishment for breaches of the Code of Practice
More funding for public broadcasters
Allowing more sport on Digital Channels
ABC maintaining in-house productions
Online catch-ups
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:
Introducing new Anti-Siphoning List rules
Somewhat Important:
None
Not Important:
More 3D TV broadcasts
Merging public broadcasters
Which is the more offensive on TV?
None 47%
Violence 33%
Strong language 11%
Sexual content & references 9%
Have you ever participated in a Ratings survey?
No. Never been asked. 82%
Yes, in the last 5 years. 8%
Yes, more than 10 years ago. 5%
No, but I have been asked to participate. 3%
Yes in the last 5 -10 years. 2%
There were 1351 surveys completed with 91% rating the site Excellent / Good and 77% visiting the site once a day or more than once a day.
Thanks for all the nice comments, really appreciate it guys!
40 Responses
I always laugh when people complain about something that’s free!
Nine is totally the worst – wtf is going on with Top Design – it changes Channels half way thru??? I thought that was illegal. Also, any pre-recorded show should finish on time – period. Note several shows that appear to be “live” are actually pre-recorded, like the talent shows. No excuse for running over the EPG times.
Actually Nine is pretty good at rescheduling shows … apart from Bleep my Dad Says, Mike and Molly and Hot in Cleveland, most shows that get pulled eventually get played out.
I agree with Jason D.
As long as it’s listed at 7:05 then i don’t see anything wrong with that and other people shouldn’t care either
Just as I expected with Nine. They will read this but take no notice of it when they make their next decision on how to run their network. It is time that Nine re-brand the main channel from new logo, new voiceovers, move programs from Nine to GO!/GEM where they are actually suited (eg. Hot in Cleveland should be prime time on GEM, Freinds should be on GO!) Also, GEM should be moved to SD and GO! in HD. I really don’t think a 4:3 scratchy black and white movie is suitable for an HD channel.
Sad state of affairs when more TV Tonight viewers watch Eleven than they do Nine!!!
David I think the question on FTA channels has somewhat skewed results (especially at first look) with you splitting up the commercial channels and their regional affiliates as separate options, especially since I believe in some regions Southern Cross for example operates non-Ten affiliates (while in most it’s just Ten).
Why are people surprised that Ten is watched so much?
It probably makes up 80% of my TV viewing! Offspring, The Good Wife, House, Bondi Rescue, Bondi Vet, The Biggest Loser, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Modern Family, Can of Worms, Merlin, Law & Order, Glee, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Outrageous Fortune, Rush, Undercover Boss, White Collar, The Renovators etc. are all shows that I watch(ed) regularly!
The only thing I watched on Nine this year is Underbelly.
I don’t care if a show starts at 7:05, as long as it’s advertised, or listed to start at that time.
@ David – damn that is what I thought you might say 😉
David (or anyone) is there actually a record of the number of shows cancelled and rescheduled, or not rescheduled or bumped or axed that can be used as a comparison againt these results to see if we are even correct about our complaints?
It would be interesting to see if 9 actually was the worst for rescheduling it’s programs – what would we do if we found out it was actually 7 or SBS?
Goonies: The archive logs plenty of Programming switcheroos. You’e welcome to trawl through it and get back to us with an answer!
@MJL
Yes I think you’re right. I remember reading somewhere each ratings box counts for roughly 7000 poeple. Although it may have changed since then..
@Jezza
You say every ratings box represents 22,000 viewers. This clearly is not correct as there are many late night shows that get less than 10,000 viewers in each city.
Another interesting survey, altho’ a lot of the results were fairly predictable. Thanks for putting it together, David. Ban that bastard 9% that didn’t rate this site at least “Good”. 😉
There’s a disconnect between the answers for two of the Q’s: only 49% regularly watch a public broadcaster yet 72% regularly watch ABC1, a public broadcaster.
Odd that some 25-30 people presumably capable of filling out the survey actually said that Nine were the most reliable for starting on time. That’s just bizarre. Similarly for almost twice that number who think Seven is.
@kel – watching regularly and watching the most are not the same thing. Ten has a wider variety in its schedule which provides more opportunity for there to be a program that someone might watch regularly. It might just be one hour of NCIS or Can of Worms or the Late News.
And I think most of us get that commercial TV is a business and that if a show isn’t rating well enough for its time-slot, it’ll need to be replaced with something that will rate better. The complaints are about networks not even giving some shows a chance to build an audience, or taking a well-supported show and moving it to another day and time in the hope that its audience will follow and prop up an otherwise failing time-slot.