Audience Inventory: Viewers plea for shows to be completed

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!

PART TWO: Pay TV results