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Snoozing, losing a problem for TEN according to ABC boss

TEN's audience numbers have dropped in part because it didn't fast-track enough shows claims ABC boss Mark Scott.

TEN’s audience numbers have dropped in part because it didn’t fast-track enough shows claims ABC boss Mark Scott.

TEN’s youthful audience are migrating more to illegal downloads, which has impacted on broadcast numbers.

Scott was addressing the Institute of a Broadband Enabled Society in Melbourne.

“To showcase the new 2012 ratings year on Ten, they had had held them back until several months after they were first broadcast to considerable fanfare in the US. Television networks have always done this in Australia,” he said.

“But this year, Channel 10 found the audiences it had been expecting weren’t there – they’d been and gone, online. They were good shows, easily found and watched within hours of their initial US broadcast. And there is no doubt that with its traditional younger demographic profile, a network like TEN is more vulnerable to this than other networks, but we‘re all vulnerable.”

He also noted delayed screenings of Mad Men and The Newsroom had undermined buzz for profile shows on Foxtel.

While he says that rights holders still need to be protected, even ABC fast-tracked Dr. Who onto iView.

“But if we hadn’t put it up on iView, the ratings would have been down anyway – because it is reasonable to assume that many of those 180,000 would have found another way to watch the program before it was shown on ABC Television.”

TEN is fast-tracking Homeland and new US shows in October while Foxtel has already begun fast-tracking new and existing shows.

Source: The Age

32 Responses

  1. @A – I totally agree with your post of Sept 21st.

    I would much prefer reliable starting times and a bit of consistency in shows being shown rather than more fast-tracking.

  2. @unclepete – I totally agree. Some things are worth the wait, I’ve patiently waited for Desperate Housewives (RIP) :p every year. However, it was at least dependable. I knew it would air. However, when Channel 7 (I know we’re talking about 10) kept messing with the How I Met Your Mother time slot, pushing it later and later, and then not airing the final 4 or 5 episodes of the season at all, what are fans supposed to do when treated so poorly? It’s almost as if they want us to go elsewhere! :p

  3. **sigh**

    Mucho, it is actually a quite well known saying and in any case I never said that people who wanted fast-tracking were doing so. I said that people who illegally download are doing so. And it is obvious why.

    You download the show, then you don’t watch it on the station, then the ratings are not good enough and the network cancels the show (or doesn’t believe it is good enough to fast track next time) and then they whinge again….

    It is an ongoing circle 🙁

    The only thing ridiculous is that people do not get this.

  4. @ MuchoTB

    It is a saying you can look it up on Wikipedia. I’ll admit I didn’t know it was so old i.e. “to cut off your nose to spite your face.” I’m surprised you’ve never heard of it.

  5. @unclepete: Who on earth makes statements like “people who want programs fast tracked cut off their nose to spite their face?”. Is that something you do in your spare time, cut off your nose to spite your face? What a ridiculous statement

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