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Fast-tracking fails to lift TEN’s Super-Sunday

Update: TEN adds a replay of Homeland after Season Two debut under-performs.

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It was always going to be a tough battle, especially for the coveted 8:30pm timeslot, but TEN’s new-look Super Sunday didn’t fire last night.

Once again it has fallen behind the ABC despite new episodes of Merlin, Modern Family, The New Normal, Homeland and Vegas.

Modern Family proved to be its best performer at 850,000. Emmys-darling Homeland was fourth in its slot on 633,000 viewers. Such is the ferocity of the current TV landscape that new titles The New Normal and Vegas will now have their work cut out to resonate as long-term brands. TEN had a better outing  a week ago with local content, led by Underground: The Julian Assange Story.

There will be debate about whether TEN’s fast-tracking is fast enough for die-hard fans, with Homeland having its third episode airing in the US today, and The New Normal already 6 episodes long. Nevertheless, TEN is fast-tracking far more content than Seven and Nine in an aggressive bid to win back viewers.

Nine’s House Husbands proved resilient and won a tough 8:30 battle with 1.04m viewers. ABC’s anticipated Jack Irish was also strong on 950,000.

But it was Seven that won the night in Total People, including another solid outing by Anh Does Vietnam.

Seven Network was 30.3 then Nine 28.4%, ABC 18.4%, TEN 18.1% and SBS 4.7%.

Sunday Night topped the night with 1.35m viewers for Seven. Seven’s other shows were Anh Does Vietnam (1.31m), Seven News (1.2m), Bones (853,000), Killing Time (434,000) and Strike Back (210,000).

60 Minutes was best for Nine with 1.34m viewers followed by House Husbands (1.04m), Nine News (942,000), Big Brother (863,000), The Mentalist (659,000) and Person of Interest (337,000).

Jack Irish (950,000) topped ABC1 then ABC News (811,000), Great Southern Land (784,000), Compass (300,000) and The Slap (215,000).

A new Modern Family episode was best for TEN with 850,000 followed by Homeland (633,000), Merlin (558,000), The New Normal (488,000), TEN News (430,000), The Project (322,000) and Vegas (286,000).

Battle Castle topped SBS ONE with 297,000. Immortal and World News Australia pulled 195,000 each.

FIA Formula One World Championship did well for ONE with the Pre-Race pulling a big 377,000.

UPDATED: TEN adds a replay of Homeland to 9:30pm Wednesday and moves Class of final to 10:45pm Friday.

Sunday October 14 2012

81 Responses

  1. @Dave – I don’t buy that, lots of other shows air 5 nights a week and have no trouble pulling in the viewers for the new eps. TEN has promoted it’s Sunday lineup I don’t know what more they can do. Sunday is a tough night made harder with the Jack Irish telemovies last night and next week.

    Having encore of Homeland is a start but like I said TEN should have doubled up last night to catch up with what had aired in the US and make it a ‘movie length’ night, as much as I hate them normally.

  2. Pretty much agree with what already been said. 3 weeks late is not fast tracking. I actually waited for Modern Family and Homeland because i felt sorry for Ten and they’re the only network that’s at least attempting to fast track. But i’ve stopped watching several shows they’re fast tracking because Ten is starting them 10 minutes late.

    And the main reason it’s failing is because the Ten brand is that far damaged. Those shows the past few months were absolute turds and really tarnished what was once a popular channel. And Ten used to stand out from Seven and Nine but now it seems to want to emulate 7 & 9 and now treats viewers just as poorly as they do

  3. its a case of the boy who cried wolf with modern family. they play so many repeats and then suddenly a new ep. people just cant trust channel 10 anymore.

  4. Totally baffled by the low numbers for Homeland. I watched it, as I think currently it is the best drama series available on FTA. I am surprised because it did well last season and was a rare ratings winner for channel 10. It is a bit sad when intelligent shows like Homeland don’t rate but mindless drivel like Beauty and the Geek are ratings winners. Just another example of Australians dumbing down, oh well.

  5. There is only one way to solve this!

    TEN, you must air a double episode of Homeland and reschedule it at 8:30 Monday night
    That way you catch up to the US, and you air the next episode within hours .. the real fasttracked

    Its the only way!

  6. Does anyone really beleive these numbers? just another fine example of how dated the OZ TAM rating system is! at my work alone which is based in the 3 major states and has approx 1000 people employed, Homeland was the major talking point at work. Something not right.

  7. I couldn’t agree more tvjunkie01. Foxtel’s fast tracking is awesome. They treat their shows well and seem to grasp what the viewer wants. I suppose if your paying for it, you have to get something for your money.

    @Les Solomon I think Foxtel have the first run rights to Smash, so seven have to wait to show it.

    I really hope Ten stick with fast tracking Homeland and it turns around for them. This season is absolutely brilliant so far.

  8. @Dr_rudi I know plenty of women in their 20s and 30s who had already seen Call The Midwife on DVD (or other). Same with Downton.

    I was also encountered spoilers on The Guardian website about next week’s Homeland episode. Ten should have had a double episode last night to reduce the gap. Plenty of people watched Underground last week, so the Ten brand can still attract viewers.

  9. Let me see if I have this right:
    ~ Australian retail is crashing because everyone is buying on the internet.
    ~ Australian newspapers are crashing because everyone gets their news from the internet.
    ~ Australian radio is crashing because average people are slamming shock jock advertisers with campaigns carried on the internet.
    ~ Australian TV viewer numbers are crashing because…..
    Rocket Science for TV Execs commences tomorrow… at www …….

  10. Homeland should of been shown on Cable here, like dexter, sons of anarchy, boardwalk empire etc. At least the foxtel channels treat these programs with diginity they deserve, not shown for a few weeks, dumped, etc.

  11. Ten have missed a trick here with Homeland, a 2 week delay is not fast-tracking, it’s ‘Sunday Driving -tracking’.

    Even Channel 4 in the UK, a country with less of an issue with illegal downloads thanks to their emphasis on homegrown programming rather than imports, is showing Homeland only a week after the US.

  12. Also as “Smash” has already shown, no matter how good a show is (ie “Killing Time”) its going to seem like second hand goods if its shown after cable airs it. Lets hope Seven shows “Smash”first next year and at a decent timeslot

  13. So shocked over homeland return I thought Vegas would have done alright too, it seems to me people just are turning of channel ten, big brother is slowing falling too will it get a second season its been out of the top 20 shows four weeks now.

  14. Not bothering to watch Homeland season 2 on 10, there fastracking is BS! I wonder how many episodes they are going to air before they leave the remainder for Feb 2013? I suspect by the time the show returns, alot of the fans of the show would of seen it already, I cannot believe how 10 advertises this program as fast tracked, if they were serious, they would show it within 24 hrs of US air date, not 2 weeks after.

  15. maybe it didn’t rate well because Aussies cant relate even though there was hype over it and awards being won. but if you seriously can’t wait for them to air it, you got problems. a couple weeks wait, come on!

    although they should have aired it on Monday night and gave Can of Worms a break, then they could have advertised it as ‘aired just hours after the US’ or something.

    I remember when Jericho and The OC season 4 aired it was a day after the US, networks should follow the American air dates more closely and plan it better.

    how are Nines fast tracked comedies doing in ratings?

  16. Absolutely agree TEN is a damaged brand. They can win it back but they need to be smart, which they are not being. Why didnt they advertise their Sunday lineup in Sunday papers??? People have deserted the network and they need to win them back with advertiing outside their own network, also why was the big Herald story on “Homeland” a week late? Surey, surely Ten must re run “Homeland”episode one again this week and at a reasonable time, this should help . Also they need to keep their new top rating shows on over the non rating period. By my calculation if uniterrupted “Homeland ‘wont finish till January.Their other shows need to run thriough as well and if they are smart, they should strip programme season one of “Homeland”daytimes ot late night. As for “New Normal”, it seriously suffers from the Ryan Murphys-slick, shallow,too furious, forced, not funny enough and full of bilious gay stereotypes. Cant see it having a FTA life.

  18. I’m less convinced about the effect of fast tracking. There are any number of programs which achieve good ratings figures without being fast tracked.

    Even if all the kids were downloading ‘Call The Midwife” (and you know they were) it still rated close to one million every week, eight months after it originally screened in the UK.

    I don’t have the answer to TEN’s ratings problem, but I’m confident the answer is not fast tracking.

  19. Regarding fast tracking, especially serialized dramas like Homeland, waiting 3 weeks is too long. It doesn’t matter if there are breaks in the US that mean Australian viewers are affected, as long as viewers get the new episodes soon after they air, not 2-3 weeks. The convenience of watching a show at a time suitable for the viewer, that is easily accessible online, will be too tempting.

  20. I watched ABC last night, Great Southern Land followed but Jack Irish was a great night. TEN should have Homeland on Monday nights instead of ‘Can of Worms’ as 2 weeks is to long for many die-hard fans. Maybe they should have had a double last night to at least put us just a week behind the US. Then show the new Vegas next week. People are more willing to wait for something they haven’t seen.

    That all said I hope TEN doesn’t jump too quick.

  21. I think the dying of printed TV guides and Tens failure to advertise outside of house are what’s causing this die off.

    Against the grain, our household watches almost exclusively Ten (and Foxtel). The only shows not on Ten that we watch are Once Upon a Time and Criminal Minds. Because of this and the fact that we don’t get printed TV guides anymore, we really have no idea what is on on Seven and Nine besides what we might see on websites/outdoor ads. Even then it’s usually for the Trashy or Flashy big name shows.

    Given that Seven and Nine have a much bigger ratings share, I’d wager that my families experience is happening in reverse. Many punters just do no know what Ten is offering and when anymore, and they aren’t making an effort to try.

    Gone are the days when people would circle/mark pages in a TV Guide, and I bet that electronic program guides and reminders aren’t replacing that idea for lots of people. Hell, I’m very technologically literate and have Foxtel IQ and I still barely go through the program guide, especially for anything more than an hour or two ahead.

  22. Do viewers actually have loyalty to TV stations? I just watch what interests me regardless of the channel. Mind you I do tend to stear clear of Seven so maybe. What I don’t understand is that in this day and age when it is possible to watch 3 shows in the same time slot (record 2 and watch 1 live) what counts for the ratings? I’ve maintained for years that as the FTA channels appear to have a complete disregard for their viewers that those viewers would start turning off – maybe this has started with TEN with the others to follow.

  23. For Homeland to rate just 633k just goes to show how damaged and lost the TEN brand is. Even on the ABC on a Saturday night, Homeland would of got over 1 million. This is amazing, there has got to be other things going on. Maybe TEN is just being ignored amongst all the new and old media and multi channels.

  24. Homeland was just #3 on the list of shows viewers wanted to watch at 8:30pm. It was not as appealing as Underground was.

    The main issue for Homeland was that there were 600k fewer people watching TV on the major networks last night compared to last Sunday. That is a 15% drop in viewers. October is a bad time to launch new seasons.

    House Husbands and Jack Irish did OK but didn’t generate more viewers than last week for their networks and Bones only got 7’s viewers up 80k.

    Ahn also ran past Homeland’s start time which would have discouraged some people from watching Homeland, it may pick up some viewers in the final figures with DVR viewings added.

    Showing Homeland on Monday the 1st of October may have got a small number of illegal downloaders watching the show. But being a Long Weekend, in the School holidays and being up against The X Factor would have reduced the numbers by a lot more.

    The first season of Homeland was on in March before the other networks had launched their lineups and it had a good lead in with New Girl. It was up against repeat of Bones and Castle for example. People checked it out and 950k stuck around for the ending. The 2nd season was never going to do as well. Homeland is a cable show, not really an FTA show, and it’s success last season was unusual.

  25. the good news for fans here is that with ratings this low ten will probably just continue homeland into summer instead of cutting the season in half.

    @Emily, this time last year i would have agreed with you, it doean’t seem like a mainstream show, but seeings as season 1 attracted a mainstream audience in Australia i don’t think that can be a reason.

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