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Multichannel survey: ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24.

ABC2 was our first Free to Air multichannel and now the broadcaster has several more.

The final look in TV Tonight‘s series on multichannels is with the ABC.

ABC2 was our first Free to Air multichannel, and since then the broadcaster has launched ABC3, which is about to have its 3rd birthday, and ABC News 24.

ABC also runs children’s content on ABC2 as part of its ABC4KIDS programming. Although ABC has supplied separate answers for this branding please note I have merged them under the ABC2 transmission category.

Those answers are divided via the forward slash /.

TV Tonight asked networks to focus on recent, current and upcoming content. Here are ABC’s answers:

ABC2

NAME OF MULTICHANNEL:
ABC2 / ABC4Kids

BRAND IDENTITY:
Always Brighter: factual, comedy and entertainment / We feature the best local and international content for Australian preschoolers, animation is a very popular part of our programming, but Live Action shows like Play School and Giggle & Hoot are the key ways we engage with our audience.

TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC:
25-49 / up to 6 year olds.

RATINGS / PERFORMANCE RESULTS:
Prime time share YTD 2.1 (1.7% 2011) Prime time reach 20.1% / ABC4Kids is the no 1 channel during the day among 0-4 year olds: to date in 2012 it has achieved an average daytime weekly reach of 66% and a total TV daytime share of 47% for this group, achieving 31% average daytime weekly reach of 5-12 year olds as well.

KEY FIRST RUN TITLES:
In 2012 Dumb Drunk & Racist, Kitchen Cabinet, Good Game, Marngrook, Paralympics, Sex on Fridays, Sunday Best / We show many programs that are first run and exclusive content for this territory, amongst the most popular are: Bananas in Pyjamas, Play School, Giggle and Hoot, Octonauts, Peppa Pig, Mike The Knight, dirtgirlworld, Thomas and Friends, Little Ted’s Big Adventures, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Timmy Time, Angelina Ballerina, Bob The Builder, Chuggington, Sesame Street and LazyTown.

UPCOMING FIRST RUN TITLES:
12 Days Of Louis, Alone In The Wild,The Best Of Sunday Best, Hell On Wheels, Misfits, My Big Fat Operation, Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, Peep Show, Ladyboys, The Set List. / Mofy, Ha Ha Hairies, Peter Rabbit, Blue Kangaroo, Room on The Broom, Maya The Bee, Cloudbabies, Joe & Jack, Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood and new series of Mister Maker Comes To Town, Shaun The Sheep, Octonauts and LazyTown.

RECENT SUCCESSES:
Dumb Drunk & Racist, Kitchen Cabinet, Paralympics / Many of our programs are extraordinary successes with our target audience on-air and online, amongst them are: Play School, Bananas in Pyjamas, Peppa Pig, Octonauts, Giggle and Hoot, Mike The Knight, Mr Maker, Guess How Much I Love You, and Little Ted’s Big Adventures. So far in 2012 the morning broadcast of Play School averaged 174,000 viewers with a 61% Total TV share of 0-4 year olds, as well in the mornings Bananas In Pyjamas averaged 161,000 viewers, with a 58% share of Total TV for 0-4 year olds. ABC4Kids success on-air translates online as well with our 5 series of Peppa Pig (streamed via iview and the ABC4Kids website) achieving a record 2.4 million online plays for the month of October, it is the number one ABC Children’s program these online platforms. Play School and Bananas in Pyjamas are also among the top children’s programs viewed online: in October Play School recorded 300,000 online plays and Bananas in Pyjamas recorded 270,000 online plays. To date in 2012 Play School is the number one ABC program viewed on iview via the iOS platform.

PREMIUM HD CONTENT:
We are an SD channel / N/A

ANY FIRST-RUN AUSTRALIAN CONTENT?:
Dumb Drunk & Racist, Kitchen Cabinet, Good Game, Marngrook, Paralympics, The Strange calls, Warehouse Comedy festival, The Roast / Bananas in Pyjamas, Play School, Giggle and Hoot, dirtgirlworld, Little Teds Big Adventures, Play School, Zigby.

CATCH-UP SHOWS FROM PRIMARY CHANNELS:
Gruen Planet, Hamster wheel, Rake, Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell (plus 7pm strip of Spicks and Specks / N/A

OTHER INFORMATION:
(Did not answer) / (Did not answer)

****

ABC3

NAME OF MULTICHANNEL:
ABC3

BRAND IDENTITY:
ABC3 is a digital channel entirely dedicated to young Australian kids and features a broad range of programming including drama, animation, comedy, news and current affairs, factual, adventure reality, music and sport, indigenous, wildlife, science, gaming and documentaries.

TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC:
ABC3’s target demo is 6-15 year olds with a core demographic of 8-12s.

RATINGS / PERFORMANCE RESULTS:
Since its December 2009 launch, ABC3 is the number one television destination for school age kids 6-15 years.

KEY FIRST RUN TITLES:
ABC3 is proud to provide a variety of international and Australian programming. Key commissioned titles to premiere on ABC3 include ABC3’s own Dance Academy Series 2 and 3, The Adventures of Figaro Pho, My Place Series 1 and 2, Bushwhacked!, Bindi’s Bootcamp and My Great Big Adventure. Key acquired first run titles premiering on ABC3 include the BBC’s award winning Horrible Histories, Deadly 60 and Stoked from Cake Entertainment.

UPCOMING FIRST RUN TITLES:
2013 will see the premiere of Dance Academy Series 3, The Lost Boys from Matchbox Pictures, ABC3’s Australia Day Beach Soccer Smackdown, the fast paced, gooey and irreverent game show Steam Punks, Australia’s newest eccentric family, the Flamin’ Thongs, a brand new series of the BAFTA award winning Young Dracula, Dani’s House S5 and more underwear clad fun with Almost Naked Animals Series 3 from 9 Story.

RECENT SUCCESSES:
ABC3’s own My Place continues to win awards picking up the 2012 Most Outstanding Children’s Program Logie and Best Non-Animated or Mixed Series at Kidscreen 2012. The Dance Academy Series 2 premiere was a huge success for ABC3. It attracted a national cumulative reach of 1.4 million viewers and recorded a total of 1.8 million program plays via iview and the ABC3 Watch Now website. Acquired titles like Deadly 60 and Horrible Histories continue to be a hit with our ABC3 audience.

PREMIUM HD CONTENT:
Not applicable to ABC3.

ANY FIRST-RUN AUSTRALIAN CONTENT?:
ABC3 has strong commitment to first run Australian programming, since its December 2009 launch ABC3 has broadcast the following first run Australian titles: CJ the DJ, Good Game SP, My Place, Dance Academy, MAL.COM, You’re Skitting Me, The Adventures of Figaro Pho, Dukes of Broxstonia, Prank Patrol, Dancing Down Under, Quest, What Do You Know?, Bindi’s Bootcamp, Bushwhacked!, You’re Skitting Me, Stay Tuned, Rush TV, MY Great Big Adventure, News on 3, BTN Extra and many more.

CATCH-UP SHOWS FROM PRIMARY CHANNELS:
Not applicable to ABC3.

OTHER INFORMATION:
(Did not answer)

****

ABC News 24

NAME OF MULTICHANNEL:
ABC NEWS 24

BRAND IDENTITY:
Breaking news; News and Current Affairs

TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: Across the board

RATINGS / PERFORMANCE RESULTS:
• YTD ABC News 24’s consolidated weekly reach averaged 2.1 million or 13.5% of the 5 City population. Across the same period in 2011, ABC News 24’s weekly reach averaged 2 million or 12.9% of the 5 City population.
• In 2012 YTD, ABC News 24 achieved a daytime (6am-6pm) share of 1.7%. This is up compared to the same period in 2011 (1.5%).
• In 2012 YTD, ABC News 24 achieved an average weekly reach of 1.3 million or 18.1% in the regional markets (Weeks 1-34).

KEY FIRST RUN TITLES:
The Drum, One Plus One, Tonic, Planet America, News Breakfast, Weekend Breakfast, News Exchange, Grandstand; Inside Edge; The Party Of Reagan

UPCOMING FIRST RUN TITLES:
Who Makes the News; The Hunter;

RECENT SUCCESSES:
US Election coverage (simulcast ABC 1)
Bali Remembrance (simulcast ABC 1 highest rating network during broadcast)
ALP Leadership Spill (simulcast ABC 1)

PREMIUM HD CONTENT:
(Did not respond)

ANY FIRST-RUN AUSTRALIAN CONTENT?:
The Drum, One Plus One, Tonic, Planet America, News Breakfast, Weekend Breakfast, News Exchange, Grandstand, The Party Of Reagan; The Hunter; Who Makes The News; Inside Edge;Tonic; Mawson: Science And Survival

CATCH-UP SHOWS FROM PRIMARY CHANNELS:
Q&A, One Plus One, Australian Story, Four Corners, Lateline, Foreign Correspondent

ADDITIONAL INFO:
(Did not respond)

25 Responses

  1. Maybe with the money they’re saving closing their Tassie facility they might be able to afford some audio compression on their digital channels. Seriously ABC2 is just ridiculous. The promos are twice as loud as the programs and when you’ve got kids watching high-pitched presenters like Jimmy Giggle it kind of gets on your nerves pretty quickly.

  2. idiotbox hit the nail on the head ABC 24 HD is wasted it should be ABC1 I think David is doing his bit to highlight the lack of HD content on FTA which shows up on the surveys thanks David

  3. The BBC does have 2 HD channels but only because Channel 5 passed on one (sort of). Also the UK has finished its transition into digital. Until that happened there were no HD channels on Freeview. I guess when the switch off happens here it will all change. More HD channels and even some new additions. I have a PVR that upscales every channel into 1080p.

  4. ABC sub channels are wasted , not used properly like the BBC .They have 2 HD channels with full HD & enhanced SD .No HD docos or drama here.If you get a chance to see real HD in the UK including 3D from the BBC it is amazing quality unlike anything we see here .It really enhances their programs .They also do mainline sport in 3D ! The only new thing done by our ABC is IVIEW . Repeats are unnecessary.There are on my reckoning available from BBC/ITV/PBS over 30 tv series never shown here plus 5 Science doco shows like Horizon .

  5. Some very interesting reading in there. I did see with interest the no comment on HD content for News24. It is the ABC’s only HD capable channel and yet it’s all broadcast in SD. Such a waste. I’d love ABC1 to be the HD channel instead. I hope the ABC fix this one day

  6. @David Knox – I think a repeat survey in 12 months would be great.

    I hope we’ll see improvements to the multichannels next year – ABC2 has some great first run content and isn’t just a dumping ground for shows that didn’t work.

  7. If the ABC wants a free idea for a Q&A Special next year. There’s that foolish Federal Government Report that advocates deregulating the power supply. You just need to secure the rights to the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room to point out what a spectacular disaster it was for California. Then discus it later with the special. Maybe try to have someone from California talk about it. As well as others. Either that or SBS could do it with Insight.

  8. @Ann

    The ABC is less biased than the commercial rubbish, especially since a lot of it is funded by special interest groups.

    @Kirben

    It is the goal of a public broadcaster to have more not less local content. The ultimate goal of a public broadcaster is to be 100% local with no foreign presence whatsoever. Of course lack of funding prevents this from happenening.

  9. @ Pertinax

    I agree it’s a mistake to copy commercial media. I mainly want them to bring me the news on ABC News 24. Plus sometimes catch-up on things though preferably with sensible timeslots. If you have to have opinion shows I wish you had thoughtful people. Because the biased and reactionary of any stripe put me right off. Especially those that fell for the disastrous ideas that didn’t work overseas. It’s why I don’t watch The Drum nor Insiders. They just made me cringe.

  10. It depends where you are. In Sydney the ABC plays to an inner city progressive audience. That is just where the ABC staff live and work. In other states it is different.

    But the ABC audience is used to that and likes it. It’s ratings are unlikely to go up by copying commercial media.

    Yes Good Game is Great. I don’t buy many games these days but it is fun and always makes me smile. There isn’t a lot on TV that can do that these days.

  11. @ Andrew

    I mean they have 1 hour and 45 minute programmes start on the hour rather than the half hour eg. Four Corners at 8pm (AEST and Daylight savings ) Saturday. This clashes with the 7.30pm shows on other channels including ABC1. Plus the 8.30pm shows. So you miss the start or end of one of the shows you are watching. It doesn’t inspire viewing the channel when it causes clashes with nearly everything else. Especially when as stated it’s meant to be a channel to be watched live. The problem is only between the hours of 6.30pm-11pm. But there’s extra complications due to different time zones. I guess Adelaide and Darwin are to be envied.

  12. Love the survey of the multi-channels. And the ABC definitely took it seriously.

    I’ll admit I often watch ABC2 and ABC News 24. Sometimes for catch-up and sometimes for first-run content. As they know I have an issue with ABC New 24 being out of step with live viewers during prime time. Especially as it is meant to be a channel that’s to be watched “live” . I hope one day it’ll be fixed. I do get there’s more than one time zone and it’ll never be perfect. But I’ll point out the East Coast has 5 of the 8 States and Territories. Although Daylight Savings will mess that up. So it’s never going to be work for everyone. I don’t envy you.

    Some of the things I love. Catch-up with Lateline, Q&A, and sometimes the former 7.30 Report. Even Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell on ABC2. The first-run content Kitchen Cabinet. I also watched some of the Sunday Best documentaries but mainly on Wednesday. The only peeve is it was often against Lateline twice so I that I missed the start. There’s so much more that I’ve not thought of. Except thank you for all the excellent shows including the Doctor Who repeats.

  13. Actually, ABC2 wasn’t the first multichannel in Australia. The first multichannel was a combo ABC Kids (6am-6pm) and FLY (6pm to 6am). It used the same channel as the current ABC2, but was axed by Russel Balding in 2003.

  14. @Ann – The joke at the ABC regarding such claims is that they get equal numbers of complaints for “Labor bias” and “LNP bias”, so management says “we know we’re pretty balanced”.

  15. The ABC3 still suffers from far too much Australian content (which is endlessly recycled), and a real lack of variety, and desperately needs more good series from overseas. I’m currently watching Geronimo Stilton (Season 2) via DVD, which would be perfect for the ABC3.

    I wonder how the ABC decides whether children’s series should be on the ABC2 or ABC3 too, as some of their choices seem strange. A completely morals based series like The Little Prince (CGI) seems more suited to the ABC2, while Arthur seems more suited to the ABC3 for example.

  16. Good Game remains an absolute gem in their roster. We still watch every episode and use iView to catch up if we miss it. We also watch quite a lot else on ABC2 – they have a really decent mix of doccos and light entertainment.

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