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Bumped: Parade’s End

After just one week Nine has moved Parade's End to GEM.

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2013-03-09_0049That didn’t take long.

After just one week Nine has pulled Parade’s End from its Wednesday schedule and moved it to GEM at 9:30pm as a double episode.

It will be replaced with the Movie: Sherlock Holmes (2009).

This week the show rated just 453,000 / 322,000 for its two episodes.

While the drama was slow even before the commercial interruptions, the problem here is a bit of a dog chasing its tail.

Audiences are reluctant to commit to shows if they do not trust the network will keep it on air, and networks cannot keep a show on air when not enough viewers are watching.

Updated.

48 Responses

  1. So that’s where it’s gone. As usual, this blog is a lifesaver because the TV networks themselves are so awful at telling us.

    Airing 2 episodes at a time is a tremendously dumb idea. It’s just too lengthy for something of this nature.

  2. What a surprise!! So typical of Nine!! I don’t watch their programs for this reason. How on earth do they grow their audience if they don’t have confidence in them. I didn’t watch this show because of this, and blow me down they did it. At least Seven gives their shows a chance.

    TV stations as a rule though, have forgotten that with the internet and cable, people don’t sit at home eagerly anticipating their programs. They have a choice.

    Might be a reason, why more and more people are switching off.

    Don’t they get it???

  3. @Chris B
    The RPA viewers are OK Parade’s End is on at 9:30pm. So it only those watching repeats of the Closer who won’t get eps for two weeks. Somebody has to miss out. Just like The Office (US) viewers missed out to make way for Glee.

    Parade’s End didn’t rate much worse than the last Wednesday night movie. Whether there are make goods depends on what Nine promised.

    And yes they are accounted, if only in reduced revenue. Channel 9 booked $60m in losses for shows that rated less than expected in the last two financial years.

  4. @Secret Squirrel – as additional free ads, “make-goods” are advertising inventory that could be sold to make more money for a Network. When they are given away as freebies, that should be considered a “cost”. If not, it’s another weak business proposition in the FTA model. While you can’t guarantee a rating, each Network must have some expectation of how a programme will perform. Surely they reflect this to advertisers. If not – another poor practice in the business model. Also, the buck doesn’t stop with Nine. A “buck” should stop with an individual or individuals.

  5. “Hey look at the upside, it will now be in HD!”
    Not if they didn’t buy the HD version. Can you spell “upscaled”?

    @Chris B – the buck stops with Nine but there are no guarantees regarding ratings. If ratings are sufficiently low there are a number of mechanisms by which Nine can appease their clients including “make-goods” (additional free ads) if the situation warrants it.

  6. So, the 200,000 Gem viewers who’ve been watching RPA at 8.30 Wednesday for the past few weeks don’t matter. Nor do those who’ve been watching the final season of Cold Case. The decision to play Parade’s End on Nine, and then pull it after a week, now impacts on loyal viewers to programmes on Gem. What about advertisers who may have paid good money and been promised much better ratings by Nine if they bought commercials in Parade’s End? They’ve been hurt too. Who takes responsibility? Where does the buck stop?

  7. Trusting Nine to intelligent programming is like trusting your teenage kid never to indulge in Sex,drugs and rock and roll.
    There is always that rare chance they will get it right but as time goes on they both seem to show signs of abusing any plausible deniability.

  9. I do want to reiterate that as a viewer I like that it will be on next or really this week on Wednesday. Thank you for that. I am happy about it. Despite the bad news.

  10. Wasn’t a show that interested me. Even if it was a show that interested me I wouldn’t have had faith that nine network would treat it with respect so I wouldn’t have bothered anyway. Thats what happens when the nine network does things like not air drop dead diva season 4.

  11. I’ll join with Craig then to thank you for the update David. I’ll admit I don’t get the logic of keeping changes secret either. That’s why I thought they’d tell you. But I guess not.

    I just want to add I hope they remember to tell viewers that the shows that got moved because of Parade’s End when they might expect them back. Also that 8.40pm timeslot might only be needed the first week. It could be an earlier more sensible time the next 2 weeks. Although they probably won’t go for trying for the highest figure they can for GEM. I really don’t get why. But I’m only a viewer that want them to do the best they can from this. Plus it would also be good for the remaining viewers too. If they are told about it. Seems like a win-win scenario. But as I said it’s an imperfect universe. I’m glad it will finish before midnight. But for many it will be impossible to watch.

  13. There was no hindsight needed for me. I knew this was exectly how it would be played out. As others have mentioned, this show is so not nine’s audience. It makles me laugh when they advertise these “big” shows over summer as coming soon. And in most cases they come and then go, like this and Dallas, or they never come at all like Invasion from years ago now, that ended being shown on digital in its early days so I never ended up seeing it. At least they are showing Parades end on Gem, unlike Dalllas that still hasn’t seen the light of day since nine dumped it.

  14. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head David. I have mixed feelings about this development. I’m glad they chose to stick to the same day. I’m sorry that it didn’t get the numbers to stay on the main channel. But I live in the land of reality and if it didn’t then it didn’t.

    The things I’m happy about are 1. They had a GEM contingency plan! Again not that it became necessary. 2. They kept it on the same day! 3. They told David about the change of plans so people here could know about it. I worry about the other viewers finding out but I assume they have plans there.

    But there is one thing I’m not a fan of and that’s two episodes at 9.30pm?!? I think that’s deeply stupid to be very honest. It rated terribly when it ended around 11pm. So they think ending it even later will make it better?!?

    I think there are two better options. Either play 3 separate episodes on 3 separate weeks on GEM at 8.40pm. The reason 8.40pm was so you can tell people on Nine that it’s on GEM instead so they can flick over. Or if you prefer at 9.30pm but only one episode each week. That way perhaps you can boost GEM numbers a little. Although I have no access to the numbers and it’s a guess. Also they could get them in before Easter starts. Seems silly that they didn’t do one of the two options. Oh well it’s an imperfect universe.

  16. It makes you realise how bare Nine’s cupboard’s are. Michael Healy knew all of this before it happened. It’s a pity they don’t have a solid Australian drama to screen mid-week. House Husbands will be well-placed in this slot in 2013.

  17. I’m just glad Seven stuck with Smash when it was rating fairly low. Nine wastes no time in pulling the plug though, which could be a good thing I suppose.

  18. “Audiences are reluctant to commit to shows if they do not trust the network will keep it on air, and networks cannot keep a show on air when not enough viewers are watching.”

    Absolutely. Nine, and as a result the Australian FTA networks lost me as a viewer of anything international when they stuffed around Fringe after a couple of episodes. Turning off the HD simulcast for the waste of bandwidth GEM, One and 7 Mate has ensured i haven’t reconsidered.

  19. Will it be in HD on GEM? Somehow I doubt it.

    Is it any wonder more and more people find alternate ways of obtaining programmes they want to watch?

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