Uh oh. Are these the Ratings of the future?
If networks keep coding shows strategically just for Ratings -where will it all end?
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News, Top Stories
Strategic coding of TV shows, starting late to distort the figures, running overtime ….do audiences have any faith that the Overnight ratings they are reading in news stories reflect what actually went to air?
Things have been getting out of hand.
Nine has been coding The Celebrity Apprentice as Celebrity Apprentice: Challenge and Celebrity Apprentice: Boardroom as two titles with ratings provider OzTAM. Seven’s AFL game is coded into Afternoon Football plus Pre-Match and Post-Match figures. And TEN codes The Biggest Loser Sunday, Monday, Tuesday eps just as The Block, My Kitchen Rules and House Rules does. Last year it coded The Project as two titles. Even the ABC gets a separate figure for its News Update.
The only apparent benefit from such practice is to distort the numbers in press reportage to avoid stories about lower averages.
In 2011 OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer told TV Tonight he was concerned about modifications to coding:
“People are raising it, media buyers, people inside Programming, and the ones who are really raising it are the users –the ones who run the software who try to come up with a sensible average for a programme, and they’re the ones who seem to be doing the hard leg-work trying to put it back together,” he said.
“So we’ll discuss it and see if we can come with an industry agreement on it.”
But after nearly 18 months there has been no change -in fact it’s getting worse and industry sources say they are frustrated with inaccurate data and a lack of action.
Yesterday an OzTAM spokesperson told TV Tonight, “OzTAM advises that program coding practices are on the agenda. OzTAM is encouraging discussion among all industry stakeholders in hopes they can agree on a solution.”
But if there is no agreement is this what our ratings might soon look like…..?
| Report: | Top 20 Programs | ||||||||
| Channels: | All Free-to-Air | ||||||||
| Market: | 5 City Metro (aggregate figure), Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth | ||||||||
| Demographics: | Total People | ||||||||
| Day-part: | 02:00 – 26:00 | ||||||||
| Day: |
|
||||||||
| Date: | 18/05/2015 | ||||||||
| Deliverable: | Overnight | ||||||||
|
Rank |
Description (grouped) | Channel\Market |
(r) 5 City Metro |
Sydney |
Melbourne |
Brisbane |
Adelaide |
Perth |
|
|
1 |
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: APPRENTICE FIRED | Network 9 |
1,327,000 |
384,000 |
446,000 |
287,000 |
97,000 |
112,000 |
|
|
2 |
MY KITCHEN RULES: MAIN COURSE | Network 7 |
1,300,000 |
319,000 |
364,000 |
258,000 |
151,000 |
209,000 |
|
|
3 |
THE VOICE LIVE: THE BIT THAT RAN OVERTIME | Network 9 |
1,255,000 |
320,000 |
413,000 |
223,000 |
143,000 |
157,000 |
|
|
4 |
HOUSE HUSBANDS: THE BIT THAT WAS REALLY THE VOICE RUNNING OVERTIME | Network 9 |
1,196,000 |
318,000 |
439,000 |
251,000 |
105,000 |
82,000 |
|
|
5 |
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: DIVIDING THE TEAMS | Network 9 |
1,146,000 |
299,000 |
287,000 |
242,000 |
135,000 |
183,000 |
|
|
6 |
MY KITCHEN RULES: DESSERT | Network 7 |
1,019,000 |
259,000 |
377,000 |
217,000 |
78,000 |
88,000 |
|
|
7 |
ABC NEWS UPDATE: NEWS | Network ABC1 |
1,001,000 |
278,000 |
327,000 |
164,000 |
97,000 |
135,000 |
|
|
8 |
ABC NEWS UPDATE: WEATHER | Network ABC1 |
987,000 |
267,000 |
292,000 |
177,000 |
114,000 |
137,000 |
|
|
9 |
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: FIRST TANTRUM | Network 9 |
954,000 |
226,000 |
273,000 |
183,000 |
123,000 |
148,000 |
|
|
10 |
MASTERCHEF: MYSTERY BOX REVEALED | Network 10 |
843,000 |
245,000 |
249,000 |
123,000 |
101,000 |
125,000 |
|
|
11 |
THE BLOCK: THE BIT WHERE EVERYBODY TUNED IN FOR THE VOICE | Network 9 |
822,000 |
254,000 |
259,000 |
143,000 |
71,000 |
95,000 |
|
|
12 |
A CURRENT AFFAIR: MONDAY | Network 9 |
812,000 |
271,000 |
288,000 |
134,000 |
59,000 |
61,000 |
|
|
13 |
TODAY TONIGHT: MONDAY | Network 7 |
768,000 |
224,000 |
263,000 |
141,000 |
64,000 |
76,000 |
|
|
14 |
HOME AND AWAY: MONDAY | Network 7 |
754,000 |
241,000 |
283,000 |
120,000 |
53,000 |
57,000 |
|
|
15 |
SEVEN’S AFL: FIRST QUARTER | Network 7 |
724,000 |
197,000 |
268,000 |
111,000 |
72,000 |
75,000 |
|
|
16 |
TEN NEWS UPDATE: MORTGAGE CHOICE SPONSOR | Network 10 |
714,000 |
191,000 |
232,000 |
182,000 |
47,000 |
61,000 |
|
|
17 |
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: SECOND TANTRUM | Network 9 |
706,000 |
192,000 |
236,000 |
101,000 |
92,000 |
85,000 |
|
|
18 |
Q&A: FIRST GAY MARRIAGE QUESTION | Network ABC1 |
699,000 |
198,000 |
205,000 |
125,000 |
66,000 |
104,000 |
|
|
19 |
Q&A: SECOND GAY MARRIAGE QUESTION | Network ABC1 |
690,000 |
202,000 |
192,000 |
145,000 |
64,000 |
87,000 |
|
|
20 |
THE BIGGEST LOSER: FIRST WEIGH-IN | Network TEN |
663,000 |
169,000 |
200,000 |
112,000 |
76,000 |
104,000 |
|
The above “Overnight figures” have been manufactured for dramatic effect.
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- Tagged with AFL, House Rules, My Kitchen Rules, The Biggest Loser, The Block, The Celebrity Apprentice
31 Responses
Only 954,000 for the first tantrum on Apprentice with a 250,000 fall to the second tantrum? I’d hate to be in Nine’s boardroom tomorrow…
Maybe music shows could code each song the play 🙂
Hahaha! That’s the funniest thing I’ve read all year. LOL!
Gooo!! David. And it’s so true.
Disaapointed not to see A Current Affair or Today Tonight – “What’s coming up tomorrow night” listed on the rating sheet
Haha, that is hilarious. The best humour always has a kernel of truth.
@PJs Ronin – the data is already recorded on a minute by minute basis. OzTAM are not going to publish that freely because they sell it. The Top 20 Overnight Totals is just for headlines and is not particularly useful except for playing the “my show beat your show” game.
Advertisers are more interested in the demos, of which there are a lot more than just the three age groups that we get to see the Top 5 for.
The current coding practices, late starts, and over-runs are annoying but will continue unless the people who actually keep the networks in business bring sufficient pressure to bear upon them.
When I first started looking at David’s blog I thought I had better bone up how the ratings are created. I went OzTam (nothing there) and then bounced off to Nielsen where the real work is done. However, it took no time at all for me to realize that the methodology of calculating who’s watching what, and when, has more holes in it than a rusted colander.
For instance, from an advertiser’s perspective the number of people that may watch a program at a later date is irrelevant if the consumer can skip ads or the ads time expire. I also wondered about ‘the count’ when people where in the ‘tv room’ but no one was paying attention. This really leads me to doubt Nielsen’s margin for error.
Anyway, with channels playing footloose with show start/end times the ratings are meaningless unless Oztam goes to minute by minute monitoring and does away with mentioning shows by name. Just a ‘worm’ for a nights ratings and forget the later date makeup.
You should add in a couple of ‘First Looks’ as well. I remember when a couple of those actually were coded as separate shows. Apparently a First Look is counted as program content and does not count towards the advertising allowed per hour.
Good point.
Media buyers are interested in the per minute figures and the number of ad views. The coding just makes the data a bit harder to wade through for them.
The top 20 lists are limited information put out to generate media interest and promote shows for the networks. The networks are just trying to squeeze embarrassing low numbers of the bottom of the list.
The networks own Oztam and control the data and its publication for their own ends.
Ratings measure the audience, but they are certainly not for ‘the audience’. Surely, they are primarily for the advertisers? Networks will always manipulate these numbers any way they can to benefit their needs. The + 7 ratings may reflect a total number of viewers a program has cumulated, but seriously, how much impact do the commercials in ‘recorded viewing’ have? If I watch Wednesday’s Arrow on the following Monday, that Holden weekend run-out advert is absolutely redundant.
@Qubec I don’t think advertisers are going to be upset at the coding of these shows. If anything they will probably be quite pleased as it will provide more detailed information about when audiences are tuning into a specific show and the advertisers can further determine when it’s best to run their commercials.
Media buyers I have spoken to are not happy.
haha! The Checkout should do that. They could have FU tube as a separate coding.
Just another example why tv in this country is a joke. The networks are a joke, and the industry regulators are just as pathetic. Nothing will change about coding, nothing will change about forcing networks to start on time. They know they can get away with it, so they will continue to do so.
Awesome article David.
I feel like overnights favour ‘live’ ‘event’ TV and not the drama offerings out there..
In my experience, people are more likely to watch live stuff live and time shift the weekly drama shows to a night where not much else is on.. Usually resulting in lower numbers for drama and non live tv in the overnights.. which sometimes we are all too quick to label as a dud.. even though in the +7 some shows are picking up 200+ viewers.
It seems though, after a week, those numbers are old news and no one gives a crap.. which is a shame.
Providing ratings for a segment is ridiculous. So, will the news be broken up to put ratings against each story?
The sooner we move on from the over emphasis on overnight numbers to Live + 3, Live + 7 like they do in the U.S, the better
The only people who can actually apply pressure for this to change (since OzTAM seem as useful as ACMA) are the advertisers. They need to start boycotting such practices and demanding change. Only then will the networks take notice.
Haha some champagne comedy in those ratings.
Easy step, avoid crappy reality TV!
I watched TEN most of last night and Wentworth on SoHo from my PVR.
OZTAM is a joke. I can’t believe that networks still use these figures to determine their schedules.
House Rules gets less than Celebrity Splash yet is still in the main schedule.
Major Crimes gets 800k yet the far superior mother-show The Closer was shunted to GO!
A sample audience of 3000? Really? There are 21 million people in Australia.
That’s 0.00014% of the population.
Always thought it was ridiculous how they divide shows up in the ratings. In the guide they are listed as one show so that’s how the ratings should be.
Love your graph, first tantrum, second tantrum.
Implying the ratings system doesn’t already distort the market?
Seems to anyone with a modicum of rational thought that removing all ratings entirely would remove the motivations TV stations have for carrying on in such a fashion. We might actually get broadcasting of more greater quality and variety, with less argy-bargy.
Love it! Very witty and cynical David, love your work!!! Funny because its true – the Celeb Apprentice is one I find particularly grating!
Ha-Ha. So true
About time we have a open and frank debate about this old and dated system. The FTA networks have really started to manipulate it to work to their favour. Of more concern are some of the people on this site that come out and suggest it is the most accurate method around. Ooooh please!!!!!!!!!!!. Time for a change? Really 3500 households can determine how many people watch a show.
Don’t laugh, this is a real possibility……