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
over two years on, and looks like nothing has changed in the way networks are sending out ratings.
Everyday programs that are still split into 2 (or more) coding’s for their shows include:
Sunrise and Today (or 3?); the three morning shows; Seven and Nine afternoon News; The 6pm Weekday News but not their Weekend News…. yet; The Project; etc.
Reality shows still split their daily shows into Sunday, Monday, Tuesday etc rather than an average of their shows (like drama).
Home and Away air single episodes Mon-Wed, while Thurs airs double (or triple in various times) episodes, yet that doesn’t get code-splitting. Mind boggles.
Just thought id bump this up and let you know (well, It has been mentioned many many times since this article was made) that the code splitting continues. Sigh! lol
Very funny David. I would be surprised if you don’t land a few job offers from programming departments.
I hope OzTAM get a grip on this soon cause all the FTA Channels are really abusing this just to try and get ratings. get some sanity back into the way this is done OzTAM!
Is a ‘First Look’ the same as a ‘sneak peak’ ? which is what they are usually titled on my pvr’s epg.
Agree with most criticisms of the system raised here, especially what tricks said about dramas being time shifted, most people wouldn’t want to timeshift something like the MKR finals for example only to hear someone at work reveal who the winner is. Whereas other non live/reality shows can always be timeshifted without as much chance of the plot being revealed. Dramas aren’t ‘event’ tv anymore like 30 yrs ago when people would talk about who shot JR on Dalllas or Grace dying on the Sullivans, the final Mash episode etc.