Crunch time for TEN as local products sink
Ratings: Dire figures for This Week Live and a thrashing for Wonderland as TEN puts on a brave face.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
TEN will be facing some major decisions today.
Its primetime schedule on Wednesday fell apart after 8:30 with Wonderland on just 420,000 viewers and This Week Live on just 194,000. On those kind of Total People numbers both shows should be immediately moved if not axed altogether.
The best TEN could manage was 612,000 for The Bachelor Australia.
A TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight, “Of course we are disappointed with last night’s numbers. Both Wonderland and This Week Live are great shows and we have faith in their potential.
“Last night Wonderland was clearly affected by the finale of Winners & Losers. But the crude overnight audience numbers disguise some solid results for the show.”
In the demos Wonderland is hanging on. It was third in its timeslot for 18-49 year olds and second for 16-39s. But no such joy for This Week Live.
TEN points out that the raw numbers improve with catch-up and consolidated figures -as most dramas do.
But looking across the board at local shows including Wanted, A League of Their Own, Recipe to Riches and Revealed it’s hard to find positive news for TEN right now.
Seven network won the night with a  share of 31.4% then Nine 27.7%, ABC 19.1%, TEN 16.4% and SBS 5.5%.
Seven News (1.02m) was best for Seven then Winners and Losers (1.02m), Today Tonight (882,000), Home and Away (868,000), Slideshow (814,000), The Man with the Biggest Testicles (805,000) and Million Dollar Minute (528,000).
Nine News topped the night with 1.04m for Nine then A Current Affair (1.02m), Big Brother (818,000 / 723,000), Arrow (621,000 / 586,000), and Hot Seat (613,000).
ABC News (967,000) won its timeslot for ABC1 then Gruen Planet (908,000), 7:30 (734,000), Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery (613,000), Tractor Monkeys (574,000) and Adam Hills: The Last Leg (428,000).
At TEN it was bad news. The Bachelor Australia was 612,000, then The Project (540,000), TEN Eyewitness News (509,000), Wonderland (420,000). Next was The Bold and the Beautiful (399,000), The Simpsons (300,000). This Week Live was just 194,000 -with numbers trailing even Judge Judy.
On SBS ONE it was Miniature Britain (263,000), 24 Hours in Emergency (201,000), World News Australia (164,000) and The Killing (145,000).
Neighbours was best on multichannels at 307,000.
Sunrise: 383,000
Today: 311,000
ABC News Breakfast: 59,000 / 40,000
OzTAM Overnights: Wednesday 25 September 2013
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- Tagged with 24 Hours in Emergency, 7:30, A Current Affair, A League Of Their Own, ABC News, ABC News Breakfast, Adam Hills: The Last Leg, Arrow, Big Brother, Gruen Planet, Home and Away, Hot Seat, Judge Judy, Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery, Million Dollar Minute, Miniature Britain, Neighbours, Nine News, Recipe to Riches, Revealed, Seven News, SlideShow, Sunrise, TEN Eyewitness News, The Bachelor Australia, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Killing, The Man With The Biggest Testicles, The Project, The Simpsons, This Week Live, Today, Today Tonight, Tractor Monkeys, Wanted, Winners & Losers, Winners and Losers, Wonderland, World News Australia
89 Responses
Channel Ten. It’s time you fixed your early evening schedule! By getting a local 6pm news bulletin!
4:30pm – Ten Eyewitness News (National)
5:30pm – Bold & The Beautiful
6pm – Ten Eyewitness News (Local)
6:30pm – The Project
7:30pm onwards – Primetime Shows
Wonderland is cut pretty much from the same cloth as Winners and Losers – so I think there was some serious cannibalism there.
As for TWL the ratings are shocking and it shouldn’t be so much a story about axing the shows but a story about the fact that people want to watch giant testicles. You have to feel for TEN trying new Australian content with fresh faces (Tommy Little) – new actors on Wonderland – yes it is a soap, but no ones’s slagging Winners or H&A. It’s a branding issue at TEN as a Network, and a complete lack of awareness about any show on any given day! Who would know what the schedule is unless you’re watching the channel!? Chicken or the egg?
Lastly, shame on you David, you used to be quite pro TEN – and that’s now shifted to Seven (back the winning horse) – your anti TEN bias is so strong now I think you’d relish if they were to go under. What a great story…
Ditto: I am happy to respond to your suggestions of bias. Go back through recent weeks and you will see feature interviews with Tommy Little, a rave for This Week Live’s first episode, Wonderland interviews and review, plus Charlie Pickering feature last week, and oh look a feature story today saying good things about Homeland being available on tenplay (as a feature no less). I personally like This Week Live and the producer will tell you that (I even broke the story on its commission). But at 194,000 something is not working and TEN needs to act. You call this bias, I call this commentary. Given I like the show I would argue that actually shows how unbiased I am….. Ditto, my name is also on every story of the 28,000+ posts on this site.
I honestly keep forgetting Channel 10 exists now. Used to watch it almost every night. Now just watch it when I know something is on I really really want to watch, and even then I usually forget the Channel exists.
509,000 for Ten eyewitness news. Not good.
It is just going to worsen as summer comes along..
and when Mal leaves.
I’m really Sad that This week Live didnt get the Numbers and might be on the Chopping Block. I think it needs moving. Possibly a Friday night?
I really want to support this style of show and really like a lot of the comedians on it, but because it was up against the Wednesday Night ABC comedy line up I watched that instead.
Why do the TV networks always try to schedule similar shows against each other??? This splits the Audience and Everyone loses!
If this Week Live was on when there was Footy or a Boring Drama then I would be all over it!
“Of course we are disappointed with last night’s numbers. Both Wonderland and This Week Live are great shows and we have faith in their potential.
======================================
And there lies the problem!!
This week live is a good format but its the wrong name, wrong slot. Maybe its a Thursday night show but L&O:SVU actually rates reasonably. Maybe Fri 8.30?
Wonderland has been shedding viewers week on week since it’s premiere, with only a modest increase last week. Add to the fact that the writing of the show really does leave something to be desired….it really is a case of all style, no substance. So I think it should be axed.
This Week Live is pretty decent from what I’ve seen, but may be struggling from a weak lead-in.
Something definitely does need to change, though, not just on Wednesday nights either. Hopefully, the fast tracking of shows such as Homeland might help.
It’s such a shame. This Week Live is very funny. Last night’s Ep in particular was of a very high standard. I just don’t think people even know it exists. I’m confident it would be a hit on any other network.
David, what did Deal Or No Deal and The Mole get ?
Ten is stuck in a greenhouse effect – nothing is working, new launches are suffering, it’s a downward cycle.
However Wonderland shouldn’t be axed. Winners and Losers isn’t better, it’s just on a better network. Ten should let Wonderland settle.
Cant help thinking the one bright spot is Neighbours. True, it was shunted to Eleven for a reason, but it has improved and it’s still regularly topping the mutli-channels. I think you wrote an article on this a while back, David, about moving it back to the main channel. I think it’s time Ten seriously considered this.
Now lets see what follows the testicles!
I think one of their problems lie in the 6-7.30pm slots. Their highest performer, ten eyewitness news, needs to adjust into prime time. I’d move the news 5.30-6.30 and the project 4.30-5.30! Then 6.30 (possibly for next year) have The Biggest Loser (perfect 6.30pm gap filler and takes away 9’s 7pm reality audience). It would be a much stronger programming choice…..
If the fast tracked shows fail to fire for ch10…..then what?
Their financial side must be suffering. Advertisers cannot feel confident about them.
Poor Ten. Nothing is working for them.
That relative disaster zone of 6-7.30 not doing them any favours at all.
Can Australia sustain three commercial networks? I’m beginning to think, no.
The Man with the Biggest Testicles was all over my Facebook and Twitter feed last night. This Week Live got smashed because of it.
This Week Dead.
It is a shame that with Ch10 trying new shows, attempts to freshen their offerings they are not attracting viewers.
I feel that they have lost momentum. With less eyes watching 10, then there is less exposure to advertising for new shows and then people miss them, are not motivated to catch up (their catch up site was annoying and unfriendly to users). So the cycle of low ratings is perpetuated.
In contrast the usual shows seem to rate on 7 and 9, even thought for me what they have on offer is not always appealing e.g Singing/Talent/dancing/ reality/cooking shows. Some of their dramas US or local are engaging and attracting more eyeballs.
ABC is quietly consistent, just churning out new shows, with some succeeding (Miss Fisher etc and others not so. But their perseverance seems to be working where Ch10 is not.
Those are woeful numbers for TEN. Really in trouble now. They should just write this year off completely now. Stick with the content until it runs out and regroup during non- ratings.
MDM is dying quickly and DOND will probably be axed.
I’m still loving This Week Live – such a shame about the ratings! Its is actually funny with great chemistry on the panel. I loved Myf on it last night!
When the worldwide trend is for shorter run drama, with a central story to pull the season through, it was always a weird decision to commission 22 hours of Wonderland which is essentially a well executed soap. Once these drama figures fall so low (below 500K) it’s hard to get them going again. If it was a shorter run they could promote the “exciting resolution”.
No David, Wonderland shouldn’t get axed all but TWL should. Look at Mr and Mrs Murders ratings how it was doing. Give Wonderland a chance David
It’s time to axe This Week Live, it’s clearly not resonating with audiences after several weeks. Would be better off with a procedural such as The Good Wife in that slot. Looking grim for a Wonderland also, especially considering the big competition it will have next week. On another note, I’m looking forward to Modern Family, Elementary and Homeland next week.
Ten are in serious trouble. They have totally lost their way and some could argue they have been their own worst enemy with some bewildering programming decisions. The Bachelor should never have been scheduled against AGT & XFactor on Sunday’s. It should have premiered midweek against weaker opposition. Now people are clueless as to when it’s on.
The decision to shelf the second season of Puberty Blues in favour of a sub-par drama is mind boggling. PB was a great replacement for Offspring last year and had built up a loyal fan base but now Ten snubs them by pushing it back to 2014,
Then there’s the rebranding of their news. Great to see Eyewitness News back, but it was heavily promoted as being “available anywhere, anytime” but it’s still only available on a tv and the live stream seems to still be weeks away. Obviously the digital side of things wasn’t ready so why…
Move them or ax them immediately? Where to and with what? Nothing is working for Ten. Given that they’ve allowed the Project to meander on for 4 years without much ratings success, surely they can give these shows a few more weeks.