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Mondays swinging like a pendulum at TEN

Ratings: With a lack of flow from show to show, TEN's Mondays are not exactly helping their key properties.

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2014-03-18_1015Against such heated competition, there’s no doubt that  Mondays are a challenge for TEN.

But the current programming line-up is also failing to capitalise on flow-through from show to show, which is letting down a prime property such as Secrets and Lies.

You only have to look at the way the numbers swinging like a pendulum having to rebuild again every half hour. Here’s how they stacked up yesterday:

The Bold and the Beautiful  447,000
TEN Eyewitness News 690,000
Modern Family rpt 298,000
The Project 6:30 410,000
The Project 7pm 595,000
Modern Family  578,000
Bondi Rescue 370,000
Secrets and Lies 317,000
Blue Bloods 167,000

Seven network won the night with a share of 34.2% then Nine 30.1%, ABC 18.6%, TEN 13.5% and SBS 3.5%.

My Kitchen Rules was again #1 for the night at 1.65m then Seven News (1.2m / 1.13m), Home and Away (1.00m), Revenge (768,000 in 4 cities), How I Met Your Mother (485,000 / 249,000) and Million Dollar Minute (483,000).

The Block (1.26m) topped Nine then Nine News (1.17m / 1.07m), Love Child (1.07m), A Current Affair (970,000), Hot Seat (603,000). Footy Classified was 230,000 in 3 markets.

ABC News (842,000) led ABC1 followed by 7:30 (750,000), Australian Story (684,000), Media Watch (613,000), Four Corners (567,000) and Q & A (548,000).

SBS ONE shows were SBS World News (177,000), Housos (141,000), Stephen Hawking’s Future Universe (140,000), Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam (84,000) and Idris Elba: King of Speed (79,000).

ABC2’s Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom topped multichannels at 369,000.

Sunrise: 324,000
Today: 319,000 (Nine has not separated Perth News separately)
ABC News Breakfast: 69,000 / 39,000
Wake Up: 49,000

OzTAM Overnights: Monday 17 March 2014

34 Responses

  1. There’s no consistency like the old days.The old system of Bold and the Beautiful,News,Whatever it is they showed at 6pm,Neighbours and Project for those of us who couldn’t always be there for regular news elsewhere at 5 or 6pm worked well.I think the problems all started from about the time they replaced Homer and Bart with George Negus.

  2. OZtam has 3500 households (ranging from 1 to 5+ people) in the 5MC (around 13m people). Plus there is a regional survey of 2135 households and an STV survey with 1435 households.

    The error is less than 2%. You would have to massively increase the survey to get even a small increase in accuracy.

    There really are millions of viewers watching MKR and The Block each night, which are staggered across S&L leaving it with few potential viewers.
    (and the writing for a murder mystery is dreadful).

  3. No matter what is discussed here, Ten doesn’t seem to be making changes to try to recover it’s lost audience … They are still playing and planning more reality television, cheap quality television that nobody watches …. Bondi Rescue, Masterchef is not getting it’s Ten ‘wall-to-wall’ promotion, TBL is now playing on a friday night, when they should be playing a movie, perhaps even an old movie to attract it’s older audience back … nothing is changing, except Ten’s declining audience ….

  4. @oztvheritage
    I agree with you, I think that they should move the news to 6pm and bring back the two presenter format.

    It they are going to keep the project why not move to 5pm, I definitely think that moving the project would open up the 7pm time slot. They need to do this for Masterchef Australia when it comes in. Otherwise… its not going to be pretty.

    @ Cairo, Disappointed
    I too do not understand why Seven is so high rating, I only watch the AFL (when swans are playing) and the Horse Racing on Saturday Afternoons.

  5. @disappointed – ” What is it, 3000 counters for a population of over 20million??”
    The Australian Mar. 15 reports “Newspoll has the Liberals leading 52.3-47.7 on two-party preferred”.
    Mar. 14 – “Newspoll: Liberal 53, Labor 23, Greens 16 in Tasmania”.
    What were the results on Mar.15? Exactly as predicted. Sample sizes? 1,000.
    The mathematics of probability proves survey accuracy. 3,000/20million would give an accurate result, +/-3% at worst.

    1. TEN’s Drama has been the shining light over the last 2 years while the network has fumbled with other shows: Offspring, Puberty Blues, Underground, even Bikie Wars had some merit. Secrets and Lies is not perfect but there are still some attributes. Wonderland is the one that needs to improve scripts. Overall still a pretty good hit rate.

  7. Secrets and Lies is a good show, I don’t know why people say they are not liking it. I’m with Cairo in that I don’t know why 7 is so popular as I don’t think they have anything worthwhile watching (unless of course you like MKR which my mum does). I also don’t think that the current viewer ratings system is an accurate reflection of what people in Australia are actually watching. What is it, 3000 counters for a population of over 20million??

  8. If “Secrets and Lies” is considered prime property, I can see why ten are in such trouble. It’s a mess with no shred of credibility.

    JimboJones’ comments are spot on. The show could prob have survived as a melodrama but not as a cliche-ridden soap. It belongs at 4pm.

  9. I have said for ages…Ten should move news to 6pm and invest in a big game show it 5.30pm to set up the evening. Ten did it in the 80’s, Nine did it in the 90’s, Seven did it in 00’s. And Ten need to invest in news credibility – the team and two presenters. but the problem is now, when in 2014, news at 5pm is consistently is the highest rating program for the entire evening…they will not be prepared to take the risk.

  10. That’s disappointing for S&L. Last nights show was awesome most revealing episode yet. It’s a shame that it took 3 episodes for it to really take of. I feel having bondi rescue on before it isn’t really a smart move.

    Let’s hope some miracle happens for channel 10. Because I can’t stand the fact that channel 7 the most lack lister channel when it comes to good quality Australian tv is ranked so high. There only real good production is A Place to Call Home,

  11. It’s amazing how things have changed in the last few years. Here’s an article talking about The Project ratings being low at 800k in 2011.

    dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/i-thought-i-was-ruining-my-career-dave-hughes-tells-of-struggle-with-7pm-project/story-e6frexlr-1226142539335

  12. Ten’s 7pm hour is looking good (in Ten’s terms). I wonder if they would they have The Project start at 7pm (and remain for an hour)? The 6-7pm hour slot is a worry. Could put in Bondi Rescue and other factuals (and docos like Attenborough) at 6-7? Comedies like Modern Family at 8.

    A shame that Secrets and Lies isn’t rating at all.

  13. Agree with some of the comments here about Secrets and Lies – turning out to be not as good as I had hoped and most of the characters are very unlikeable.

    Reminds me very much of The Slap but not as well acted.

    It’s still a cut above the usual “whodunnit” similiar dramas so I’ll be sticking with it as well.

  15. Creatively S&L is struggling from not enough story inside the episodes as additional content seems to have been produced for online viewing. This is a strategic error for prime time drama – as the intrigue and twists and turns need to be inside the main drama, which feels a bit thin and underdeveloped, or that they are holding information back, which is more than frustrating – it’s annoying. I’ve tried to watch the additional material but I am perplexed as to why it’s not in the show. Therefore the episodes lack the intensity and complexity we’ve come to expect from a murder/mystery/thriller. If your audience needs to step outside the show for important information risk losing them. Once again I make the point about Heads of Drama guiding these big decisions. Who calls the shots at network level and who exercises approval rights over shooting scripts?

  16. Hmm I really don’t know what to say about TEN. The Project consistently performs well, and moving it once again may only hurt it. In saying that, TEN obviously need a point of difference from it’s competitors and 7pm reality could be the answer (which I believe TEN started back with Big Brother). But even if they did do that, I am a believer of there needing to be congruence between programs, and although reality is a good lead-in to any program, maybe TEN could be looking at a drama that would be a good match for S&L. But that itself is difficult as it can’t be over PG. TEN have a hard road ahead of them.

  17. @DanR- Have tried to avoid being an armchair programmer, although was a real one from 1965. Being 69 I guess I wouldn’t know anything, according to some posts elsewhere. But – you make a lot of sense. B&B at 4:30=M$M at 5:30 at present so a build there is likely. TEN Eyewitness News (coincidentally under P.Meakin) at 6pm did beat 7 & 9 News for quite some time.
    What at 4:30? No news please. No Simpsons. No Mod. Family. No cooking shows. Judge Judy? (with 2009 reruns at 3pm?), Studio10 Best Of?

  18. I stuck with Secrets & Lies in the hope that it would get better, but it’s getting worse.

    It’s now a full-blown soap opera. Absolutely none of the tropes of a murder mystery are present. The whole thing is now about that old trusty soap opera staple – marital infidelity and couples bickering with each other. Now all we need is the Mother-In-Law to turn up.

    Wasn’t the show supposed to be about a murder? It looks like the murder was just a plot device to get us to watch what can only be described as a B-grade soap opera.

  19. I tried watching talking footy last night but I got bored very quickly. Much prefer footy classified and hope that they stick to the earlier start time.

    I am finding secrets and lies quite good and plan to keep watching.

    Is there a reason why neighbours can’t be scheduled at 6pm on ten? Seems like a good option for it considering its rating better than the modern family repeats.

  22. Ten have to stop running dead at 6pm. Currently they are up to 800,000 viewers behind 7 & 9 -ridiculous!

    Move Eyewitness News ‘back’ to 6pm (they were 1st at 6 many moons ago & the 1st hour long bulletin. Brand themselves the ‘original and best hour long bulletin’) following Bold at 5 & Neighbours at 5.30. Whatever the contract is with CBS re Eleven and Neighbours, renegotiate – it’s not working & a waste of local talent. Leave The Project at 7 for half an hour only and give it a hand by having a stronger performing lead in.

    Bring back two presenters for the news – make it modern and sexy and invest in superior graphics and presentation.

    Time to fix that 6-7pm black hole once and for all.

  23. The trouble with a program like S&L is that it’s an ongoing story – so if you miss the first, or even the second, episode, you’ve no idea what it’s about or who’s who.

    The idea of course is to draw viewers in at the beginning so they’ll stick with it, but if they don’t come in the first place, you’re history. Plus there’s always drop-outs. It’s hardly an uplifting show, not a lot of jollity going on. I don’t think I’ve seen the leading man crack it for even a tiny smile – difficult if you’re suspected of murder, of course!

    Nevertheless, it’s drawn me in, and I’ll stick with it.

  24. Looking at how those numbers move, S&L isn’t exactly creating a buzz as must see tv. When there is something compelling, there should be a considerable bump up, it isn’t happening.

    No change to ch10s terminal predicament…..which is a shame

  25. Interesting info about Ten’s line up and the numbers attached. Thanks for that; most illuminating. Bondi Rescue not holding the nearly 600,000 for Modern Family (in itself a huge comedown). Is it the lack of common junction start time. MF began 7.36 or so; BR therefore starting 8.08. Shame that Secrets and Lies is dropping every week. I am sticking with it.

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