ABC disagrees with claims audience is “switching off”
ABC finishes 2014 with the third highest share amongst primary channels -but media still whacks it with the negative stick.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
The ABC has hit back at suggestions its audience is “switching off in droves” as recent media articles have suggested.
This week The Australian wrote that public broadcaster is losing viewers aged over-55 during prime time and suggested “the ABC was the worst performing free-to-air TV broadcaster last year.”
It cited OzTAM ratings for 2014 which shows the broadcaster was down 9.28% compared to 2013, the biggest drop of all FTA broadcasters.
But News Corp has neglected to note ABC’s primary channel finished ahead of TEN. A major factor in the switch-up is that TEN was so low in 2013 that ABC went up, whereas in 2014 TEN clawed some of that share back.
In a staff email Director of Television Richard Finlayson defended, “The fact is we achieve highly competitive results with significantly less money.”
An ABC spokesperson also cited the growing numbers for iview.
The worst performing network in 2014, if we must go there, was SBS at 5.3%. ABC was more than three times that audience.
24 Responses
In this household we are watching much less ABC, so therefore much less TV because we watch almost no commercial TV. Our ABC viewing is now condensed down to little more than Q.I. (even the repeats!) and Mad as Hell which has replaced ABC News as our most trusted source of news!
I don’t understand why ABC is defending themselves, all news corp is trying to do is to get viewers to go to pay tv and have ABC funding cut to help that goal. Pay tv is now and always has been a waste of hard earned dollar
Oh and by the way the highest rated programme last night was on ABC tv .1.8 million viewers tuned into the ABC for the Asian cup game making it the highest rated programme on any channel and most probably the highest rating programme of 2015.read and weep foxtel and Murdoch.
1.8m was a reach figure for metro + regional. It was not the average, nor was it the average for 5 city metro. If you care to look at the reach for News using the same formula it will probably be higher. 1.8m is a long way short of the highest we will see for 2015.
If the story eliminates from the Murdoch press.you know is BS.the Australian has lost all credibility it’s not the first time one of its story has proven to be misleading and fabricated.the ABC is one channel I watched regularly.best drama best comedy best and most trusted news service.with programmes consistently in the top ten each and every week. And Murdoch knows it .isn’t it the Murdoch newspapers in Australia that are losing 70 million dollars a year.
I haven’t been watching ABC. Sick to death of all the repeats of shows that have already been repeated.
@Pertinax. You read (and regurgitate) The Australian, we get it.
The Oz has a clear editorial line against the ABC. They don’t even pretend not to be biased anymore. It’s tiresome and childish, and is actually working against them now because most people dismiss their criticism as being a vendetta. Fairfax both criticises and praises, as the need arises, which is as it should be.
That story was utter rubbish. I don’t know if it was wilful ignorance or actual lack of research, but as you’ve pointed out, the fact other networks have dipped in recent years and slightly recovered viewers in 2014 is the real story.
Until Murdoch gets the ABC shut down so he can claim a greater share for Sky News and his other networks – as was the deal made with Abbott – the UnAustralian will keep these attacks coming.
But David, please check – does anyone even read his sad rag Australian anymore? I am sure more people watch the ABC than read that piece of Murdoch filth.
As much as The Oz does love to bash the ABC, they are right that the ABC is losing over-the-air share. SBS is still more woeful though.
I doubt the increase in iView use is making up for the drop in OTA TV watching.
This said, The Oz’s share of the newspaper pie is terrible also. It’s not strong online either.
TinMan, you had me for a minute…. so it’s January? Huh?
Then the penny dropped – if you’re stuck with FTA television, you get repeats all over summer.
How sad is that?
@Dalmanic check your calendar, its January
Are News’s numbers less accurate than Media Watch’s figures for The Australian, which they had to retract and apologise for (but of course refused to correct on air)?
These numbers come from Oztam.
Is the bias in the Australian publishing them or the SMH and the ABC not publishing them? Or the ABC claiming that decline in the Oztam figures isn’t a reduction in the number of people watching, and people swallowing that?
What a sad lot of responses from people who mostly fail to engage their brains!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but OzTAM is not generally known for either a left or right wing bias.
Do their figures lie?
Just check the ABC guide for tonight – a football match which will appeal (I presume) to a small select audience and for which they paid a fortune.
Other that that, every single program is a repeat, and a repeat of programs that were only average on first showing! OMG.
At the end of the day, the ABC will still be here long after Murdoch and his rags have died.
OMG, have a read of some of the ill-informed comments on that Australian article. They froth at the mouth while talking of ABC left-wing bias (of course) and promoting union propaganda (really?) but happily lap up without question whatever reactionary rubbish Rupert the Ratbag dishes out.
I shouldn’t care but these people probably vote.
Interesting to see no-one pays any attention to NewsCorps criticisms of the ABC any more. I will not renew my subscription to their service until this biased slamming of the ABC stops. Which is a pity because I have genuine concerns and criticism about some areas of the ABC and think they should be discussed somewhere – but in a constructive way, to make the national broadcaster stronger.
How’s The Australian going by the way in terms of readership and profitability? Heading south at a great rate, I gather!
Criticism of the ABC in NewsCorp papers has zero credibility .. it’s purely and simply agenda seeking drivel.
The Murdoch press, that says it all. Go the ABC.
Don’t worry, ABC, it’s only News Ltd. “Switching off in droves” will just be the hook to hang a lame story on.
I haven’t read the article, but I bet its real purpose will be to make you ‘think’ (i.e. feel; it’ll be emotive, not factual) that The Oz is special – it’ll be full of phrases like “The Australian can reveal”, ” obtained by The Australian reveals”, or similar hints & phrases; special ‘insight’ into how well the commercials are faring; and insinuating that the gov’t is complicit in the decline (if Labor) or telling you the gov’t is improving things (if Liberal).
In short, Rupert’s monkeys need a new script – people are catching on to the old one.
The ABC has been losing viewers 16-40 for several year and a lot of their viewers are now 55. The fact that they are losing viewers >55 as Gem and 72 have started specifically targeting them is news and significant change.
SBS has also lost a lot of its audience.
Part of that is due to fragmentation and the internet, part of it due to the success of The Block, MKR, The Voice and The X Factor etc.
The fact that Ten is doing appalling and has lost half its income is not an excuse for an organisation that has a guaranteed funding of over $1b p.a.
Rule 1 – Don’t believe anything one reads in a Limited News publication.
Rule 2 – Understand that the Murdoch Empire and the Abbott Government have been conducting a campaign against the ABC for 18 months (well, longer in the case of The Australian).
As soon as I read “The Australian”, I switched off reading.
As a person in their 30s, I’ve been watching ABC more than ever in years. So if they are losing the “over 55s”, they’re gaining one extra person in the “25 – 34” market at least.
What do you expect from the “Un-Australian”?
Real news?
Ha… yeah right.
It has a declining, ageing readership and it’s clutching at straws for any relevance in this new digital age.
Rupert should put it to sleep.