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They didn’t have Timeshifting in the trenches

What low ratings? Local Dramas are pulling bumper numbers in Timeshifted viewing.

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2014_04_07 Gallipoli_0973Much has been written about the Overnights performance of local Dramas already this year, with suggestions that audiences are shrinking due to (some) later timeslots.

Yet we are already seeing big numbers in what people are viewing in Timeshifted numbers.

The second episode of House of Hancock leads the local Dramas with 260,000 extra viewers. As a comparison, that would sit at #4 if it was embedded into the 2014 top Timeshifted shows.

Gallipoli, Winter and The Doctor Blake Mysteries have also pulled big crowds but this kind of data rarely gets reported.

Here are the results for local Dramas since the first week of 2015 ratings:

House of Hancock Part 2: 260,000
Total: 1.684m

Gallipoli (Ep 1: I) 238,000
Total: 1.342m

Gallipoli (Ep 1: II) 200,000
Total: 995,000

House of Hancock Part 1 179,000
Total: 1.563m

Winter: 179,000
Total: 1.097m

The Doctor Blake Mysteries: 169,000
Total: 1.174m

Wonderland: 108,000
Total: 502,000

Hiding: 80,000
Total: 607,000

Home and Away*: 72,000
Total: 956,000

Neighbours*: 26,000
Total: 227,000

* average of weekly episodes.

You can track regular Timeshifted numbers under TV Tonight’s Ratings section.

13 Responses

  1. Do they also take into account people like me who hit the mute button the moment the interruptions come on. IMAO the most objectionable part of interruptions (ads, news, promos etc ad nauseum) is the noise. I generally read something until the mad flickering stops, then I know the show is back on and I then turn up the sound again.

  2. I’m glad for the cast and crew involved that more eyeballs watched the programs. It must be very disappointing to work hard on a show and not have many viewers tune in.

  3. If anything starts after 8:45pm we record it and watch later … we also record all of our favourite shows to watch later and skip the commercials. Once again, the “ratings” are totally innaccurate and not-representative of what Aussie views actually watch! OzTAM is a joke and needs to be replaced with a better system that is truly representative of what we watch!

    1. These figures take into account exactly your situation – OzTAM are issuing these to be more representative of what you watch.

      It’s no surprise though shows are timeshifting like this – junctions do matter despite what the networks say and if the schedulers can’t be relied on to air shows at a sensible junction then viewers are voting with their remotes and scheduling them themselves.

  5. Timeshifting is just a pure waste of time really.Sure it’s great to look at the numbers but advertisers would only care about it when it actually airs.Not a few hours later.

      1. I think it is just the minutes that are fast-forwarded (or skipped) that are not counted. So skipping the ads would just reduce the average by 25% and per minute you would see the troughs where the ad breaks are. Skipping ads done on viewings before 2am is counted in the overnights not the timeshift figures. The idea that over a quarter of million people recorded a show on a DVR (or VHS for that matter) and watched it between days 2-7 and never skipped a minute is unbelievable.

        It’s the same as if you watch something on a commercial channel, then flick over the ABC during the ads. The minutes you are on each are counted towards the total for that show, which is averaged over the time period to give the average figure. The idea that each “viewer” represents one person sitting in front of the show for an hour is not correct. A lot of viewers drop in out across the hour as they…

        1. AFAIK the reported programme ratings are the mean or average (I forget which) of the minute-by-minute numbers (and sometimes the networks spout the programme peak if it suits them!). The advertising is broken out separately and (usually) only available to paying customers, and I’d bet the consolidated advertising only counts advertising viewed…

          David, have you ever considered an interview or Q&A with someone from OzTAM? Whenever the ratings process come up there’s always a few interesting questions (& some strongly-held misconceptions!) that come up.

          Like you, I thought that

          1. Networks are always spruiking national peaks these days, ahed of 5 city metro average. OzTAM’s CEO Doug Peiffer has done TVT interviews before.

        2. I asked this questioned a while back here on TV Tonight and someone from Oztam replied, they explained it as minutes counted and updated the explanation on their Time shift viewing page: oztam.com.au/TimeShiftViewing.aspx

          “Only broadcast minutes played back at standard (normal) speed are included in OzTAM viewing figures; fast-forwarded minutes are not counted. This means, for example, that if a panel home plays back 25 minutes of a 30-minute program in standard speed, only those 25 minutes will be included in OzTAM viewing figures. OzTAM ratings do not include material that has been recorded but not actually viewed (played back).”

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