★★★★★ 0/5

Soft start for The Traitors against The Voice, The Block.

Neck and neck for The Voice and The Block at 7pm, leaving 10's returning whodunnit unable to compete at 7:30pm.

37
Leave a comment

In the UK and US The Traitors is a hit show, but in Australia it is yet to find a broad audience, with a season 2 debut drawing punishing numbers against some tough competition.

The Voice won its timeslot at 789,000 metro viewers, doing battle with The Block at 786,000 at 7pm.

From 7:30pm Restoration Australia was 400,000 leaving The Traitors at just 216,000, unable to build on Season One’s premiere of 257,000.

Later 7News Spotlight led with 516,000 then 60 Minutes (465,000) and Bay of Fires (289,000) and still drawing strong Total TV figures.

Seven network won Sunday with 35.0% then Nine 30.1%, ABC 13.7%, 10 13.0% and SBS 8.1%.

Seven News was #1 with 1.00m viewers. The Latest scored 340,000.

Nine News pulled 830,000 with a late edition at 212,000.

ABC News was 562,000. Compass (224,000) and The Beast Must Die (81,000) followed.

The Sunday Project was just 216,000 / 185,000 for 10. 10 News First managed 214,000 / 170,000. FBI managed 122,000.

On SBS it was SBS World News (192,000 / 115,000), Colosseum (90,000) and Amazon: The Lost World (83,000).

Peter Rabbit led multichannels at 135,000.

In Total TV numbers last Sunday were:

Bay of Fires:  805,000
Thank God You’re Here: 325,000
Hunted: 671,000
The Block: 1.41m
The Voice: 1.34m
60 Minutes: 748,000

OzTAM Overnights: Sunday 13 August 2023

37 Responses

  1. Really enjoyed the traitors last year but as soon as I saw celebrities involved (or mostly ex reality stars) amongst the regular players thought I’ll skip this season so won’t be watching, sick of celebrity versions of survivor etc, please just get some fresh faces in.
    Surprising to launch on a Sunday which are traditionally strong for the Block, agree Monday launch surely would have been better.

  4. Hoping for some decent catch up numbers for the Traitors. I actually think the show would have performed better and got more of a following if it aired Tue, Wed and Thur.

    But ofc Ten has nothing to fill Sun and Mon with (maybe TGYH first runs Ona Sunday to offer something different to reality?).

    Or at least let’s finally let go of the Sunday Project and offer from 630 to get an even bigger lead in on comp.

    1. Since MasterChef ended I have started watching 10 again

      It just doesn’t do it for me … also far too long. Don’t they run for 60 ep long seasons?

      1. I have not watched anything on 10 since Law &Order SVU finished…can’t stand any reality competition shows…nor do I watch Nine or Seven except for the news…the reality bubble has been going since 2001..Big Brother (the bum dance) for most of these these shows…I could not even watch Sylvania Waters in 1992 with the family and their “argy bargy”…for a country with unlimited talent and resources we still follow mostly overseas formats….I personally don’t think it shows much creativity of those who decide to run with them…. But to each his own.

  7. I recall that Ten tried the Traitors last year to shocking ratings …So of course they tried it again last night – weeks after the other mega shows have a loyal audience built in …
    If the definition of madness is repeating the same thing but expecting a different result then Ten are masters of their domain.
    The production company must be happy getting this up again ( and great negotiators ) but no third season I would imagine.
    But this is Ten so who knows …

    1. There is the possibility that the show is and can be supported by international sales (the Neighbours model, I suppose)

      Perhaps that was the deciding factor on renewing for S2 and could be the saving grace if it’s on knife’s edge of being renewed agin.

      I know Peacock in the US, BBCPlayer in the UK and Crave in Canada air the Aussie version of the show to supplement the airing of their local versions, and from online chatter, there does appear to be a decent number of viewers who watch multiple versions.

    2. A bit harsh. We all know people love to joke about Ten’s strategy – but if they gave up on a franchise after one season, we’d be saying they don’t stick with a format long enough. Seven has in the past committed itself to formats it has believed in and in time has managed to grow audiences with constant promotion and marketing.

      I think the Traitors is well produced, good host and a good mix of contestants. Nine and Seven have a large, and generally older, built in audience – which is hard to compete against. And with all eyes on the World Cup, Ten is not getting much cross-promotional opportunities. And despite this, Ten still does well in the demos.

  8. Ten needs to address its scheduling, especially its reality TV shows. There are way too many of them, week after week, for months. They need to break up the reality TV shows with some other programming, or viewers are going to get bored.

    1. That’s exactly the same for Seven and Nine though and the problem with Aussie FTA TV in general. If anything Ten at least have more variety within the genre and take more risks on new formats.

    2. If I was a Ten scheduler, I’d have Trators on one day a week, Masked Singer another day and Hunted on the third day. Much easier to cross promote the different shows, and easier for the viewer to follow along.

      1. 10 probably varies their 7:30 slot more than Seven and Nine with Thank God, Dogs Behving Badly, Location Location etc. I remember one year Nine tried to programme multiple shows against stripped formatting and it flopped terribly.

        1. Yes, they all need to do it for it to work. The Traitors might do better in the post-reality slot but the nature of network scheduling means sticking it at 8.40/9.00pm would see it branded a flop before it even began.

    1. Yep be interesting on the 7 days as not much on the day itself: virtualoz.com.au/report/daily-overnight-top-30-programs/?date=2023-08-13

      Broadcast TV & BVOD National: 329,000 Being Metro: 215,000. Regional: 100,000. BVOD National: 15,000.

      For BVOD National more still watched the Block (154,000) and The Voice (87,000), that way.

  10. They’re some pretty dire numbers for The Traitors. You have to wonder how production of these formats makes financial sense. 216k on a Sunday night is surely one of the worst launches in recent memory (excluding maybe the real love boat).

    1. I’d rather remove the challenges and replace them with wild, hilarious murder scenes that rival Final Destination. I think the show should be more over the top than just watching who turns up at breakfast. I also think like The Mole the audience needs to try to work out who the Traitors are as a storyline incentive.

      1. Totally agree David. The same things I had issues with during the first season loom in the second. The challenges are just not engrossing enough because everyone is gunning for the same thing (plus they aren’t very good). The Traitors should be trying to sabotage and building their own pot which adds another layer. We shouldn’t know who the Traitors are either… yes it’s fun to watch them react and scheme, but it’s not enough for me as a viewer to compellingly watch. I guess these changes would make the game fundamentally different and a little too close to the Mole maybe? But that’s the sort of sweet spot I want when I tune in to this show. That’s why I love the Mole so much haha.
        The potential is enormous for this franchise, but unfortunately it won’t be realised in Australia with those numbers. Roger just isn’t the right host either.

  12. Until Ten address their early evening timeslot problems shows like Traitors will be starting the ratings race so far behind it will be an uphill battle to get any traction at all.

    1. In their defence, 10s 7.30pm weeknight content does pretty well considering the soft lead in from the project. I can’t help but think they would have been better premiering the Traitors tonight, rather than on a Sunday when the competition has a 30 minute jump on them.

  15. Damm disappointing in Traitors not rating – such an good game and show (and selfishly want a season 3 to apply and play)

    It is a good show, and last nights episode really improved a lot on S1’s launch in quality and pace.

    I hope it picks up in Catch Up.

  16. Maybe the incessant ads turned people off. I’m guessing the Masked Singer ads will be next. Its almost impossible to watch channel 10 anymore unless you have the remote mute button nearby.

    2. I mean isn’t that all the commercial channels with their flagship programming

      By that logic, you won’t watch 9 because of loud annoying adverts for “Cheating Scandal on the Block” or “Cheating Scandal on MAFS”, or 7 for advertising a “Cheating Scandal on The Voice”

Leave a Reply