Post by Inside Australian Idol on Mar 3, 2005 23:49:05 GMT 10
Ten confident of a ratings win
Sally Jackson
March 03, 2005
AS the Seven and Nine networks jostle to be front-runner in the toughest television ratings race, the third commercial competitor, Ten, looks to have been left in their wake.
Ten programming chief David Mott says he hasn't even begun his run yet and predicts his rivals will run out of puff.
"I'm not fighting Seven or Nine, I'm just fighting my own race," he says. "At the moment we really haven't started, and that is not being arrogant. We still have a lot left in our cupboard. In fact it's all still in the cupboard."
But is he giving them too much of a head start?
In the three ratings weeks so far Ten has come a distant third to Seven and Nine in its share of the total national prime-time (6pm-midnight) audience (see graphic). So far this week it again trails, claiming an average 21 per cent share of prime-time viewers as of yesterday morning, to Nine's 29.1 and Seven's 28.5.
As always, though, the network is focusing with Cyclops-like intensity only on its core demographic of 16 to 39-year-olds. In that market, it has won two weeks out of three. Hence it felt free to boast in a press release about its "HUGE WIN IN RATINGS WEEK #1".
However, its week two press release was less chipper after it was beaten into third place overall and in its target audience by both Seven and Nine.
"There was a lot of focus on our week two," Mott says. "We knew it was going to be a tough week just with the roll-out of the number of shows on the other networks."
Last year the network wasn't regularly winning in 16-39s until May, when its reality series Big Brother began, he says. "That's what turned us around."
Ten finished last year with nine of the top 10 programs among 16-39s - and seven of them were episodes of Big Brother and Australian Idol. The other two were the AFL grand final and part one of the sci-fi mini-series The 4400.
Mott needs strong results again from this year's fifth season of Big Brother, which starts in May, and third season of Australian Idol. Until they kick in, though, he seems content in the slipstream.
"If you look at what the other networks are putting out there, there are some enormous shows," he says, citing the 2 million-plus audiences being drawn every week by Seven's Lost and Desperate Housewives. "When the numbers came through for Desperate Housewives and Lost ... we were fearing we would absolutely collapse.
"Given the immense amount of competition, I'm happy with where we're sitting at the moment. We are maintaining okay."
Seven has inflicted damage: last week Desperate Housewives and Lost were the top two shows in every age group, including the under-40s. Indeed, Ten had only three of the top 10 shows for its core demographic and nine of the top 20.
Its highest entry was NCIS at No.6, with an average national audience of 1.3 million, followed by Law & Order: Criminal Intent in seventh spot and Medium in ninth. Also in the top 20 were The Biggest Loser, The All New Simpsons, two episodes of The X Factor, Law & Order: Criminal Intent - The Verdict and Everybody Loves Raymond.
The network had no entries in the overall top 10 most-watched programs; two, NCIS and Everybody Loves Raymond, in the top 20; and a dozen in the top 50.
Nevertheless, Mott believes that "Nine would have to be hurting the most" so far from Seven's resurgence. He also says that 60 per cent of Seven's audience growth this year is in the 55+ age group, explaining why the ABC's average primetime share is also noticeably down on this time last year.
Not that Ten has been injury free. Last week it canned Aussie Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after just three episodes when its audience slid from a disappointing 900,000 to an unacceptable 760,000.
A new series of the original US Queer Eye starts on March 28 and the remaining three local episodes will be shown as part of that.
Ten was committed to make a local version of the program as part of its deal with the owners of the US series, just as Nine had to do a local version of Survivor and Seven of What Not to Wear. All three remakes did roughly the same. That is, badly.
Mott acknowledges a "sense of nervousness" about Aussie Queer Eye from the beginning. He says it was a well-made program but viewers proved too attached to the personalities they knew and loved from the US version.
"What it has demonstrated is that when you telecast the overseas version of a show first, and then you do a local version, it is just too hard," he says, predicting that Australian networks will be increasingly reluctant to do such adaptations.
Ten's other big new local launch of the year, talent quest The X Factor, is also yet to fire. Its strong debut audience of 1.45 million was down by a third on Monday to 930,000. But Mott is standing staunchly behind this show, predicting that as the contest tightens its audience will climb back to the 1.5 million mark. He says his goal was for X Factor to win about 60 per cent of the audience of the first series of Australian Idol, which it is doing.
"It's going fine and the best is yet to come," he says.
"I'm absolutely comfortable."
Among the US programs Ten has in the kitty for this year are the new dramas House and Numb3rs, the latest in the Law & Order franchise, Trial by Jury, which launches next week on NBC, the new Steven Bochco series Blind Justice and a series version of The 4400.
Judging by the year so far, Ten looks hard-pressed to outdo last year's performance, in which it not only came top in 16-39s but second in 25-54s and a close third to Seven in all people. As usual, though, the Cyclops network is maintaining intense focus.
"If we maintain in 25-54s, then great," Mott says. "But we will end [2005] No 1 in 16-39s."
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12422116%255E7582,00.html
Sally Jackson
March 03, 2005
AS the Seven and Nine networks jostle to be front-runner in the toughest television ratings race, the third commercial competitor, Ten, looks to have been left in their wake.
Ten programming chief David Mott says he hasn't even begun his run yet and predicts his rivals will run out of puff.
"I'm not fighting Seven or Nine, I'm just fighting my own race," he says. "At the moment we really haven't started, and that is not being arrogant. We still have a lot left in our cupboard. In fact it's all still in the cupboard."
But is he giving them too much of a head start?
In the three ratings weeks so far Ten has come a distant third to Seven and Nine in its share of the total national prime-time (6pm-midnight) audience (see graphic). So far this week it again trails, claiming an average 21 per cent share of prime-time viewers as of yesterday morning, to Nine's 29.1 and Seven's 28.5.
As always, though, the network is focusing with Cyclops-like intensity only on its core demographic of 16 to 39-year-olds. In that market, it has won two weeks out of three. Hence it felt free to boast in a press release about its "HUGE WIN IN RATINGS WEEK #1".
However, its week two press release was less chipper after it was beaten into third place overall and in its target audience by both Seven and Nine.
"There was a lot of focus on our week two," Mott says. "We knew it was going to be a tough week just with the roll-out of the number of shows on the other networks."
Last year the network wasn't regularly winning in 16-39s until May, when its reality series Big Brother began, he says. "That's what turned us around."
Ten finished last year with nine of the top 10 programs among 16-39s - and seven of them were episodes of Big Brother and Australian Idol. The other two were the AFL grand final and part one of the sci-fi mini-series The 4400.
Mott needs strong results again from this year's fifth season of Big Brother, which starts in May, and third season of Australian Idol. Until they kick in, though, he seems content in the slipstream.
"If you look at what the other networks are putting out there, there are some enormous shows," he says, citing the 2 million-plus audiences being drawn every week by Seven's Lost and Desperate Housewives. "When the numbers came through for Desperate Housewives and Lost ... we were fearing we would absolutely collapse.
"Given the immense amount of competition, I'm happy with where we're sitting at the moment. We are maintaining okay."
Seven has inflicted damage: last week Desperate Housewives and Lost were the top two shows in every age group, including the under-40s. Indeed, Ten had only three of the top 10 shows for its core demographic and nine of the top 20.
Its highest entry was NCIS at No.6, with an average national audience of 1.3 million, followed by Law & Order: Criminal Intent in seventh spot and Medium in ninth. Also in the top 20 were The Biggest Loser, The All New Simpsons, two episodes of The X Factor, Law & Order: Criminal Intent - The Verdict and Everybody Loves Raymond.
The network had no entries in the overall top 10 most-watched programs; two, NCIS and Everybody Loves Raymond, in the top 20; and a dozen in the top 50.
Nevertheless, Mott believes that "Nine would have to be hurting the most" so far from Seven's resurgence. He also says that 60 per cent of Seven's audience growth this year is in the 55+ age group, explaining why the ABC's average primetime share is also noticeably down on this time last year.
Not that Ten has been injury free. Last week it canned Aussie Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after just three episodes when its audience slid from a disappointing 900,000 to an unacceptable 760,000.
A new series of the original US Queer Eye starts on March 28 and the remaining three local episodes will be shown as part of that.
Ten was committed to make a local version of the program as part of its deal with the owners of the US series, just as Nine had to do a local version of Survivor and Seven of What Not to Wear. All three remakes did roughly the same. That is, badly.
Mott acknowledges a "sense of nervousness" about Aussie Queer Eye from the beginning. He says it was a well-made program but viewers proved too attached to the personalities they knew and loved from the US version.
"What it has demonstrated is that when you telecast the overseas version of a show first, and then you do a local version, it is just too hard," he says, predicting that Australian networks will be increasingly reluctant to do such adaptations.
Ten's other big new local launch of the year, talent quest The X Factor, is also yet to fire. Its strong debut audience of 1.45 million was down by a third on Monday to 930,000. But Mott is standing staunchly behind this show, predicting that as the contest tightens its audience will climb back to the 1.5 million mark. He says his goal was for X Factor to win about 60 per cent of the audience of the first series of Australian Idol, which it is doing.
"It's going fine and the best is yet to come," he says.
"I'm absolutely comfortable."
Among the US programs Ten has in the kitty for this year are the new dramas House and Numb3rs, the latest in the Law & Order franchise, Trial by Jury, which launches next week on NBC, the new Steven Bochco series Blind Justice and a series version of The 4400.
Judging by the year so far, Ten looks hard-pressed to outdo last year's performance, in which it not only came top in 16-39s but second in 25-54s and a close third to Seven in all people. As usual, though, the Cyclops network is maintaining intense focus.
"If we maintain in 25-54s, then great," Mott says. "But we will end [2005] No 1 in 16-39s."
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12422116%255E7582,00.html
