Struggle Street controversy translates to viewers beating House Rules and Reno Rumble
SBS has scored one of its biggest ratings hits of recent years as column inches about controversial documentary Struggle Street translated into viewers with the hour-long first episode at 8.30pm grabbing 935,000 viewers.
That made it the sixth most watched show of the night overall and helped SBS One nearly double its audience share from 4.8 per cent last week to 8.9 per cent last night, according to the OzTam overnight metro ratings.
It also beat the new reality offerings House Rules on Seven (631,000) and Reno Rumble on Nine (791,000) which both started at 7.30pm and finished around 8.45pm.
Ten’s Masterchef was the best rating non-news show of the night and backed up its strong ratings launch on Tuesday night grabbing 1.029m viewers for its second outing and was the most watched show in all demographics.
Struggle Street was third in the 16-39 and 18-49 demographics, and second in the 25-54 demo. The final two episodes of the series are now being fast-tracked and will be shown back-to-back next Wednesday from 8.30pm. It won the 9pm to 9.30pm timeslot, and was second in its first half hour only to Masterchef.
Last year the network pulled un 883,000 for the FIFA World Cup final in the early hours of July 14, and it also landed a hit after similar controversy surrounding the second series of Go Back to Where You Came From in August 2012 which had 752,000 viewers. Last November the series First Contact with Ray Martin had 433,000 viewers.
All the 7.30pm reality TV franchises dropped on their second outings, with Masterchef falling from 1.231m on its opening on Tuesday to 1.029m, Reno Rumble fell 82,000 after pulling 873,000 and House Rules lost 160,000 viewers grabbing 631,000 – outrated by ABC’s 7.30 which had 770,000 viewers.
On ABC The Weekly with Charlie Pickering at 8.30pm could not compete with the SBS documentary with 443,000 viewers, down from 556,000 viewers last week. Ten could not sustain its Masterchef audience through to Wonderland, although the 489,000 viewers for the local drama at 9pm was up on last week’s 405,000. Nine’s The Amazing 90s also fell from 899,000 last week following The Block finale to 530,000 this week, starting at 8.40pm, just below Seven’s Criminal Minds which had 588,000.
Nine News scored a comprehensive win for the evening with 1.056m for its 6pm bulleting rising to 1.099m for its 6.30pm update. Seven News had 1.047m in the 6pm slot and 983,000 for the 6.30pm news and Today Tonight combination.
That helped Nine to a channel audience share win with 18.5 per cent, just ahead of Ten with 17.6 per cent relegating Seven to third with 17.3 per cent.
Top 15 shows:
1 NINE NEWS 6:30 Network 9 1,099,000
2 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,056,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,047,000
4 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA WED Network TEN 1,029,000
5 SEVEN NEWS / TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 983,000
6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 975,000
7 STRUGGLE STREET Network SBS ONE 935,000
8 ABC NEWS-EV Network ABC 846,000
9 RENO RUMBLE -WED Network 9 791,000
10 7.30-EV Network ABC 770,000
11 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 765,000
13 FAMILY FEUD Network TEN 645,000
14 HOUSE RULES-WED Network 7 631,000
15 HOT SEAT Network 9 604,000
Audience share by channel:
Network 9 18.5%
Network TEN 17.6%
Network 7 17.3%
Network ABC 11.0%
Network SBS ONE 8.9%
Network 7TWO 4.9%
Network GO! 4.7%
Network 7mate 3.9%
Network ELEVEN 3.2%
Network ABC2 2.7%
Network Gem 2.5%
Network ONE 2.4%
Network ABC News 24 1.2%
Network SBS 2 0.7%
Network ABC3 0.4%
Network NITV 0.1%
Total network audience share:
Network 7 TTL 26.1%
Network 9 TTL 25.7%
Network TEN TTL 23.2%
Network ABC TTL 15.3%
Network SBS TTL 9.7%
Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM.
So good.all that shaming on ch7/9 brekky shows,then slams em in ratings.bravo ( it exactly the same rubbish today / tonight ACA peddle )
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I found the show humbling, sad and frustrating that people live in such conditions with such problems just an hour away from areas of Sydney where people are scooping up million dollar investment homes. The cost of living in this country and growing wealth disparity is a real problem. Every politician needs to watch this show. I look forward to seeing the third episode.
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Good old Streisand effect.
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At what damage to SBS’ brand though?
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no damage to SBS brand I would suggest Nance.
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didnt watch it
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If there was creative behind stirring up his hornets nest with earned media, then compliments to the team behind it. I suspect we’ll never see it entered as an awards submission; despite the promotional brilliance.
And today the Lord Mayor fronting all the outcry admitted it wasn’t as bad a show as he had feared.
Anyhow – I don’t believe the fracas was intended to push ratings. Just a secret wish really. When it looks too good to be true, it typically is…
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Well done to KEO Films for producing a powerful piece of television and overshooting the low expectations set by tabloid and serious media alike.
Now. About those low expectations. It would seem that SBS’s promotional team set out from the start to generate publicity and controversy for the show by cutting a trailer that made the show appear salacious and exploitative. And everybody swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
The media circus in the past few days has been far more hurtful to the Mount Druitt community than the show could have been. The damage done by that trailer is real, and shameful. I find it hard to believe that SBS sacked Scott McIntyre for tweets that got Anzac history wrong, then turned around and deliberately misrepresented the content of its program.
I started my career at SBS and it stings to see them slip up like this.
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@tim
The Macintyre tweets did not actually get ANZAC history “wrong” as the excellent piece inThe Conversation by Philip Dwyer, professor in history ay Newcastle uni demonstrated.
https://theconversation.com/anzacs-behaving-badly-scott-mcintyre-and-contested-history-40955
Speaking Truth is now subversive and “offensive” – very Orwellian times we live in.
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Macintyre is proof that:
“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell
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@cannes
Macintyre is proof that
“Free speech allows you to say what you like and not be jailed. It does not give you protection from trashing your own career”
from the comments section of that same article.
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If Scott McIntyre had waited until today instead of the Anzac Day centenary, no one would have cared what he tweeted about it. But then he wouldn’t have been noticed, would he?
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It really makes me sad that morning breakfast presenters get $650,000 per year but have no empathy get rid of these over priced over opinoned people [edited by Mumbrella] lets see how they go on 300.00 per week.
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when we don’t care for people that are worse of than us its a very sad day. We should care about people on struggle street as a lot of people are one pay check away from being there
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Maybe if the media were to promote the other brilliant programming that airs on SBS – it would help them build audience, sell ads and be self funding.
Maybe the ad agencies need to have a look at the “quality” of audience this TV station boasts, and start sending share their way.
Now that 7/9/10 are bleeding audiences by the bucket load – things might change for SBS.
Hats off to you SBS, you’re brave, intelligent and deserve a pat on the back!
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SBS showing how the audience of seven, nine and ten actually live…..brilliant.
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