To Renovate or Not To Renovate. There is No Question
In this guest post, Ten’s chief programming officer David Mott responds to criticism about that controversial decision to schedule The Renovators during Sunday’s MasterChef finale.
Those of us in the programming business know that this isn’t a job for the thin skinned. There will always be someone willing to express their displeasure over your scheduling choices.
And so it came as no surprise to see the Twittersphere abuzz with chat about Ten’s decision to play an episode of The Renovators at 7.30pm on Sunday evening.
Twitter can be a useful tool to garner viewer feedback, but it can also be a forum for heated opinions that aren’t necessarily reflective of the broader viewpoint.
Let’s start with the commentary around the late timing of The Winner Announced. The suggestion that somehow this year younger viewers were disenfranchised from the broadcast is simply untrue.
The announcements crowning both Adam Liaw (2010) and Kate Bracks (2011) occurred just shy of 10pm. That’s just five minutes separating the 2010 and 2011 timeslots.
So why the audience variation between 2010 and 2011? It’s simple. There’s a pattern with shows of this nature.
The audience for big event TV tends to build gradually during the first season, before taking off swiftly during the second season and then levelling off during year three. That was our experience with Big Brother, Australian Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. In this regard, MasterChef Australia is nothing out of the ordinary.
MasterChef differs because of the dizzying heights it reached during its second phenomenal season. This is after all the show that broke OzTAM records. But a realistic scrutiny of the numbers will tell you that an audience of more than 4 million viewers is a once in a life-time result that just can’t be repeated year after year.
Readers of Mumbrella will recall that this is what we’ve been saying all along. In this multi-channel environment, audiences in excess of 2 million viewers are the exception and not the rule.
What seems to have been lost in all the debate around finale numbers is the consistency of this show over three seasons. For programmers and advertisers the real value lies in a format that performs solidly day-in and day-out across 14 weeks of prime-time. In this regard, MasterChef really is the stand out show of the last three years.
In fact, this year, the regular daily shows have outperformed season one, delivering an average audience of 1.64 million viewers, up from 1.53 million viewers in the highly successful premiere season of 2009.
But if it’s finales you’re interested in, then even the most cynical observer must acknowledge, that Sunday’s finale was a standout success. Within the context of 2011, there is only one other show which has so far outperformed MasterChef Australia.
Without a doubt, Australia’s Got Talent had a strong season and it quite rightly delivered finale numbers to match.
Beyond AGT and MasterChef there are only a handful of television events or one-off finales with the capacity to deliver the kind of audiences that dominate headlines.
My Kitchen Rules, Dancing with the Stars, The Biggest Loser and arguably the most important rugby league match of the past decade – the deciding game of this year’s Origin clash – all had outstanding results. And they were all outperformed by Sunday’s MasterChef finale. Within this context, it’s hard to deny that the MasterChef finale was a show that everyone would like to have in their schedule.
Source: Ten/ OzTam
But the issue of choosing to schedule The Renovators on Sunday night remains. Our aim was simply to get viewers to sample The Renovators. And that’s exactly what they did to the tune of 1.25 million viewers. That’s invaluable exposure for a format that we hope will have both success and longevity.
Of course, there’s nothing new in this approach. It’s a tried and true technique that has served us well in the past.
In fact, the last time Ten split a finale night was when we launched a brand new and unknown little format called MasterChef Australia off the back of the 2009 Biggest Loser finale.
As long as MasterChef remains Ten’s biggest show, we will continue to take advantage of that success to build the profile of new and emerging formats.
- David Mott is Network Ten’s chief programming officer.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Fair point on splitting The Biggest Loser with Masterchef two years ago. I didn’t know that.
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Everything save the last six sentences of that piece should have been cut.
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Hmmm… but did he answer the question? He mentioned that he programmed Masterchef during the Biggest Loser finale. Or was it afterwards? Why couldn’t he have done the same thing with the Renovators/Masterchef?
It’s frustrating to think that Mr Mott thinks that all this feedback isn’t “necessarily reflective of the broader viewpoint”. Where else would he be getting consumer feedback from? I wonder.
Would a programming director ever think about splitting the NRL or AFL grand final in half, just to introduce their audience to a new show?
I realise it’s only a reality show, but have some respect for the Masterchef viewers. We like cooking shows; it doesn’t necessarily mean that just because the Renovators is exactly the same format – we just might not be into home renovating shows! There is a difference!
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“Everything save the last six sentences of that piece should have been cut.”
+1
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@Paul Montgomery is spot on
Basically it comes down to 10 treating their audience like idiots. It is rather preposterous to say that the 1.25 million who stayed the course did so because they wanted to watch The Renovators.
Ratings since then have been very poor..where are your 1.25 million now?
David Mott should really work out a Plan B…
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This is why people pirate TV shows.
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“The audience for big event TV tends to build gradually during the first season, before taking off swiftly during the second season and then levelling off during year three. That was our experience with Big Brother, Australian Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. In this regard, MasterChef Australia is nothing out of the ordinary.”
Read: “We are going to run this thing into the ground” before we kill it.
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WOW!
Sorry, David you are taking us for a group of fools aren’t you? No person with a title as lofty as yours could think viewers (and us advertiser clients – remember those guys?) are anything but mindless drones if this is the drivel that you think will convince an annoyed audience of your ‘strategy’.
Further, you may not have realised it, but it wasn’t only Twitter where your negative commentary came from. Try news and fairfax as other sites you may not have heard of since your head has been in the sand. You’ll find your core 16-39 demographic (who you encourage to Tweet as you see fit when it suits your purpose) also vented on other forums also.
Whilst you are doing that you may also remember that as an Advertiser who was sold the pitch for the dross that has become The Renovators (and thank god we passed on it) you are making me feel as if I can’t trust a thing your team says. At the pitch you didn’t think I was a fool whilst our cheque book was still open, yet the way your PR spin above reads, you certainly think I am.
David, long may you and Lachlan regret this decision. I’m so annoyed at your carefully PR scripted take on this that I’ve lost what respect I had for you.
There are lies, damn lies and then there are delusional programming directors.
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Every new show on TEN will now be programmed into the middle of the most popular show of the time, just prove the point. Staying on the channel in between the split halves of Masterchef doesn’t mean a) the people actually watched it, or b) that they like the decision.
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Do these people live in our world? Are they not hearing what EVERYONE is saying? Sure, the numbers were good. But they were still 1.4m down on last year. And whether David wants to point to traditional trends or not, the deafening chorus of opinion on the street is that Masterchef was rubbish this year and the formulaic production values are broken. If he wants to march blindly into the future, outwardly oblivious to something everyone else sees, it’ll be the end of Ten and of him.
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Whilst 10 are entitled to play with the format as they see fit, I dont think David Mott can claim for 1 second this worked.
The results of Renovaters on the monday night prove that Sunday nights episode was filled with a begrudging audience. They didnt come back the next night. and they have not returned on Tuesday night witht he program still falling well below the magic million and not delivering on key demo’s
I think Renovaters is a dead duck. for the investment by 10 of around the $35M mark media buyers would be avoiding this or chasing 10 for makegoods on every single spot. Let home their back half is softer for revenue so they can get away all these makegoods.
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Renovators. So how long do we think it will last.
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Nice of David Mott to front up.
Last time I looked, Channel 10 wasn’t a democracy accountable to the Australian public.
Media buying is a punter’s game at the end of the day.
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“Our aim was simply to get viewers to sample The Renovators. And that’s exactly what they did to the tune of 1.25 million viewers.”
I don’t watch MasterChef, so I have no particular feelings of disgruntlement or anger about the decision. But the record since then shows very clearly that the sandwiching didn’t work for The Renovators. The day after 1.25 million people “sampled” The Renovators, the show fell within a single people-meter of its worst ratings so far. I don’t expect the network to concede openly that The Renovators has been a programming failure, but I don’t think it’s all that sound to claim that the sandwiching move really achieved anything except annoy some viewers.
The fact that MasterChef was a massive ratings success after being sandwiched between two halves of The Biggest Loser had nothing to do with the sandwiching. To claim that the technique is “tried and true” is to confuse correlation with causation. MasterChef’s subsequent success had everything to do with the fact that the format was something relatively new, and that viewers felt they could embrace. The same can’t be said for The Renovators.
The fact that The Renovators improved in its second half-hour on Monday when it wasn’t up against The Block isn’t a promising sign: it’s a dangerous sign. If the show is being smashed by an audience ratio of three to one by a show in the same genre, clearly that indicates viewers see it only as a substantially inferior alternative. It’s therefore only reasonable to expect substantially inferior ratings.
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Get over it. Its in the past and not that big a deal at the end of the day.
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@C thanks for contributing. Your comment was invaluable. You do realise this website centres around Marketing and Advertising dont you?
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The fact this needed further explanation is odd, surely it was the anyone would have made if they were in Mott’s position. Makes total sense to me…
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I am a disgruntled Master Chef fan annoyed about the ‘sandwiching’ of the Renovators. It took all of the momentum and drama out of the finale….which is the reason for wanting to watch the finale in full in the first place. If that wasn’t reason enough to be a bit peeved, by Ten’s own admission they were trying to ‘get’ me to sample the Renovators. So not only is what I wanted to watch disrupted, but I am being FORCED to watch something I hadn’t bothered with to date.
Yes, it’s only TV, not a big deal and I will ‘get over it’ (@C) and yes I am in control of my life enough to change channels, do something else, etc. (which is what I did – the Renovator hour was just enough time to help kids with homework and wash the dishes…) But the bigger point is that this seems indicative of how cynically TV audiences can be treated … we will do everything we can to FORCE viewers to watch something they may not like. Shows no respect for the audience at all.
Agree with @QQ. The upshot is that it only further encourages viewers to download shows or record and watch them later … it gives viewers back control and makes viewing enjoyable. And it also means they don’t have to watch the ads…
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Interesting comments. I think it’s even more interesting to judge the success of a show on viewing figures alone. Just because someone is deemed to be ‘viewing’ a show, does that mean they are engaging with it? I may have had Renovaters on the tele while waiting for the 2nd Masterchef segment, but I probably had my laptop on doing my emails, or was in the kitchen myself finishing dinner. Just because you supposedly had X amount of ‘viewers’, doesn’t mean they were actually watching/engaging with the content
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@Darren 12:32pm
Angry much?
It was a programming decision made by the programming director who rightly or wrongly made the decision.
He shouldn’t have to explain why! Was his choice, that’s what he gets paid (a shitload) to do and he has to live with the consequences good, bad or indifferent!
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the biggest mistake David made was wasting his time on the arrogant armchair experts who (over)populate this forum
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David Mott’s dilemma isn’t that far different from a band wanting to introduce new material at a gig. The only way to get people to take notice is to whack it in the middle of something popular.
As of Monday, MasterChef ’11 is dead, The Renovators, good or not, still has a long way to go.
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I would like to thank 10 for splitting Masterchef with The Renovaters because I could at last watch the new series of Grand Designs on ABC, which I have been missing and now that Masterchef is over I can also watch Midsomer Murders. The spell is broken.
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@ Craig Seitam
….with once critical difference. If I choose to go to a gig of a band I like, I want to here their old stuff, and I EXPECT to here some new stuff and to some degree receptive to it because I like ’em. So it’s not forced on me.
And come to think of it, the analogy’s a bit wrong….it’s more like going to gig of your favourite band and just as you are getting into it, the venue tells them to get off and come back in an hour, and the support band (which you aren’t very keen on) is sent on instead.
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Tv shows are only made to fill the spaces between the ad breaks. The advertising dollar rules boys!
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On Monday night, The Renovators at 7:30pm was beaten by Unlikely Animal Friends 2 on Ch7 by 400k nationally.
Unlikely.
Animal.
Friends.
2.
Seems like a dog’s a dog in anyone’s language.
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Mr Mott face the facts that you made a big mistake, The Renovators is a bad show and should be pulled before and more money is wasted.
As for the comment: “In fact, the last time Ten split a finale night was when we launched a brand new and unknown little format called MasterChef Australia off the back of the 2009 Biggest Loser finale.” If there was no up roar from viewers then it just goes to show you how bad 2009 Biggest Loser was (were you trying to lift the ratings of Biggest Loser by placing the apparently unknown Masterchef in the middle).
As among others I to hate being treated like a fool and would suspect so does Mr. Murdoch as he would hate to think TEN was treating his viewers as such.
I agree with Don Drapers comment, so why did he feel he should make a comment at all.
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I was one of those “samplers” that watched Renovators for the first time but only because the other channels didn’t bother to program anything worthwhile being up against the MasterChef finale. I watched and I didn’t like it – sorry, nice try. I’ll probably chase up the kids homework and wash the dishes next time too if that’s the best we can do rather than watch more of that droll. Renovators, annoying cast, annoying judges – this one will be a dead duck for sure!
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This is one of the eternal questions for every business. Should we maximize short-term returns, or invest in longer-term success.
In this case Channel 10 decided to ignore the long-term value of retaining viewers and instead focus on the short-term goal of propping up a failing program.
Providing a taster is fine – maybe a 5-10 minute snippet of the show. However screening a few episode reaks of desperation.
Short-term value achieved, as was long-term brand damage to 10.
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That was a super annoying response David, only serving to reinforce the knowledge that the networks will insult their audience for the sake of an attempt at ratings – and I can only laugh now at the ever dwindling numbers now watching Renovators – as the old addage goes – you can’t polish a turd – you can’t even rub a little of the masterchef shine onto it – not for more than one night.
Masterchef this year has not rated as highly as past years because of the continued trickery against the contestants – a damn shame as it was that lack of contempt that made it a hit in the first place. I can’t understand introducing those tactics when the original model was so successful.
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I watch Renovators but once settled in for Masterchef Finale on Sunday at 6.30pm (which I only found out last minute was not starting at 7.30pm – many friends missed the first part!) I expected to see it through all rounds – the mood was totally messed up by splitting the show. Sidenote: since the eliminations on Renovators set reduced number teams up to fail in challenges I can’t see it maintaining a competitive edge to engage the viewers long term.
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I agree with C get over it, give the show a chance. There is worse on TV at moment ie Top Design? What’s that? Hopefully the renovators will show us some real renos and give us some handy tips and ideas we can all benefit from. As for tactics, business is business and marketing and advertising is all about selling and attracting the customer. In this case the customer is the viewer and for some we have been convinced and for others not yet. Perhaps, this will happen with time, sometimes shows slowly attract the viewer, and eventually there is something that convinces them there is entertainment and enjoyment in viewing. Mr Mott, the show has potential good idea, I am sure others will come to realise.
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Hasn’t the internet outsourced tv programming along with everything else?
My daughter never watches free-to-air TV, but I found her on Monday watching MasterChef on her computer. She said she downloaded it ad-free, which would probably annoy the readers here, but that’s what it was.
She didn’t care about the programming times either because her copy did not contain the offending extra hour of renovations.
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My 2 cents worth are thus: When Masterchef was first launched within the Biggest Loser timeslot, it was the first time anyone was seeing it after a massive promotional buildup.
I think that Channel Ten changed the formula this time round by launching the Renovators BEFORE Masterchef had finished – therefor letting a complacent audience criticise the new show in comparison to their old friend Masterchef.
If Renovators had launched in the slot before the Masterchef finale, (as 9 is doing with Underbelly/The Block) I think they would have had more success.
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If you’re looking for an analogy to sum up the situation, there is only one:
Lobsters stuffed with tacos.
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