by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's TV ratings will once again be damaged and adversely impacted during October with the country's struggling and broken electricity supplier Eskom that announced ongoing rolling blackouts that will continue until at least Thursday.
On Thursday Eskom announced that it would once again take electricity away from millions of South Africans and implemented what it calls "Stage 2 load shedding" from 21:00 at night.
On Friday afternoon Eskom said the blackouts that it initially announced for two days - Thursday and Friday - would now continue as rolling and continuous blackouts until at least Thursday next week.
Eskom's blackouts have a massive negative impact on South Africa's TV industry and affects all broadcasters: the SABC, e.tv, MultiChoice's DStv, StarTimes' StarSat, community TV channels.
Their viewership and ratings losses translate to not just financial loss and a decrease in advertising revenue for them, but also negatively impacts South Africa's advertising industry.
These blackouts - coming during late prime time and continuing during the night - wipe millions of South African TV households across the country from the TAMS TV ratings system who ends up with a zero ratings.
Eskom's initially 2-day blackout announcement - increased to a week - means that at least a full quarter of the month of October's TV ratings will be lower than what it would have been and will be negatively impacted.
The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) runs an online "load shedding dashboard" that shows how TV viewership and ratings plunge when Eskom has electricity blackouts.
