by Thinus Ferreira
Muvhango plunged by over half a million viewers in June in South Africa's TV ratings race, while SABC2 and SABC3 continued to shed thousands of viewers as the switch-off of analogue TV signals lead to a ratings surge for e.tv, and Eskom's electricity blackouts continue to damage viewership numbers across the board.
During June South Africa and SABC1's most-watched show, Uzalo, edged upwards in its 20:30-timeslot, from 5.78 million to 6.1 million viewers. June was a good month for SABC1 with its entire Top 20 shows up in the ratings.
South Africa's second most-watched show during primetime now belongs to e.tv's Scandal!, up from 4.82 million to 5.15 million viewers at its peak in June, trouncing SABC1's Generations - The Legacy in third place, up from 4.63 million to 4.95 million viewers.
Besides snagging second place, e.tv also had South Africa's fourth most-watched show in June with House of Zwide climbing from 4.52 million to 4.65 million viewers in June, with SABC1's Skeem Saam in 5th place, slightly up from 4.13 million to 4.27 million viewers.
The rebroadcast of the Sarafina! film on Youth Day on 16 June pulled a very strong 3.96 million viewers to e.tv as the channel's third most-watched piece of content for the month.
Troubling is that Uzalo, Scandal!, Generations - The Legacy, House of Zwide and Skeem Saam were the only five shows able to pull an audience bigger than 4 million viewers, or a bigger than 10 AR (audience rating).
Also troubling is how the public broadcaster's SABC2 and SABC3 TV channels keep eroding in the TV ratings with SABC2 which only has Muvhango left as the sole show pulling more than a million viewers during June and SABC3 taking out 596 374 viewers at most during the month.
Vernacular news sought out
On SABC1 the Zulu TV news bulletin (up from 2.52 million to 2.769 million viewers in June) surged to become the most-watched TV news in South Africa in the month, with the Xhosa TV news bulletin on the channel also up from 2.69 million to 2.763 million. The Siswati TV news bulletin also increased its viewership haul from 1.88 million to 1.91 million viewers.
Selimathunzi was marginally better, up from a solid 2.1 million to 2.23 million viewers, while Ses Top La gained viewers from 1.66 million last month to 1.93 million in June. Clover Classic Celebrations grew from 2.23 million to 2.43 million viewers.
Warning lights for SABC2
A red warning light keeps flashing for a troubled SABC2 sitting with ratings equaling what SABC3 got when that channel's viewership problems started some years ago. SABC TV bosses must be aware of the worrying trend.
The channel's Venda prime time soap Muvhango is the only programme which managed to pull over a million viewers during primetime to SABC2 during June with the channel's 20th most-watched show - a repeat of SABC1's Skeem Saam on 13 June, barely scraping together 399 844 viewers.
The Afrikaans soap 7de Laan was down from 1 040 016 viewers in May to 990 032, although Hlala Kwabafileyo edged up from 872 793 to 933 299 viewers, as did Kwa Mamazala from 644 923 to 719 792 viewers in June.
The latest season of the Afrikaans travelogue series Voetspore also increased from 504 055 to 569 773 viewers.
The Afrikaans TV news bulletin on SABC2 added viewers from 633 687 to 716 185 viewers, as did the Setswana TV news from 525 935 to 655 202 viewers and the Venda TV news from 435 685, increasing to 439 191.
Angela Lansbury's American drama series Murder She Wrote, on repeat at 14:00 during SABC2 daytime, drew 452 865 viewers during June. SABC2's Morning Live remains the most-watched breakfast show, slightly down to 487 763 viewers from May's 492 423.
Weekend movies help SABC3
SABC3's most-watched content in June was the Twilight movie on Sunday 12 June with 596 374 viewers, followed by an episode of the BBC's natural history series Serengeti on Sunday 19 June with 587 267 viewers.
SABC3's 18:00 English TV news bulletin grew from 437 313 viewers to 539 067 in June. Weekend movies are now what's propping up SABC3's schedule with 7 out of the channel's top 20 list being American films shown during June, and 5 natural history documentaries.
The American talk show The View drew 231 647 viewers to its 15:00-timeslot on SABC3, while local talk show Unpacked with Relebogile had 241 283 during its 17:30-timeslot.
e.tv on the up and up
e.tv keeping its analogue signal transmitters on is the channel that could smile broadest in June with a ratings surge across its Top 20 most-watched shows. Are viewers no longer able to get SABC TV channels now switching to e.tv?
Besides Scandal! and House of Zwide, the cancelled Durban Gen went from 2.82 million to 2.94 million viewers in June, with Imbewu increasing from 2.32 million to 2.522 million viewers.
The underperforming The Black Door which is undergoing a production retooling to lessen the visual sex-factor remained flat at 2.29 million (from 2.32 million in May). Is'phindiselo on Sunday nights remained steady at 1.84 million from 1.79 million the month before, while the e.tv News at 20:00 grew slightly from1.75 million to 1.9 million viewers.
The Afrikaans dubbed, Turkish telenovela Droomverlore at 17:30 grew from 1.588 million to 1.74 million, while Paramount Africa's cancelled Isono telenovela getting a free-to-air rebroadcast on e.tv snagged 2.322 million viewers in June.
Let The River run
On MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV service Mzansi Magic's (DStv 161) Gomora and a Gomora repeat are the only two shows once again managing to pull over a million DStv subscribers in June, similar to May, with 1.189 million and 1.032 million viewers who tuned in.
The Queen held steady in third place with 785 625 DStv subscribers (May: 752 068), followed by 1Magic's (DStv 103) The River in fourth place with 683 860 viewers, with Our Perfect Wedding also maintaining its 5th place from the month before with 614 625 viewers (May: 608 597).
Umndeni on Moja Love (DStv 157) climbed from 503 442 to 605 374 viewers in June and Diep City on Mzansi Magic also held steady at 572 881 viewers (May: 581 207).
