by Thinus Ferreira
The returning new seasons of The Estate on SABC3, Idols on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161), as well as Survivor South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) all drew even fewer viewers during July, making these shows the TV ratings losers of the month, while SABC2's tired Muvhango also continued to sag as the Venda primetime soap kept shedding audience for yet another month.
Absence didn't make South African viewers' TV hearts grow fonder with the Clive Morris Productions telenovela on SABC3 that came back for a third season in July after a 3-month break with even fewer viewers coming back to The Estate than its already-low ratings of before.
The Estate wasn't anywhere to be seen in the list of S3's top 20 shows for the month, which still pulled a very low 340 269 viewers to its early primetime slot in April when the second season ended. Even The Estate's Saturday omnibus ratings sagged, plummeting from 487 769 at most in April, to 361 509 in July.
The other big ratings loser in July has been Idols, with the [SIC] Entertainment produced reality singing competition on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) luring 743 516 viewers at most for its season 18 debut during July, almost 10 000 fewer DStv subscribers watching than the 753 367 who watched the season 17 conclusion in November last year.
A new trio of judges including the returning socialite Somizi Mhlongo has been unable to stem what is now an ongoing ratings and audience share slide for Idols, similar to what happened to American Idol.
Meanwhile, Survivor South Africa on M-Net, produced by Afrokaans and moved to an earlier timeslot and stacked with daily episodes, lost a whopping 42.8% of its viewers for the 9th season entitled Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts, compared to the beginning of June a year ago.
Only 43 306 viewers tuned in for the start of Survivor SA: Return of the Outcasts on 18 July with ratings falling further on subsequent days, compared to the 75 770 DStv subscribers who still watched the start of the previous season.
The tired Muvhango, produced by Word of Mouth Pictures, that is on a shocking viewership slide fell further in July, dragging SABC2 down further as the channel's most-watched show, from an already-low 1.885 million viewers to 1.726 million (4.46 AR / 19 share).
SABC1 showing erosion
SABC1's entire TV ratings for July is now starting to buckle and show viewership erosion as well, as the SABC's analogue terrestrial signals are switched off by the government as and Eskom electricity blackouts wiped TV households from Nielsen's people meters.
Still the biggest channel in terms of South African audience reach, Uzalo from Stained Glass TV as SABC1 and South Africa's most-watched TV show slid from 6.1 to 5.9 million viewers.
Generations - The Legacy as South Africa's third most-watched show and SABC1's second most-watched show sagged from 4.95 to 4.79 million viewers, while Skeem Saam as SABC1's third most-watched show and the country's fourth most-watched show weakened from 4.27 to 4.5 million viewers.
Both Scandal! and House of Zwide on eMedia's e.tv channel have now surpassed Generations - The Legacy and Skeem Saam in the country's cutthroat TV ratings race as South Africa's second and third most-watched television shows.
On SABC1 the Zulu TV news bulletin decreased from 2.7 to 2.4 million viewers, the Xhosa TV news decreased from 2.7 to 2.47million viewers, the Siswati/Ndebele TV news bulletin decreased from 1.9 to 1.76 million viewers, Ses Top La sagged from 1.93 to 1.62 million viewers, and Roxic fell from 2.74 to 2.43 million viewers in July.
Muvhango drags SABC2 down
On SABC2 Muvhango was the channel's most-watched show but again with fewer viewers, slumping from 1.88 to 1.72 million viewers during its 25th anniversary.
A presidential address from Cyril Ramaphosa on 25 July lured 990 887 viewers to the 20:00-timeslot.
The Afrikaans soap from Danie Odendaal Productions, 7de Laan, decreased in July from 990 032 to 945 543 viewers, Hlala Kwabafiley plunged from 933 299 to 670 295 viewers, the Afrikaans TV news bulletin fell from 716 185 to 629 895 viewers, while Bophelo Ka Semphekgo surged from 594 424 to 710 848 viewers.
SABC2's breakfast show Morning Live remains a bright spark as the country's most watched morning show, pulling a steady 453 733 viewers.
The umpteenth repeat of the Angela Landsbury-fronted American drama series Murder She Wrote continued its bizarre afternoon ratings buoyancy from the month before, pulling 449 326 viewers in its 14:00-timeslot in the afternoons to SABC2 with more viewers than most other shows on the channel during primetime.
Liam Neeson helps SABC3
SABC3 showed a ratings uptick in July with the channel's entire top 20 most-watched shows gaining some viewers.
Liam Neeson came to S3's rescue with Taken 3 as the most-watched content on the channel during July, lifting it to 682 739 viewers from 596 739 in June - again with the channel's Sunday night movie timeslot at 19:30 which is now its highest viewership grabber and establishing a new appointment-viewing timeslot on SABC3, similar to what M-Net has had for decades.
Eden Untamed Planet lured 650 953 viewers on 24 July to the channel, followed by the first Taken movie on 10 July with 594 911 viewers and the English TV news with 563 514 viewers. Britain's Got Talent: The Champions pulled 400 884 viewers, while viewership of the American TV talk show The View was also up from 231 647 to 247 833 viewers in July.
e.tv's House of Zwide deserves cake
You'd think there'd be a flurry of press releases as e.tv crows about ratings gains like American TV channels hype viewership wins, but the red-letter channel keeps doing better and better as it lures more viewers away who no longer want to watch the SABC or likely can't watch SABC channels anymore as their Sentech distribution tower signals are cut off.
Scandal! was the e.tv's most-watched show for July and South Africa's second most-watched show, growing from 5.15 to 5.31 million viewers.
Crew working on House of Zwide can apply for mortgages: the show surged from 4.65 to 4.91 million viewers, as e.tv's second most-watched and South Africa's third most-watched TV show overall with a "send cake" 12.7 AR and oh-so-sweet 44 share.
Imbewu is recovering, improving from 2.52 to 2.77 million viewers, The Black Door is improving from 2.29 to 2.58 million viewers, but the BET Africa Original Isono fell from 2.3 to 1.73 million viewers.
The cancelled Durban Gen lost steam from 2.9 4 to 2.55 million viewers, e.tv's 20:00 TV news slumped from 1.9 to 1.77 million viewers and Is'phindiselo weakened from 1.84 to 1.64 million viewers.
Weak note for Idols return
The glory days of Idols on M-Net and Mzansi Magic are likely over forever following 2021's sudden ratings collapse at the start of the 18th season.
Idols came back for season 19 in July with a disappointing 743 516 viewers in the early Sunday evening timeslot where Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) has developed ratings weakness for over a year now.
Gomora on Mzansi Magic was once again the most-watched show on DStv during July but losing around 80 000 viewers from 1 189 324 to 1 108 493. eHostela had 913 363 DStv subscribers tuning in, with Our Perfect Wedding grabbing third place on the channel's ratings line-up with 765 938 viewers and Idols following in 4th place.
The Queen from Ferguson Films weakened from 785 625 to 737 092 viewers, while The Real Housewives of Cape Town lured just over a half million DStv subscribers with 515 928 tuning in. Mamazala on Moja Love (DStv 157) dropped from 501 804 to 463 051 viewers in July.
The new Mzansi Magic reality series Short n Sweet, a rip-off of Moja Love's Giants of the City, made its debut with 592 320 viewers.
