by Thinus Ferreira
During September the 18th season of Idols on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) and Muvhango on SABC2 continued their viewership death spirals as these shows continued their huge ongoing viewership and TV ratings losses, while SABC1's Xhosa news surpassed the Zulu bulletin to become the most-watch TV bulletin in the country, 435 673 people watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on SABC2 on 19 September, and viewers are apparently bored and over The Real Housewives of Cape Town.
As the shocking Muvhango and Idols viewership losses continue to mount, Idols, produced by SIC Entertainment, continued its ratings freefall, shedding another eye-watering 120 000 DStv subscribers during September to fall further to 542 049.
The 120 000 fewer Idols viewers on Sunday evenings on Mzansi Magic are an even bigger chunk and comes on top of the 81 000 viewers the show lost in August, meaning that half of the audience and ratings that Idols used to get, is simply gone.
On SABC2 the Muvhango plunge is also continuing where the channel's most-watched show shed more viewers to fall from 1 585 498 viewers during August to 1 572 195.
So bad is the Word of Mouth Productions viewership on SABC2 during prime time that the morning repeat of Muvhango on SABC1 at 8:30 now pulls a bigger audience and got 1.635 million viewers during the month.
Eskom blackouts a ratings burn
Eskom's shocking electricity blackouts that ramped up to Stage 4 during September wiped millions of viewers overall from South Africa's TV meters during the month, causing viewership and TV ratings losses across the board for SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and e.tv which all saw the bathtub viewership level of their ratings lowered.
On SABC1, South Africa's most-watched show Uzalo sagged from 6.56 million in August to 6.35million viewers in September, followed by Generations - The Legacy ebbing from 5.54 million to 5.052 million viewers - half a million viewers simply gone from what is now South Africa's third most-watched show.
Skeem Saam went from 4.3 million to 4.177 million viewers, while the Zulu TV news bulletin fell from 2.64 million to 2.45 million viewers in September. The Xhosa TV news bulletin improved from 2.615 million to 2.733 million viewers, passing the Zulu TV news to become the most-watched TV news bulletin in South Africa.
Selimathunzi remained flat at 2 million viewers, while the second season of uBettina Wethu fell from an already low 1.8 million to 1.744 million viewers. The Siswati/Ndebele TV news fell from 1.81 million to 1.58 million viewers.
SABC2 audience erosion continues
With Muvhango's depressing ratings slide sitting at the top of the troubled SABC2's ratings set for September, the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan lost audience as SABC2's second most-watched show during September going from 992 234 to 859 016 viewers.
It cannot be overstated in what bad form SABC2 and the channel's linear TV ratings are with just one show managing to get more than a million viewers during September and with the Afrikaans TV news falling from 704 272 to 631 325, the Setswana TV news falling from 668 961 to 521 677, and Black Tax falling from 526 024 to 462 520.
On 19 September 435 673 viewers tuned in to watch the public broadcast in South Africa of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Morning Live held steady during September with 475 519 viewers.
Weekends help S3
Interestingly, Saturdays and Sundays are the viewership that is propping up SABC3 - a full 14 out of the channel's top 20 shows were Saturday and Sunday programming in September, with Alvin and the Chipmunks movie topping the channel's ratings during the month with 602 198 viewers - down from 625 650 as August's ratings highwater mark for the channel.
The audience of the English TV news bulletin decreased from 566 757 to 536 529 as SABC3's second most-watched show of the month, with The Wonders of the Marsupials in third place, falling from 625 650 viewers to 502 908 in September.
The red carpet pre-show of the South African Film and Television Awards drew a lacklustre 494 260 viewers on 3 September, after a lot of viewers tuned out leaving 414 646 viewers who stayed to watched the SAFTAs awards ceremony which again had no in-studio audience this year.
e.tv impacted by loadshedding
On e.tv Scandal! suffered from Eskom blackouts and declined from 5.542 million viewers in August to 5.277million viewers - still enough to be South Africa's second most-watched TV show overall.
House of Zwide also gave up some recent gains and sagged from 5.14 million to 4.635 million viewers - still South Africa's third most-watched TV show overall. Imbewu fell from 3.05 million to 2.679 million viewers in September, while the cancelled Durban Gen was down from 2.74 million to 2.56 million viewers.
The Black Door gave up viewers as well, sliding from 2.7 million to 2.5 million and Is'phindiselo dropped from 1.98 million to 1.65 million viewers.
e.tv's 20:00 TV news bulletin held steady at 1.901 million viewers, the same as in August, while the South Africa Tonight news at 19:00 lured 1.312 million viewers during September.
Viewers bored with Cape Town's housewives
On pay-TV Gomora on Mzansi Magic was the most-watched show during September on MultiChoice's DStv although with fewer viewers in August, sagging from 1.122 million to 1.014 million DStv subscribers who tuned in.
Idols used to rule the roost here in-season but has now fallen from 1st place in years past to 10th place in September.
The tabloid cheater show Uyajola 9/9 on Moja Love (DStv 157) held onto its second spot but also with slightly fewer viewers, going from 985 124 to 876 201 viewers in September. The cancelled The Queen on Mzansi Magic kept sitting on the third-place throne although viewership also sagged some from 754 539 to 661 478 viewers.
Viewers have gotten bored with The Real Housewives of Cape Town on Mzansi Magic which plunged from 618 994 viewers in August to a lowly 396 719 in September.
