TV RATINGS April 2023: SABC1's Uzalo sheds 1.2 million viewers as e.tv loses 2.1 million viewers with new soaps and DStv's bad Big Brother Titans ends with just 340 000 viewers on Mzansi Magic.

by Thinus Ferreira

As South Africa's ongoing and debilitating electricity blackouts continue to wipe millions of TV households from the country's ratings system, Uzalo as the most-watched show in the country lost over 1.2 million viewers in April, while e.tv's two new prime-time soaps were both rating disappointments - as was M-Net's Big Brother Titans finale on Mzansi Magic.

As South Africa continues to suffer through Eskom's Stage 6 load-shedding, the Durban-produced Uzalo plunged over 1.2 million viewers in April, falling from 6.248 million viewers in March as South Africa's most-watched show in television to 5.098 million in April. 

Meanwhile, e.tv's most-watched show, Scandal! - the fourth most-watched show overall in South Africa - shed 760 036 viewers in April when it fell from 4.947 million in March to 4.187 million viewers in April.

On SABC1, Skeem Saam moved up from its third place as third most-watched show to clinch second place, surpassing Generations - The Legacy. 

Although Skeem Saam lost viewers, falling from 4.603 million to 4.328 million viewers in April, Generations lost a much bigger part of its audience, tumbling from its perennial second-place with 4.924 million to 4.194 million viewers in April.

South African TV viewers absolutely love watching the TV news in their language. The Xhosa TV news bulletin on SABC1 lured 2.39 million viewers as the most-watched TV news in the country during April, followed by the Zulu TV news bulletin on the channel with 2.23 million viewers.

Nyan Nyan was slightly down from 2.087 million to 1.84 million viewers. Primedia and Rose & Oaks' Deal or No Deal SA was also slightly down from 1.6 to 1.45 million viewers.

SABC2's Muvhango sheds 400 000 viewers

On SABC2, the Venda prime-time soap Muvhango as the channel's most-watched show shed in excess of 400 000 viewers, falling from 1.775 million to 1.366 million viewers, followed by Afrikaans soap 7de Laan that sagged from 1.109 million to 922 467 viewers in April.

Giyani eroded from 982 107 to 851 977 viewers, while the Setswana TV news bulletin was down from 776 801 to 628 976 viewers in April. The Afrikaans TV news bulletin was down from 687 421 to 663 442 viewers.

Nong Seakaladi dropped from 593 729 to 541 354 viewers, while the Mandela and De Klerk movie lured 412 173 viewers. 

Natural history docs a lure on SABC3

On SABC3 the most-watched programming in April was the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes that lured 590 918 viewers, followed by the English TV news bulletin at 18:00 with 438 732 viewers, and the local soap The Estate with 418 028 viewers at most during the month.

Viewers like watching natural history programming on S3, with Baboons: Rules of the Troop (402 646), Great Parks of Africa (383 965) and Into the Wild: Colombia (305 136) finding a receptive audience. 

The 14:30 afternoon repeat of SABC1's Deal or No Deal SA lured 272 078 viewers to SABC3.

e.tv loses viewers 

The two new prime time replacement soaps for Imbewu and Durban Gen on e.tv - Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors were both ratings disappointments, luring far fewer viewers with their debut on 17 April.

While Durban Gen still had 1 967 574 viewers in April in its 18:30 timeslot, Nikiwe only got 1 455 901 in the same timeslot last month. While Imbewu at its end grabbed 2 275 169 viewers in April, Smoke & Mirrors only got 1 712 591 viewers at most last month. 

Neither Nikiwe or Smoke & Mirrors are top 5 e.tv shows like Imbewu and Durban Gen were.

House of Zwide as e.tv's second most-watched show lost 400 000 viewers and fell from 4.085 million to 3.599 million viewers.

Besides the 760 000 viewers that Scandal! lost, the 400 000 lost viewers from House of Zwide and the combined hit of 1 074 251 fewer viewers with Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors - it means that e.tv lost over 2.1 million viewers in just a month on the red letter channel.

The Black Door was lower from 2.237 million to 1.994 million viewers, while the Gavin Hood film Tsotsi was a bright spark pulling 2.12 million viewers for e.tv on 23 April as the channel's 4th most-watched piece of programming during the month. Mama Jack lured 2.076 million viewers.

Big Brother Titans ends with little fanfare

MultiChoice saw an overall improvement during April for DStv subscriber ratings although Gomora on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) as the most-watched show was slightly down from 885 304 to 863 074 viewers.

Sizok'thola on Moja Love (DStv 157) was second-most watched on pay-TV during April and up from 589 801 to 693 271 viewers, followed by Isifiso on Mzansi Magic in third place with 662 945 viewers.

Moja Love's X-Repo increased its audience from 588 547 to 628 788 viewers, while Gqeberha: The Empire improved from 589 267 to 608 811 viewers in April. The River declined from 586 939 to 540 788 viewers. Umndeni on Moja Love lost viewers, going from 458 356 to 371 607 viewers in April. 

M-Net's Big Brother Titans reality show finale was a ratings disappointment, luring only 346 252 viewers to Mzansi Magic on Sunday 2 April in the Sunday evening 19:00 timeslot.    

ALSO READ: Little publicised Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors cost and lost e.tv over 1 million viewers in April in disappointing TV ratings debut.

Little publicised Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors cost and lost e.tv over 1 million viewers in April in disappointing TV ratings debut.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv's two new local soaps Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors that replaced the cancelled Imbewu and Durban Gen appear to both be prime-time rating disappointments, making their debuts on Monday 17 April with weaker viewership than the shows they replaced and costing e.tv over a million in lost viewers. 

While Durban Gen still raked in as much as 1 967 574 viewers in April in its 18:30 timeslot before it went off the air, the little publicised Nikiwe - produced by Parental Advisory Productions - managed to pull 1 455 901 viewers at most in April after it replaced Durban Gen in the same timeslot.

It means that Nikiwe lost e.tv in excess of over half a million viewers with 511 673 viewers who have tuned out of e.tv after the end of Durban Gen. e.tv's audience share decreased from 21% to 18% - a loss of 3 percentage points - during this time period.

At 21:00 Imbewu still lured 2 275 169 viewers at most in April to e.tv in the timeslot. On 17 April the little publicised Smoke & Mirrors - produced by The Final Chapter Production - in the same timeslot, made a very disappointing debut with just 1 712 591 viewers.

That's another loss of over another half a million viewers with 562 578 people who decided to no longer watch e.tv during the time period and decreased the timeslot's audience share of the channel from 30.1% to 23.4% - a decrease of 6.7 percentage points.

Together Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors lost and cost eMedia's e.tv channel a whopping 1 074 251 viewers in the same month - a combined audience share loss of 9.7%. 

Neither Nikiwe nor Smoke & Mirrors are top 5 shows on e.tv's list of most-watched shows for April like Imbewu and Durban Gen were.

The lack of buzz and ratings for Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors are not surprising, given the lack of any real publicity efforts e.tv made to bring the new content under the media's attention and cutting out national press covering television from a bizarre Johannesburg event for the shows held just a day before their broadcast debut.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. e.tv's latest publicity failure for new local shows underscores South African television's growing PR disaster as global players (rightly) do the proper work and get the attention.

Tebogo Ramokgadi accuses e.tv of show idea theft as eMedia says producer's unsolicited Smoke & Mirrors pilot and proposal was rejected.

by Thinus Ferreira

A South African reality TV star and producer known as Tebogo Ramokgadi is accusing e.tv of theft of his filmed pilot and proposal for Smoke & Mirrors which is now a new e.tv drama series - although eMedia denies that the broadcaster stole his show, saying his show concept with the same name was rejected and that any alleged similarities including the name are purely coincidental.

Tebogo Ramokgadi claims that e.tv has stolen his idea for a 13-episode series with Smoke & Mirrors.

e.tv's Smoke & Mirrors which is now on-air is produced by The Final Chapter Production. It's a new drama series that e.tv held some event for this past Sunday but couldn't bother to even tell media stakeholders would be taking place. 

Tebogo Ramokgadi says that he pitched Smoke & Mirrors, with this name, to e.tv content executive Khanyi Nxumalo on 20 September 2020 through Leo Phiri, after R1 million was spent to film a type of pilot episode. 

Tebogo Ramokgadi has been sharing screenshots of his show pitch, along with responses from Khanyi Nxumalo who was initially very impressed with the show and its visuals, with promises that Smoke & Mirrors would get a full commission from e.tv.

"The visuals are amazing and the story itself is really compelling. It's a higher LSM but I'm sure e.tv will start moving into that direction, now that they've launched eVOD. Again they don't do licensing," Khanyi Nxumalo wrote.

"This is an excellent production it will definitely be picked up. Congratulations, Khanyi Nxumalo said, adding: "Please send content that you haven't shot, for consideration for full commission", with the producer who responded: "I'm looking for a commission for Smoke & Mirrors. What you saw was a pitch teaser". 

When Tebogo Ramokgadi and Leo Phiri discovered that Smoke & Mirrors is coming to e.tv - something they had sent to e.tv but that wasn't their show - a concerned Leo Phiri emailed Khanyi Nxumalo.

"It has come to our attention that e.tv has commissioned a show that I'm currently developing titled Smoke & Mirrors set in the North West."

"My concern and that of our partners is that I submitted a pitch deck to you and a visual promo for a show titled Smoke & Mirrors on 20 September 2021 and are gravely concerned that a new show under your watch and also set in the North West has inherited the same title."

"Given the above, kindly shed some clarity to put our minds at ease as we do not want to speculate at this stage as to what might have transpired." 

eMedia in a statement now says its story of Smoke & Mirrors is set in a small mining town called Emnyameni and that Tebogo Ramokgadi's concept was rejected.

"eMedia confirms that an unsolicited proposal was received from Tebogo Ramokgadi's then series producer in September 2021." eMedia says "the show and concept, like many other pitches, was not accepted".

According to eMedia's corporate communications press statement "The title, Smoke & Mirrors is not a unique name, and is a general phrase used in everyday language and by many other producers for album and song titles, and also across many industries. Any alleged similarities to this, or many other dramas is purely coincidental".

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. e.tv's latest publicity failure for new local shows underscores South African television's growing PR disaster as global players (rightly) do the proper work and get the attention.