GfK to take over as South African TV ratings tabulator at Broadcast Research Council in wake of Nielsen's shock exit

Thinus Ferreira

The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) has appointed GfK, an NIQ company, to take over as South African TV ratings tabulator.

GfK's appointment announcement comes a week after Nielsen's shock announcement that it's quitting the country.

According to the BRCSA, GfK will "design and deploy the country's new Total Video Measurement service".

It comes after South Africa's broadcasters asked for an overhaul of the existing TAMS service and identified gaps in measuring the total video audience which continues to fragment and splinter across linear, recorded and catch-up, streaming, and other platforms and means.

The BRCSA in a press release, notes that "Broadcasters have been acutely aware of shifts in viewing that have built up over time and asked the BRC to ensure the service evolves accordingly".

After a procurement process was run, the BRC approached GfK with the finalisation of the contract that is underway.

The first phase of the switch-over will be a new TV currency service "feeding into daily TV trading", according to the BRCSA.

The BRCSA promises that the market "will have a clear, shared, and trusted daily TV currency that reflects today’s viewing reality for broadcast, and connected-TV usage, for broadcasters, agencies, and advertisers".

This first phase data will start to stream 1 January 2027.

The second phase will bring broadcaster on-demand and streaming for everyday planning, according to the BRCSA, so that broadcaster video-on-demand and streaming are incorporated, enabling planners to manage the combined impact of live and online viewing. 

This phase should be done by the end of 2027.

The so-called "total video picture" phase should be completed by the end of 2027 when the BRCSA plans to deliver a "unified, all-screens service" that will provide "one view of audiences across traditional television and digital video. This will be implemented during 2028.

The BRCSA says it is working with Nielsen "to coordinate an orderly transition".

"Nielsen will continue to deliver data until Phase 1 launches on 1 January 2027".

"By that avoiding any television data blackout prior to and during the handover, ensuring continuity for the industry throughout."

Gary Whitaker, BRCSA CEO, in the statement says "Today's announcement is about business confidence. We listened to the market, reviewed the status quo, commissioned a new Establishment Survey, and ran a rigorous, business-led process".

"With GfK’s appointment we now have a clear roadmap: first a new daily TV currency, then the inclusion of broadcaster on-demand, and by year-end 2027 a true Total Video service that mirrors how South Africans really watch. Broadcasters can prove their reach, agencies can plan with clarity, and advertisers can be sure every rand is working."

Lee Risk, Vice President, Media Measurement at GfK-NIQ, in the prepared statement, says "GfK-NIQ is proud to partner with the BRC and the South African TV industry to deliver a comprehensive, future-ready media measurement solution tailored to the unique dynamics of South Africa".

"This collaboration reflects a shared vision for innovation in media insights, and we’re confident in the strength of this partnership to elevate the industry."

Eskom blackouts wipe 5 million viewers from South Africa's TV audience.

by Thinus Ferreira

Eskom's relentless and increasing electricity blackouts in South Africa wiped out close to 5 million South African viewers during prime time from the country's TV grid in December 2022, inflicting ongoing damage to broadcasters who are losing not just audience but the advertising revenue they depend on, and causing havoc with ad buyers' campaigns.

The TV staple of South African television - locally-produced prime time soaps - collectively shed over 4.77 million viewers from November to December 2022 as Eskom's electricity supply continued to sag into late-2022.

These rolling blackouts mean that millions of South African TV households are left in the dark and cut off from their TV sets at nighttime due to Eskom's erratic and constantly changing "loadshedding" practices.

Between SABC1's Uzalo, Generations: The Legacy and Skeem Saam; SABC2's Muvhango; and e.tv's Scandal!, House of Zwide, The Black Door, Imbewu and Durban Gen which collectively represent the most-watched shows in South Africa, the country's available TV audience dropped by a shocking 4 776 251 viewers in one month as they disappeared from the available TV universe measured by television data.

Audience losses on shows on smaller channels like SABC3 and pay-TV service DStv added to the number of lost viewers because of the country's crippling electricity blackouts. 

According to the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa's (BRCSA) TV ratings data for December, SABC3's maximum audience decreased from 588 151 to 519 8080, while a show like Uyajola 9/9 on Moja Love (DStv 157), which was the most-watched pay-TV series in November with 904 082 viewers, shed over a quarter (25.78%) of its audience in just one month to plunge to 670 983 DStv subscribers watching in December.

Looking at biggest audience size for South Africa's terrestrial TV channels, SABC1 plunged from 5.6 to 5.1 million viewers in December, SABC2 fell from 1.72 to 1.54 million viewers, SABC3's already low 588 151 viewers dropped to 519 8080, while e.tv's maximum audience in December lost over 700 000 viewers, dropping from 4.78 million to 4.01 million viewers in December.

A slight drop in TV ratings is expected and does happen during December - since some households measured for South Africa's television audience measurement system (TAMS) and included in the people meter panel go on holiday, don't switch on their TV set and mirror what happens to the audience size during this period.

A massive five million viewership drop in one month however is not normal and extremely damaging and debilitating for broadcasters who lost ad revenue and for advertisers who lost out on the eyeballs they paid for but didn't get and wanted to reach with Christmas sales campaigns.

HBO's House of the Dragon on M-Net drew 7 701 DStv Premium subscribers on Monday to watch on linear TV in South Africa.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Monday 7 701 South Africans watched the linear TV broadcast debut of HBO's new fantasy drama series House of the Dragon on M-Net (DStv 101) with 1 500 who were up at 3am to watch the episode at the same time as it was airing in the United States.

While 7 701 DStv Premium subscribers in South Africa watched the first episode of the new dragons and danger series on M-Net as a TV broadcast - the number most important to broadcasters and advertisers - there would also have been some more watching it online on DStv Catch Up who are not included in the official TV ratings tally, as well as people who started watching the pirate copy that leaked on torrent and download sharing sites a day before the show's TV debut.

TV ratings for the rest of sub-Saharan Africa are hard to come by or non-existent since many African countries don't have one but M-Net also showed House of the Dragon on its M-Net Africa channel feed elsewhere on the continent.

According to ratings compiled and provided by the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA), M-Net lured 1 505 DStv Premium subscribers who watched on Monday morning at 3:00, with another 6 196 viewers who watched M-Net on Monday night at 21:30.

In the United Kingdom House of the Dragon pulled 1.39 million Sky subscribers to tune in to the Sky Atlantic channel with 394 000 who watched at 21:00. "Viewing over the last 24 hours for House of the Dragon across Sky and NOW has been as epic as the show itself," Sky said.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) which didn't provide viewership numbers, said in a statement on Wednesday said that House of the Dragon had the largest ever collective viewership across 21 countries for a new TV show or movie in Europe on its HBO Max video streaming service, which is not available in Africa. 

"The platform saw unprecedented demand starting in the early hours which peaked on Monday evening. House of the Dragon is by far the biggest launch in the history of HBO and HBO Max in Europe, breaking previous records for a new title. The number of viewers for the first episode exceeded all expectations."

In America, WarnerMedia in a statement on Monday said "The premiere of House of the Dragon drew 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms in the United States on Sunday night, the largest audience for any new original series in the history of HBO".

ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. M-Net's beautiful gold-embossed 'black box' press drop for HBO's House of the Dragon on DStv.

ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. Photos from M-Net's Friday night watch party in South Africa for HBO's House of the Dragon.

ALSO READ: HBO's House of the Dragon leaks online as pirate viewers in their thousands swarm to watch it before its linear TV debut.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. Here won't be dragons: How HBO and M-Net fire and iced out South Africa's media with no advanced digital screeners for House of the Dragon reviews and very belated watch-parties. 

ALSO READ: TV REVIEW. HBO's House of the Dragon on M-Net ticks many of the boxes from Star Wars Episode I as Westeros' entropy story is set in motion.

TV RATINGS July 2022: New seasons of M-Net's Survivor SA, SABC3's The Estate and Mzansi Magic's Idols see fewer viewers sticking around.

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. 

The SABC's shocking TV ratings slide in numbers: 'The world of broadcast TV is rapidly changing'.

by Thinus Ferreira

Like a once deep lake slowly getting drained while the entire ecosystem which depended on it becomes unstable, shrinks and disappears, the South African public broadcaster's constantly eroding TV ratings and ongoing audience loss is a massive cause for concern for the entire local television and advertising industry and a growing existential crisis for the troubled SABC which seems unable to stop the viewership bleed.

An analysis of SABC TV ratings over the past year shows how the South African public broadcaster continues to lose millions of viewers, with its SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 TV channels experiencing ongoing and hugely troubling linear TV ratings losses.

The disappearing SABC TV audiences have a massive negative impact on the broadcaster's income, with the SABC forced to charge less and less in advertising rates for TV commercials when fewer eyeballs are watching.

While the troubled SABC3 has been in a ratings black hole for more than the past decade, the disturbing South African TV ratings picture reveals that even SABC2 now looks like the SABC3 of five years ago. 

Back in September 2017, SABC3 still managed 1.87 million viewers for its most-watched content for the month, and 430 621 viewers for its 20th highest-rated show. 

Cue SABC2's ratings in June 2022 with 1.88 million viewers at most and 399 844 for its 20th highest-rated show and it's evident how SABC2's ratings picture is now like SABC3 when that sister channel was already in big trouble.

Meanwhile, SABC3 itself looks to be virtually on life-support now as a TV channel, with just over 700 000 viewers nationally at most in June.

TVwithThinus looked at the ratings of the past year - from June 2021 to June 2022 - for the SABC's three big terrestrial TV channels. For the exercise, the TV rating of the highest-rated programming on each channel, as well as the 20th highest-rated show on each channel were taken over the past 12 months.

Take a look at the steady and shocking decline of the SABC's TV viewership and ratings over just the past year.

SABC1 top-rated show

June 2021:            8 024 208

July 2021:             7 776 154 

August 2021:        7 648 487

September 2021: 6 879 581

October 2021:      7 099 635

November 2021: 6 990 052

December 2021: 6 855 580

January 2022:    6 995 444 

February 2022:  6 677 494

March 2022:      7 020 908

April 2022:          6 471 686

May 2022:           5 783 736

June 2022:           6 103 846

SABC1 20th rated show:

June 2021:            2 118 704

July 2021:             2 357 043

August 2021:        2 262 219

September 2021:  1 937 322

October 2021:      1 745 856

November 2021:  1 558 864

December 2021:   1 465 153

January 2022:       1 419 480

February 2022:     1 417 425

March 2022:         1 560 967

April 2022:           1 547 113

May 2022:            1 558  562

June 2022:            1 653 227

SABC2 top-rated show:

June 2021:             4 734 276

July 2021:              5 840 203

August 2021:         4 166 031

September 2021:    3 696 060

October 2021:         3 643 585

November 2021:     3 553 242

December 2021:     3 672 139

January 2022:         3 952 923

February 2022:       3 300  031

March 2022:           3 309 806

April 2022:             3 285 619

May 2022:              2 408 898

June 2022:              1 885 401

SABC2 20th rated show:

June 2021:              562 390

July 2021:               716 496

August 2021:          533 571

September 2021:    511 761

October 2021:         437 448

November 2021:     561 974

December 2021:     495 536

January 2022:         491 980

February 2022:       440 633

March 2022:           379 094

April 2022:             456 635

May 2022:              400 620

June 2022:              399 844

SABC3 top-rated show:

June 2021:             731 009

July 2021:              769 858

August 2021:         733 963

September 2021:    1 031 635

October 2021:        968 107

November 2021:    597 534

December 2021:    491 171

January 2022:        652 702

February 2022:      490 709

March 2022:          576 562

April 2022:            793 301

May 2022:             518 197

June 2022:             596 374

SABC3 20th rated show:

June 2021:               277 417

July 2021:                327 316

August 2021:           292 736

September 2021:      291 793

October 2021:          267 159

November 2021:      251 032

December 2021:       245 209

January 2022:          312 382

February 2022:        229 714

March 2022:            317 634

April 2022:              314 518  

May 2022:               249 813

June 2022:               229 175

About the slide in the SABC ratings, Chris Botha, Park Advertising group managing director, tells TVwithThinus that falling linear TV ratings is not unique to the South African public broadcaster, but that what's happening with TV audiences is worse in South Africa.

"Firstly, let's be clear: Linear television ratings across the world are dropping. So it's not an 'SABC thing' or even a 'South African thing' – it is a problem the world over. Now in South Africa, the picture is worse than the rest of the world for a number of reasons."

"It's not just one thing – it is actually a confluence of circumstances. Firstly, this is South Africa's worst ever year for Eskom load shedding. The numbers clearly show that load shedding has an enormous impact on TV viewership."

"Secondly, there is the government rollout of the DTT project. As transmitters are being switched off in certain provinces we have noted that this has resulted in drops in audience."

"Thirdly, the competition is only increasing. The amount of streaming providers popping up is scary. Netflix, Disney+, TelkomOne, BritBox, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Google Play and VIU, just to name a few, are all eating away at what used to be a strong and healthy audience," Chris Botha says.

"Then there are also issues with the TAMS (Television Audience Measurement Survey) panel balance that is being addressed at the moment."

Competition will only increase

Chris Botha says South Africa's linear TV audience erosion is a big concern for the entire industry.

"The Advertising Media Forum (AMF) has engaged with the BRCSA (Broadcast Research Council of South Africa) to address the drop in TV ratings - not only for the SABC but for TV broadcasts as a whole," he says.

"Our clients are investing millions of rands to reach consumers, and when the investment delivers a subpar return, everyone gets twitchy."

"As an industry we do well when the SABC does well. They remain South Africa's biggest media owner, so we are actively working with them as best we can to try and mitigate the circumstances."

"However, things like load shedding is completely and entirely out of our control, so we have to make due with what we have."

Chris Botha says "the world of broadcast television is rapidly changing".

"The consumer will never have fewer choices than what they have right now. The competition is only increasing. Loadshedding might go away. DTT will eventually settle audiences down. The TAMS panel will be balanced. But competition is here to stay."

"The SABC and other terrestrial broadcasters need to make a plan to compete with the OTT suppliers like Netflix, MultiChoice's Showmax and Amazon Prime Video - otherwise the slide in audience and revenue will only continue." 

Trying to stem losses

Since early July, TVwithThinus asked the SABC repeatedly for comment on various questions pertaining to the SABC's falling TV ratings for SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3.

The SABC was asked whether its audience erosion is a concern, what the broadcaster is making about Eskom's electricity blackouts, e.tv's ratings rise since viewers without analogue access are sitting over e.tv which hasn't switched off its analogue signals, what the SABC's plan and strategy is for ratings stabilisation and what the impact of payback and make-good ads are when the SABC is unable to deliver promised ratings during which ad spots were sold. 

Ndindi Cola, SABC spokesperson, declined to answer any of the specific questions and told TVwithThinus in a general statement that "The SABC has a mitigation plan in place to improve its audience and market share, however the internal strategies cannot be shared in the public domain, but the public will see the results in the future industry ratings".

TV RATINGS June 2022: SABC2's tired Muvhango loses half a million viewers as e.tv shines brighter.

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). 

TV RATINGS April 2022: e.tv loses a million viewers as its audience shut their eyes for The Black Door, revived Big Brother Mzansi ends as DStv's 9th most-watched.

by Thinus Ferreira 

Viewers fled the debut of e.tv's risque new sex-scene filled local telenovela The Black Door in April, with e.tv that lost a shocking one million viewers in a month during prime time after switching the 21:30-timeslot from Imbewu to the Black Brain Pictures produced show.

Elsewhere in April's South African TV ratings, instead of sinking, Titanic came to SABC3's rescue, SABC2's ratings decline continues and Biggie's live broadcast bye-bye on Mzansi Magic was only DStv's 9th most-watched show.

The big ratings shocker of the month is on e.tv, where, after its April debut, The Black Door managed to lure what would seem to be a respectable 2.44 million viewers (6.33 AR / 35.1 share) after it took over Imbewu's 21:30-timeslot.

In context, however, the 2.4 million viewers for The Black Door are a shocking plunge of one million viewers in the timeslot where Imbewu still got 3.44 million viewers in March. e.tv's audience share of the timeslot also drop from 42.6% in March, to 35% in April.

Imbewu itself also got damaged in the new timeslot that show got shunted to, still luring 2.86 million viewers in April in the 21:30-timeslot before it was moved earlier and then dropped. 

Also quite telling: The Black Door's TV rating of 2.44 million in April is lower than Durban Gen's 2.75 million viewers in April on e.tv - a show that e.tv has decided to cancel. 

Elsewhere on the red letter channel, Scandal! was up further from 4.89 to 5.27 million viewers retaining its title in April as e.tv's most-watched show, followed by House of Zwide also up from 4.3 to 4.58 million viewers - the show's highest TV rating since it launched on the channel in July 2021.

While e.tv's eNews TV bulletin at 20:00 continued strong and stable with 1.92 million viewers in April, eNCA's South Africa Tonight simulcast on e.tv at 19:00 made a good showing with 1.67 million viewers.

Scheduling the drama series Is'phindiselo which was originally meant to be an eVOD streaming service exclusive on Sunday nights, is paying off handsomely for e.tv and lured 1.74 million viewers. Viewers also love e.tv's Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish telenovelas with Droomverlore grabbing a strong 1.66 million viewers in the 17:30-timeslot. 

SABC1's mixed bag 

On SABC1 the channel and the country's most-watched show sagged from its 7 million viewers in March to 6.4 million viewers for Uzalo in April, with Generations - The Legacy that remained flat at 5.56 million viewers.

Skeem Saam edged up slightly to 4.096 million from 4.040 million viewers in March, while Selimathunzi rose from 1.87 million to 2.15 million viewers during April. The Zulu TV news had 2.62 million viewers, while 2.6 million tuned in for the Xhosa TV news.

SABC2's ratings slide continues

SABC2's ongoing ratings slide continued in April as the channel starts to mirror the beginning of the troubles that led to SABC3's ratings problems. 

From just three shows left with over one million viewers in March, SABC2 further deteriorated to just two shows with more than a million eyeballs.

Muvhango as the most-watched show on SABC2 declined from 3.3 million to 3.28 million in April, while Hlala Kwabafileho at 1 066 447 viewers was the only other show to get more than a million viewers on the channel.

The Venda series Giyani dropped from 1 026 424 viewers in March to 987 098 viewers in April. 7de Laan remained stable at 897 739 viewers compared with 897 861 in March. 

The Afrikaans TV news improved from 595 955 to 649 046 viewers, while the latest season of the Afrikaans travelogue show Voetspore pulled a respectable 499 996 viewers to the channel in the 19:00 timeslot.

Morning Live continues to shine with 482 301 viewers.

SABC3 gets Titanic support

Titanic as a Saturday movie lifted SABC3's sinking ratings in April as the most-watched piece of programming and pulling the channel up from March's 576 562 viewers to higher viewer waters with 793 301 viewers.

Another film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, also helped lift S3 with 630 920 viewers as the month's second most-watch content. Even the English TV news at 18:00 was up from 440 491 to 524 295 viewers in April.

The channel's mix of BBC documentaries, films and variety shows had viewers tuning in for Serengeti (559 490), The Masked Singer (429 838), A Perfect Planet: Oceans (394 972), Britain's Got Talent: The Champions (375 071), The Shape of Water (349 121), and Water for Elephants (335 628).

Biggie's goodbye placed 9th on DStv

MultiChoice and M-Net's revival of Big Brother Mzansi showed slight improvement for its Sunday night finale on 3 April with 752 573 DStv subscribers who tuned to Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) but the live broadcast still ended as only the 9th most-watched show on DStv for the month.

It caps a disappointing ratings season for the reality show during which the channel lost 25% of its DStv audience on Sunday nights - roughly 400 000 viewers less than what the channel used to get in the timeslot before Big Brother Mzansi and the ratings-damaged 17th season of Idols occupied it.

Gomora on Mzansi Magic remained the most-watched show on DStv during April and grew a bit from 1.063 million to 1.27million DStv viewers, with The Queen which also grew a bit again from 814 637 to 1 077 302 viewers.

The River on 1 Magic (DStv 103) also grew from 707 169 to 804 304 viewers, as did Umndeni on Moja Love (DStv 157) from 514 116 to 613 948. The latest season of Housekeepers pulled 497 549 viewers, while Diep City improved from 655 496 to 829 222 viewers.

South Africa's TV industry set for worst ratings damage ever in 2022 due to Eskom's electricity blackouts and analogue signals switch-off.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's television industry and broadcasters - already struggling with sagging TV ratings due to millions of TV households getting cut off from the ability to receive TV signals in the government's switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television - are facing the worst TV ratings damage ever in 2022 because of Eskom's debilitating electricity blackouts.

Bloomberg reports that South Africa is set for the worst year of power cuts as the country's decrepit Eskom power stations continue to fail and that at the current rate of Eskom electricity blackouts, South Africa is on track to have a record Eskom electricity blackout year in 2022.

Eskom's euphemistically called "load-shedding" has an immediate and destructive impact on South Africa's Television Audience Measurement Survey (TAMS) system, with Eskom's rolling power blackouts wiping millions of viewers and TV households from the measurement grid whenever the struggling monopoly power utility is forced to start stages of unplanned power cuts in the country.

Eskom is on track to exceed the annual record for staged electricity cuts, according to South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. 

The record Eskom load-shedding will therefore translate to record TV ratings damage which is monitored by Nielsen SA and the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA).

Besides Eskom power cuts wiping millions of TV households from the ratings grid and affecting everyone - from pay-TV operators like China's StarTimes operating as StarSat and MultiChoice's DStv, to the SABC and eMedia's e.tv and Openview - the country's broadcasters are also seeing viewers evaporate in the government's push to switch off analogue Sentech signals.

eMedia has once again taken South Africa's minister of communications to court over her suddenly rushed analogue signals switch-off schedule, while the SABC's TV ratings has started to sag from month-to-month over the past half a year since Sentech signal distribution got cut in province after province, with decreases in viewership in turn affecting advertising revenue.

TV RATINGS February 2022: The Queen's ratings crown slips as DStv falls below 1 million viewers, SABC2 has a growing ratings problem and e.tv's prime time news shines.

by Thinus Ferreira

During February DStv's linear viewership fell to below 1 million viewers for the first time in six years since July 2016, Mzansi Magic's The Queen shed a third of its audience, SABC2 has a growing ratings problem, while e.tv's flagship English TV news bulletin at 20:00 is steadily becoming appointment television.

South Africa's February TV ratings delivered further evidence of how SABC viewership is eroding and e.tv is growing while analogue transmitters are being switched off in the rush to end the digital migration process.

As South Africa's department of communications and digital technologies and the signal distributor Sentech are on a rushed province-by-province switch-off spree of analogue transmitters, the overall TV ratings of SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 all sagged further in February, while e.tv - keeping its transmitters on - is showing ongoing ratings growth.

On SABC1, Uzalo with 6.67 million viewers (Jan: 6.99) and Generations - The Legacy with 5.26 million viewers (Jan: 5.3) were still the channel and the country's two most-watched shows but were both down from January.

e.tv's Scandal at 4.98 million viewers was that channel's most-watched show in February and South Africa's third most-watched show on television.

e.tv is doing so well in the red letter channel's ratings growth, that House of Zwide with 4.05 million viewers and Imbewu with 3.88 million viewers in February, are now both pulling far more viewers than anything on the entire SABC3 and even SABC2 where that channel's perennial top-performer, Muvhango with 3.3 million viewers in February is far less than the 3.95 million viewers it had in January.

How low SABC3 will go is anybody's guess with the channel's ratings that continue to be in freefall. In February SABC3's best number was again lower, plunging further to just 490 709 viewers at most, again down from January's 652 702 and December's 491 171.

SABC3's troubled telenovela The Estate had at most a measly 296 682 viewers at 19:00 during primetime in February, again down from January's paltry 312 382 that makes a production break or cancellation almost a certainty.

Mister Right finds ratings

On SABC1 Skeem Saam dropped from 3.93 million viewers to 3.82 million viewers in February, while the Zulu news bulletin continued its growth from 2.46 million viewers to 2.6million viewers.   

The Xhosa TV news on SABC1 was also up from 2.3 million viewers to 2.54 million viewers. The Siswati/Ndebele TV news made a showing as the 19thh most-watched piece of programming on SABC1 during February with 1.45 million viewers.

The new reality show, 13 Weeks to Find Mister Right made a great debut on SABC1 with 1.55 million viewers.

SABC2 has a problem

SABC2 has a growing ratings problem under the surface. 

While Muvhango lured over 3 million viewers as the most-watched show on the channel, followed by the 2022 State of the Nation Address (2.5 million viewers), a behind-the-scenes insert of new show Ou Toppies (1.4 million viewers), the 2022 Budget Speech (1.28 million viewers) and Giyani (1.12 million viewers), only these five pieces of programming managed to lure more than a million viewers during February to SABC2.

The rest of the SABC2's top 20 schedule is languishing between 824 566 and a shockingly low 440 633 viewers. 

Just a few years ago, even the now-struggling SABC3 had more viewers and higher ratings for its top shows than what SABC2 has now if the veneer of top shows are scraped away.

People will watch news at 8

While TV news isn't about ratings but a public service, decent and strong ratings helps and e.tv has a lot to smile about with its flagship English TV news bulletin berthed in the 20:00-timeslot where the SABC years ago said viewers no longer want to watch news. 

It turns out they do.

The strong and stable e.tv News bulletin at 20:00 solidified its position as appointment television further in February, climbing further from 1.7 to 1.99 million viewers in February. That is just a tad fewer viewers than e.tv's Durban Gen prime time soap which grabbed 2.16 million viewers during February.

In contrast, the English TV news on SABC3 at 18:00 - the broadcaster's flagship TV news bulletin - lured just 409 579 viewers.

The Queen comes down

On pay-TV, MultiChoice's linear DStv audience slipped below 1 million viewers for the first time since mid-2016 with 942 293 DStv subscribers that tuned to Gomora on M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) in February as the most-watched show on DStv for the month, down from the 1.16 million who watched in January.

The Queen, from Ferguson Films also on Mzansi Magic, which officially got its cancellation notification, shed an eye-popping third (-30.9%) of its audience in just a month, plummeting from 1 096 713 viewers in January to 757 333 in February.

A Big Brother Mzansi highlights show on Mzansi Magic, putting it in 10th place for the month, eked out a disappointing 487 770 viewers on 13 February, the most viewers the reality show managed to muster.

The River (733 559 to 560 428), Diep City (698 085 to 637694), Mnakwethu (909 194 to 457 619), The Republic (768 592 to 531 246) and Our Perfect Wedding (798 792 to 511 282) all took a tumble during February on DStv.

Umndeni on Moja Love (DStv 157) was also down from 603 097 to 482 880 viewers in February.

TV RATINGS SEPTEMBER 2021. From Idols and The Estate to SABC3 and Cyril Ramaphosa the TV star: 9 latest SA TV ratings must-knows.

by Thinus Ferreira

While The Estate on the struggling SABC3 keeps plunging in the ratings and the latest season of Idols on Mzansi Magic failed to regain its ratings sheen, South Africa's September TV ratings revealed several interesting viewership insights as the SABC's TV channels keep losing viewers and SABC3 fell to another new all-time viewership low.

1. When Scandal! is on, 1 in every 2 people watches

In September the public broadcaster's SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 TV channels all lost ratings share with all three channels seeing a slight viewership and share decrease while the country's only free-to-air commercial broadcaster e.tv managed to increase its ratings.

Uzalo remains the most-watched TV show in South Africa, of the SABC and on SABC1 although it gave up viewers in September, slightly falling from 7.64 million in August to 6.87million viewers in September.

SABC1's perennial second and third place shows, Generations - The Legacy with 5.96 million viewers and Skeem Saam with 5.03 million viewers on SABC1 were slightly off from their August audiences.

e.tv's primetime soap Scandal! now holds the solid third place as South Africa's most watched TV show with 5.74 million viewers and a 48.3 share. It means that half of the available TV audience have their TV's tuned to Scandal! at 19:30 on a weeknight.

Scandal!'s lead-in, House of Zwide at 19:00 on e.tv held steady in September with 4.43 million viewers.

2. Cyril Ramaphosa - the presidential TV star

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa remains a South African TV star. 

His prime time presidential address on 12 September announcing the country's move to Lockdown Level 2 lured 2.53 million viewers on SABC2 and an additional 2.03 million viewers on e.tv.

Besides those viewers watching on SABC News, eNCA and Newzroom Africa pushing the combined total even higher, means that he pulled a bigger audience than Muvhango in September that was SABC2's most-watched show with 3.69 million viewers. 

On SABC1 the Zulu TV news bulletin was watched by 3.25 million viewers and the Xhosa TV news by 3.03 million viewers as the 4th and 5th most-watched programming in the channel.

3. The Estate finds better TV real estate on SABC1

After starting repeats of old episodes of The Estate on SABC1 from September, the repurposed SABC3 weekday soap lured 2.4 million viewers in its 19:30 timeslot with a 21.8 share - roughly the same as when uBettina Wethu was airing in the same timeslot. 

The Estate's ratings fortune however continue to sink in its airing of first-run episodes on SABC3.

On SABC2 its Afrikaans weekday soap 7de Laan held steady in September at 1.09 million viewers, with the Setswana TV news pulling in 726 229 viewers during September, followed by the Afrikaans TV news with 703 432 viewers, and the Venda/Tsonga TV news with 607 324 viewers.

4. Morning Live keeps shining

SABC2's Morning Live breakfast show lured 602 002 viewers in September - more than some prime time shows like Speak Out at 572 545 on SABC2 or anything shown on SABC3, showing how valuable and lucrative the real estate of morning shows are to broadcasters as a coveted advertiser TV destination.

5. SABC3 and Con Air

The SABC's TV channel on life-support, SABC3, continues to bleed and remains in a very bad and deteriorating condition. 

Strip out the once-off football match between Bafana Bafana against Ghana in Qatar on 6 September that lured 1.03 million viewers as SABC3's most watched piece of content for the month and SABC3 once again sagged to a new all-time low of 673 524 viewers at most for the film Con Air on 5 September. 

This 673 524 viewers - the most SABC3 could garner for September besides the soccer match, is down further from SABC3's August highest audience of 733 963 for a Costa Rica nature documentary.

The English TV news bulletin on SABC3 at 18:00 lured 387 841 viewers - a far cry from e.tv's well-performing etv News bulletin at 20:00 that pulled 1.65 million viewers in September and the 1.52 million viewers who watched the eNCA-simulcast South Africa Tonight at 19:00 on e.tv.

6. The Estate in terminal first-run decline

With truly shocking viewership numbers it won't come as any surprise if The Estate on SABC3 produced by Clive Morris Productions gets cancelled like the channel did with High Rollers, is shifted permanently to SABC1 as a first-run show where it now airs as repeats since September, or is moved out of the shark-infested TV waters of 19:00.

Viewership for the expensive to produce series literally fell of the ratings cliff in September as its ratings keeps sliding lower month after month since its debut.

While The Estate still managed 300 738 viewers in August - up against the incredibly damaging House of Zwide on e.tv - the show literally disappeared in September and no longer shows up as one of the 20 most-watched shows on SABC3. 

It means that The Estate plunged below the 291 793 viewers that an episode of Challenge SOS pulled in 20th position.

The talk show Unpacked with Relebogile that still had 304 444 viewers in August (more than The Estate and much cheaper to produce) also disappeared from SABC3 in September.

7. Deur Dik en Dun: e.tv's solid MVP TV bench

At e.tv the ratings life-signs are strong and stable - the life-blood for ad planners and buyers who must project and "guestimate" future viewership based on past and current viewership patterns.

Besides Scandal! and House of Zwide, Imbewu with 3.83 million viewers in third place and Durban Gen in 4th with 2.33 million viewers are the other two most valuable players in e.tv's top-4 TV bench.

Family Feud SA from Rapid Blue held stead at just over 2 million viewers in 5th place. 

The Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish drama telenovela Deur Dik en Dun continues to shine with a whopping 1.67 million loyal viewers, with e.tv's strategy of customising Turkish telenovelas that is paying off handsomely.

8. Idols stays damaged

On DStv local reality drama continues to be the flavour of the month but viewers although hundreds of thousands of viewers are still not in the mood to return to Idols in the aftermath of the Somizi Mhlongo scandal. 

Time will tell whether Idols in South Africa is permanently damaged and has started the ratings slide that eventually grabbed hold of American Idol in America.

In September the lurid cheater's expose reality series Uyajola 9/9 on Moja Love (DStv 157) surged to the top of the DStv ratings pile where Idols used to reign, grabbing 1.58 million DStv subscribers. Gomora on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) followed in second place with 1.15 million viewers, and with The Queen in third with 1.02 million viewers. 

Idols, produced by [SIC] Entertainment and now in the Top 10 Sunday live performances period of the 17th season, managed only 709 655 viewers at most during the month for the 19 September episode - very slightly up from August's 693 760 as only the 9th most watched show on DStv. 

It's quite a fall for the series that reigned supreme in the ratings during previous seasons during this phase of the competition.

9. DStv sees new Giants rise

Other DStv stand-out include the little show that could, Giants of the City, on Moja Love pulling 791 241 viewers in September, showing strong growth from August's 604 503 viewers. 

MultiChoice's top 30 most watched shows in September all came from just 3 TV channels: M-Net's Mzansi Magic and Mzansi Wethu, as well as Siyaya TV's Moja Love.

South Africa's October 2021 TV ratings damaged as Eskom announces that rolling electricity blackouts will continue for at least a week.

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.

South Africa's TV ratings set to tank in suddenly rushed digital migration plan: TAMS and e.tv warn millions of TV households will be wiped away and lose access, severely damaging TV biz and advertisers.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's TV ratings are set to tank. 

That's the stark warning from the custodian body of South Africa's TAMS TV ratings system, as well as e.tv, raising red flags over the government's suddenly rushed plan to complete its long-delayed digital TV migration plan to switch off all analogue signal transmitters by February 2022.

This suddenly rushed plan will leave millions of TV households without any television access, will severely damage the entire South African TV ecosystem, advertisers, cause TV ratings to crater while it leaves millions of viewers without access to television news content.

On Tuesday, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, South Africa's latest minister of communications and digital technologies, announced the latest amended rushed plan to flip the kill switch on all remaining analogue signal transmitters in the country's 9 provinces within the next 3 months.

eMedia Holdings that says the plan is not practical and extremely damaging, has now filed papers in the High Court to attempt to stop Khumbudzo Ntshavheni's latest digital terrestrial television (DTT) plan for a 31 January 2022 hard switch-off of analogue signals.

Although the South African government more than a decade ago promised that analogue TV signals in South Africa won't be switched off before all TV households haven't been switched over to digital terrestrial television (DTT), the government will now take television reception away from millions of TV households in South Africa.

These viewers will no longer be able to watch or listen to any content on any SABC TV channels or radio stations, e.tv, or community TV stations in the country as they lose analogue TV signals but don't yet have the means of receiving digital TV signals.

These millions of TV households are part of South Africa's TV ratings system that TV channels use to set advertising rates according to TAMS viewership figures. The result is that these TV households will disappear in large swathes when analogue signals are turned off.

Millions of South African TV households still watch television using analogue TV signals and haven't bought digitally-capable TV sets, or are poor households that haven't received the free government-subsidised set-top box (STV) for DTT because of corruption and incompetence, industry-in-fighting and ongoing delays in the country's digital migration process that had severely hampered and delayed the process for a decade and a half.

Over the past decade, TVwithThinus had reported numerous times - as lately as March this year - about the looming danger that analogue transmitters in South Africa will be switched off before all TV households have been migrated that will inflict massive damage on free-to-air broadcasters who depend on ratings and advertising revenue, advertisers, as well as the TV ratings system.

Analogue signal hard kill: Millions of viewers left in the dark

Khalik Sherrif, Media Holdings CEO, in an interview on eNCA (DStv 403), said Media and e.tv don't agree with the suddenly changed and rushed plan to switch off all analogue TV signals by the end of March 2022 "because we don't believe it's achievable at all".

"Analogue switch-off must happen," he said, "but in the way it's being rushed now, it is absolutely unachievable to do this by January 2022." 

He said there's an STB shortage with decoders that are not available, there's a microchip shortage around the world in all industries depending on chipsets, and that there are big questions around the logistics on installations.

"How is it going to be done? 5.6 million TV households in this country rely on analogue transmission," Khalik Sherrif said. "You need to do 500 000 boxes a month to meet the January deadline. It's not going to happen. Absolutely not." He said that eMedia's plan and suggested for the government's amended DTT plan has not been heard.

"This is an absolute problem for the country. There are people who are going to be left in the dark. There's going to be no television available to many millions of households and that's the problem."

He said that "more than 50% of people in this country watching television are watching it through analogue. 

SA's TV ratings: Warning of severe impact

Gary Whitaker, Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) CEO, warned that South Africa's TV population will decline and that the country's TV ratings will tank if analogue signals are switched off before all viewers have migrated, with massive implications for the TV industry and advertisers. 

South Africa's TV universe is roughly 15.9 million TV households.

The passive TV households forming part of the TAMS panel are just over 3000 TV households that represent the almost 16 million TV households in the country. 

TAMS also measures analogue TV viewing, with 28% of the households in the TAMS panel who are analogue viewers and who represent 5.6 million TV households.

"TAMS reflects what is actually happening in the market. If analogue signals go off, anyone in our panel that loses their signal, we don't throw them out of our panel - they stay on - and they get measured as nil viewing. Zero viewing. Their viewership cannot be traded as a currency. The broadcasters cannot make money."

Gary Whitaker said that "the deadline as it stands now - we know that's there's going to be a severe impact on free-to-air channels".

He said that if there is a hard switch-off of analogue transmitters in South Africa wiping away millions of viewers "we have to abide by what's happening in the market and we will be agile as far as we can. If there is a switch-off by March 2022 that's when we will enact our plan to establish a new TV universe that will take into consideration fewer TV viewers. The TV population will decline." 

DTT: Free-to-air broadcasting in jeopardy

Khalik Sherrif said that the government's plan for a sudden hard switch-off of analogue signals within months will have a massive negative impact on free-to-air broadcasters like community TV stations, the SABC, e.tv and others.

"Free-to-air broadcasters make their money from advertising. Now you switch off everybody on a date. Hard switch-off. Viewers won't be measured. Advertisers will be disappointed. Marketers will pull away. Free-to-air broadcasting in the country stands in jeopardy because we lose our businesses," Khalik Sherrif said.

He said there must be a planned approach with Media suggesting a timeframe of 15 to 18 months - not 5 months.

Khalik Sheriff said that it's not just eMedia that will be impacted but all of free-to-air broadcasting in South Africa. "What is the recourse? We have to go to the court. There's no other way. We're definitely not partnering with the department of communications on this matter".

In the court affidavit eMedia filed in court, Antonio Lee, eMedia COO, states that "very recent events have raised alarm bells regarding the process that the minister and Icasa intend to follow to achieve analogue switch-off".

"The so-called 'fast-tracking of digital migration at a 'rapid speed' - without the preconditions for a lawful digital migration process having been achieved - fundamentally threatens e.tv's ability to continue to reach the majority of its audience".

"It also threatens the rights of the public to have access to free-to-air television from either the SABC or e.tv - both of which use analogue spectrum for the purposes of broadcasting their programmes."

"Around 23.5 million viewers in South Africa watch e.tv on average each month. This equates to approximately 6.7 million households in which e.tv is viewed."

"Given than 58% of these households are dependent on the analogue broadcasting of e.tv's news and programming, an analogue switch-off would deny some 13.6 million viewers in South Africa the opportunity to view the broadcasting of the only source of free-to-air independent television news and information programming."

"Many of these viewers are among those who do not have sufficient economic resources to afford digital subscription platforms such as DStv, and who cannot afford to purchase sufficient data to stream news and programming via mobile networks."

"To comply with constitutional obligations and public promises, before digital migration can be completed, the government must ensure that these 13.6 million viewers are provided with the necessary equipment, be it set-top boxes and/or reception devices, to continue to receive these broadcasts."

"e.tv has calculated that an additional 3.9 million set-top boxes are still to be provided to its viewers to achieve this purpose."

ALSO READ: South Africa's TV ratings system and broadcasters risk damage in new monthly analogue TV hard switch-off approach as signal transmitters are shut down in provinces before all viewers have switched to DTT or received set-top boxes.

ALSO READ: e.tv and the SABC silent over the drop-off danger and the threat of disappearing audiences in South Africa's digital terrestrial TV switch-over.

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