by Inge Hansen (@mecnotabene) Drama, family, romance, backstabbing, polygamy, treachery, money and lies — these are the golden threads that weave the primetime soapies and telenovelas of the world together. With this in mind, on 2 March 2015, e.tv implemented a primetime lineup change to compete with other local free-to-air channels, grow its audience and ensure that viewers stayed tuned in for longer.
Scheduling changes included moves for popular soaps such as Rhythm City, giving the long-standing lineup a revamp. The most talked-about has been the highly anticipated Ashes to Ashes, which follows the lives of the Namane family, who have created a funeral empire from an inheritance.
Interest and intrigue were built up by e.tv well ahead of the first episode, which was evident on various social media channels.
Debut episode
The first episode of Ashes to Ashes debuted at 6.2 GRPs and reached over 2.6m adult viewers, with the show achieving a 19.44% share within its timeslot. Since the debut, we have seen some settling in viewership patterns, with mid-April episodes attracting 1.6+m viewers at a slightly lower 12.22% share of audience.
The show has gained some traction and positive reviews on social media, with over 3 500 followers on Twitter, and e.tv has recently announced that, from 15 May, viewers may enjoy their fix of the Namane dynasty drama five days a week by extending the show to Fridays.
If one has been paying careful attention to online platforms, however, there has been substantial buzz happening around e.tv’s other new show, Umlilo. The drama was introduced as a local telenovela to follow Ashes to Ashes and keep viewers tuned into e.tv, featuring a gripping plotline of a polygamous city-based household that gets rocked by betrayal and lies.
Speaks volumes to multi-screening
The conversation generated by the show during broadcast speaks volumes to the multi-screening activity that we are seeing increasing, with #Umlilo trending in April on the days that the show was aired.
Broadcast at 9pm, the show has been achieving 12.45% share of adult viewership, reaching an average of 1.2 million viewers over its first seven episodes.
With regards to some of the other schedule changes, the timeslot change that was introduced for Rhythm City has shown improved ratings, with the show now no longer being aired head-to-head with 7de Laan and Skeem Saam. With some instability being seen since June last year, we are now seeing a reach figure of 2m plus adults from mid-March and ratings on the increase.
Ratings buoyancy
In addition, Scandal has seen some ratings buoyancy since the lead-in programme change to Rhythm City on 2 March, with the share of viewership near to 29% for most days in March. For a few select days in April, Scandal also achieved 10+ GRPs against adults, for the first time since October 2014.
At a time when audience fragmentation is a given and loyalty is low, e.tv is providing audiences with a reason to stay tuned with its fresh local programming. The gossip and banter that these shows have created in the social space has also given the broadcaster the opportunity to remind consumers that they, too, have a free local content catch-up channel, E on Demand. This allows your everyday user to register for nothing, catch up on selected shows and view additional content, thereby extending e.tv’s presence into the digital space.
All in all, its early days yet as viewers get to grips with new storylines and broadcast times but, as a major player in our local TV market, e.tv is prepared for the future.
Following two years at Media24 scrubbing for insights within the magazine division, Inge Hansen joined Nota Bene as an A&I analyst in March 2013. Working across multiple clients, including FMCG, alcohol and petroleum, she has the luxury of working with teams to develop robust insights that drive strategy while keeping abreast of media trends the world over. Inge loves having her pulse on the media landscape but far prefers raising her pulse mountain-biking on weekends. She contributes Thinking TV, a monthly analysis of South African TV viewership figures, to MarkLives. Follow @mecnotabene for regular media updates.
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