by Inge Hansen (@mecnotabene) It’s long been said that we South Africans have the rare ability to laugh at ourselves. Combined with a rich history of almost unlimited material for our local comedians to pick on, it’s no wonder that comedy flourishes with our audiences. Just as well, then, that a good laugh may be compared to a mild workout as it decreases blood pressure and stress hormones, improves sleep patterns and boosts the immune system, according to the Huffington Post.
Since the advent of democracy in 1994, comedy in all forms has continued to thrive and in its wake it has helped to break down stereotypes as comedians tackle taboo subjects such as race, the gender wars and politics. There’s no doubt that this experience — growing up in a political melting pot — helped Trevor Noah become one of SA’s most-famous exports, as the new host of globally known The Daily Show in the US.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
In true style of how South Africans root for our own, the first local broadcast of The Daily Show on Comedy Central with Noah as the host attracted the highest viewership that the channel had achieved since its launch in December 2011: it reached over 350 000 adults (TAMS). Although the ratings have waned somewhat with the passing of time, the show is still a strong audience puller for the channel, with a stronger viewership than long-running comedy stalwart, Saturday Night Live, which didn’t make the top 30 shows in February 2016.
Comedy Central features a host of local comedy, supplemented by popular international sitcoms both old and new, such as Two and a Half Men, Friends, The Simpsons and How I Met Your Mother. One of the more-popular shows is the no. 1 hit in the US at the moment — The Big Bang Theory — which was still sitting in the no. 1 spot for the week of 14 March 2016 with 14.7m US viewers, according to Nielsen.com ratings. However, although the show does well to attract audiences to Comedy Central (reruns included) and features well within the top 10 shows, M-Net still gets the weekly boost of showing the latest available episode, pulling in up to 85 000 adult viewers for an episode in February.
Despite this lineup, Comedy Central has a difficult task in maintaining its share of viewership, which was 0.34% in February 2014 and, even with some recovery in audience, dropped to 0.24% against all adults in February 2016. This is partly due to an increasing population and audience fragmentation, but is also affected by the fact that the channel is only available on Premium and Extra DStv packages. In these tough economic times, growth for DStv is coming from cost-effective channel combinations such as DStv Compact.
Ballpark
Compared to other channels within the DStv bouquet that are also restricted to the more-expensive subscription packages, the prime-time 30” CPP (ratecard) for Comedy Central is just within the ballpark, although overall ratings are competitive.
This brings the reduction of spot buys into focus. In order to maintain brand presence and ensure KPI delivery, packages are increasingly appealing to strategists and planners. These may assist in mitigating the risk of under-delivery on a TV plan due to fluctuating audiences, while also ticking off some unsold inventory. However, this may come at the sacrifice of environment, which in this cluttered space is becoming increasingly important in order to reach consumers with your message.
Primetime 17h00-22h59 |
Feb-16 |
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Channel |
DStv Package |
30″ Investment |
30″ TVR |
30″CPP |
| Comedy Central | Premium, Extra | R 16 129 495 | 399.06 | R 40 418.72 |
| Channel O | Premium, Extra, Compact, Family, Access | R 3 828 030 | 332.71 | R 11 505.61 |
| Discovery Channel | Premium | R 18 936 395 | 479.48 | R 39 493.61 |
| E! Entertainment | Premium, Extra | R 3 603 573 | 141.01 | R 25 555.44 |
| FOX Entertainment | Premium, Extra | R 803 250 | 20.36 | R 39 452.36 |
| HISTORY | Premium, Extra | R 3 207 769 | 80.54 | R 39 828.27 |
| Mzansi Magic | Premium, Extra, Compact | R 77 999 471 | 8 871.58 | R 8 792.06 |
| Nat Geo Wild | Premium, Extra, Compact, Family, Access | R 4 453 015 | 197.61 | R 22 534.36 |
| Sony Max | Premium, Extra, Compact, Family | R 3 412 767 | 92.06 | R 37 071.12 |
| Studio Universal | Premium, Extra, Compact, Family | R 4 429 957 | 122.08 | R 36 287.33 |
| Vuzu Amp | Premium | R 3 723 010 | 148.24 | R 25 114.75 |
*Excluding self promotion
**Dstvi Data
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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Interesting, look at some of the local productions as well as content being produced now by comedians themselves.
Comedy is big, it’s bigger than it’s ever been and in the event space is about to explode.
Biggest thing people need to understand, is their audiences. Because they are massive.