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Prime time news by the numbers --
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 10:47
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By: Michael Bratt
Prime time television is often viewed as must-have space for advertisers due to the vast audience its programming attracts. But what about prime time news? Are viewership numbers declining or increasing? We took a look at the numbers, with assistance from Deborah Schepers, chief strategy officer of PHD in Johannesburg.
The boring answer to the viewership question is that generally the numbers are neither increasing nor decreasing, and have remained fairly consistent over the past year. The channels covered included SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3, e.tv, eNCA and ANN7. SABC 1 showed slight upward movement, while e.tv saw a slight downward trend around the time the TAMS universe was reweighted to align with the new Establishment Survey (ES).
Schepers says that while these two adjustments are part of a bigger picture, the introduction of the ES probably played a role in these shifts. With a higher weighting efficiency than ever before, the Broadcasting Research Council of South Africa (BRC) has brought the most stable panel in decades to television viewership research in South Africa.
Shifting times of prime time news
During the reviewed year, two SABC stations moved the timeslot of their prime time news. From mid-2016 to 6 Feb 2017, the Afrikaans news on SABC 2 was broadcast from 19h30 20h00. Then it shifted to an hour earlier, airing between18h30 19h00.
Similarly the Sotho news on SABC 2 moved from 18h30 19h00 (mid-2016 to 6 Feb 2017) to 20h00 20h30 (from 6 Feb 2017 onwards).
These two moves were driven by coverage of the African Cup of Nations tournament on the channel.
Independent of Afcon, SABC 3 moved their English news a half hour earlier from 18h30 19h00 (mid-2016 to end of March 2017) to 18h00 18h30 (from beginning of April 2017).
The prime time news on the rest of the channels that were explored remained in a consistent timeslot. However due to Afcon disruptions, the period that the tournament took place, 14 January 5 February, has been removed from the research to retain consistency in channel comparisons.
The winners and losers
In terms of free-to-air channels, SABC 1 is miles ahead of the others in terms of number of viewers for its prime time news. An average weekday prime time news slot in August it delivered 4 336 309 adult 15 viewers at the best rate card cost per point on offer. The viewership number is so high because the channel holds the majority of adult viewers, compared to the others. SABC 2 s Afrikaans news follows in second place, with an average of 1 178 358 adult 15 viewers in the same period, while e.tv s news comes third with an average of 668 164 adult 15 viewers.
It s great to see these numbers It s great to see how strong TV still is, these are not little numbers. Something that s fantastic in South Africa, that you can still get mass reach in one show. There certainly is fragmentation, but there s still that potential, SABC 1 s reach is absolutely breathtaking, says Schepers.
An analysis was also done of LSM 5-7 and LSM 8-10 (both 15 ) for the various channels. SABC 1 attracts more of the former grouping, while eNCA performs well in the upper LSMs, with ANN7 also seeing an increase with the latter grouping. Here is the comparison of the two groupings:
News compared to other prime time programming
When it comes to this comparison, the finding is that news offers a more stable environment than other programming in the 18h00 to 20h30 slot as there are fewer viewership fluctuations driven by programming changes and storylines.
Viewership numbers vs. cost per point
Schepers advises that viewership numbers are probably not the factor that most media planners and buyers are looking at. A lot of us are sitting on cost guarantees so we have to hit certain CPPs and that s all our eye is on. The planners just sort by CPP; they are not even necessarily looking at what they are going into So ratings are less relevant than ratings in the context of cost, she explains.
Her main message is, Prime time is not hugely important. We look for cost efficiency more than anything else. We re looking for the cheapest way to buy an audience and we re focusing on getting reach.
Brands that associate themselves with prime time news
A lot of self-promotion of channels occurs during prime time news advertising, but it is interesting to note other brands that frequent this space. Looking at data from August, insurance company Clientele pops up heavily on SABC 1, followed by Castle Lite, Iwyze Insurance, Pep Stores, Healthy Living Alliance, and OK Bazaars.
SABC 2 s Afrikaans news sees more upper end FCMG products featured, including Sensodyne Toothpaste, Aquafresh, Baby Dove, Voltaren Emulgel, Checkers, Beacon, Handy Andy, Hyundai Tucson, and MTN.
SABC 2 s Sotho/Setswana news brings in advertising from brands such as Edgars, Dettol, Iwyze Insurance, Axe deodorant, Northwest Province, E45 Moisturising Lotion, Aquafresh, Baby Dove and Shield deodorant.
SABC 3 s English news sees many of the same sort of brands targeting its viewers as those on SABC 2: Sensodyne Toothpaste, Danone Yoghurt, Iwyze Insurance, Checkers, Edgars, Voltaren Emulgel, and Turbovite.
e.tv and eNCA have varied brands promoting their goods and services around their prime time news. The top 10 for e.tv include Africa Mobile, OK Bazaars, MTN, Assupol Insurance, Wimpy, Nivea, Shoprite Checkers and Trivago.
eNCA s top 10 advertisers feature in order of greatest spend: Trivago, Audi Q5, Profmed, Auto and General Insurance, Clientele, Hollard funeral cover, and Healthy Living Alliance.
Why prime time advertising is not effective
Schepers cites a study done by Mark Ritson of the London Business School, entitled How Viewers Interact with Ads as a piece of research that explains why prime time a
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