Waikato Times

TVNZ’s ratings heartbreak

- Street Glenn McConnell Island? Love Island Heartbreak Island Heartbreak Island First Sight, Heartbreak Island Bachelor, Love Island Love Love Island Shortland Island MAFS Australia ‘‘Love Heartbreak Island Shortland Street. Married at Firs

Will viewers fall in love with four new seasons of MediaWorks desperatel­y needs them to, but reality romance can be fleeting.

The broadcaste­r is on a mission to find love, money and ratings with a new deal to import three series of the franchise and make a local version. It stole the popular series from TVNZ, which had heralded the show as one of its most successful buys.

Now, TVNZ’s all alone and Three’s owner, MediaWorks, appears to be betting all or nothing on reality romance. Many viewers, of course, will be calling this dating obsession a new low for TV. And while they’re probably right, some of these shows have proven to be a ratings saviour.

The stations have been playing dating games for a long time, in an attempt to lure a younger audience.

MediaWorks has taken that dating strategy to the next level, while TVNZ is undoubtedl­y scrambling to find the next big thing. Insiders say its local alternativ­e, losing the ratings game.

Making successful television is a gamble. Pundits, such as former contestant Harry Jowsey reckon reality television thrives on sex, scandal and marketing. It’s all about finding the right people at the right time.

Programmes like this either hit it off at or, like

and the long gone slowly decompose like one of Jordan Mauger’s discarded roses.

Much was made about the success of last year. TVNZ said the Australian and British versions, screened on TVNZ OnDemand, attracted more than 4.1 million streams, making the shows one of the biggest success stories for the platform. Of the top three streamed shows, series took two spots.

took the other.

Its digital team called the show one of its biggest accomplish­ments of 2018. Despite losing its golden goose to Three, a spokeswoma­n for TVNZ

,is said it wasn’t worried.

is not the only contributo­r to TVNZ OnDemand’s success,’’ she said.

‘‘We establishe­d a strong audience for the programme and we’re proud of that achievemen­t. We’re continuing that momentum this year with more titles joining OnDemand every month.’’

Attempting to capitalise on the internatio­nal phenomenon, TVNZ commission­ed local spinoff ,a loosely fitted copy of the UK juggernaut, made for a New Zealand audience on a Fijian island.

TVNZ’s unique creation doesn’t seem to have paid off. The network isn’t releasing broadcast ratings data for the show, which was pushed back to

9.30pm on TVNZ 2. Season one screened after

It did say, however, that about

8000 people stream each episode on the day it’s released.

Meanwhile, MediaWorks is celebratin­g another television import:

The tried and tested programme, is proving to be the talk of the town. Even though it’s based offshore, MediaWorks says it has been popular with Kiwis.

In its target demographi­c of 25 to 54-year-olds, MediaWorks says

is slaying the ratings game.

‘‘We’re four weeks into season six of

and viewing on ThreeNow is up 22 per cent versus season five, with close to 1.5 million streams so far,’’ a spokeswoma­n says. On television, the network says it gets on average 150,000 viewers aged 25 to 54 each episode.

MediaWorks head of content Andrew Szusterman says

is having a ‘‘zeitgeist effect’’ this season.

‘‘Viewers are determined to stay up to date to participat­e with the very real ‘water cooler’ effect that is sweeping homes and workplaces. Our expectatio­n is that ratings will continue to increase as the season continues.’’

Any way you look at it,

has been a stunning ratings success while its nearest counterpar­t, locally produced has been all but forgotten.

TVNZ was hoping to grow its digital audience, premiering

on its website rather than on television. It’s the same technique it used for

Many viewers will be calling this dating obsession a new low for TV. And while they’re probably right, some of these shows have proven to be a ratings saviour.

Plenty of television autopsies have been carried out on the programme, including by its own alumni.

Season one winner Harry Jowsey thinks the show has the potential to attract massive audiences, but marketing and talent issues hold it back.

He told that this year’s contestant­s were, simply, too boring.

‘‘There’s also a few boring personalit­ies on there, and it’s hard to be invested. I know our year was pretty boring too but we had some big characters,’’ he said.

‘‘They’re also being a lot more reserved this year. I know there is way more sex and way more juice, but they’re being reserved by just implying people are having sex.’’

Between talent issues, a ‘‘juice’’ shortage and perceived marketing restrictio­ns, it seems TVNZ has no easy fix. Maybe there is no way to fix the state broadcaste­r’s broken reality TV heart.

By its sheer quantity of dating shows, Three will conquer the romance market.

What, then, for TVNZ? Without its strongest performing streaming shows, its online endeavour will suffer. OnDemand has been a key focus of the company, with new roles, budgets, marketing campaigns and developers brought on to boost the website.

But content is king, and TVNZ will need to recover from its dash with romance. It’s time to find a new love.

 ??  ?? Love Island UK took the pop culture world by storm last year. MediaWorks has now stolen the series from TVNZ
Love Island UK took the pop culture world by storm last year. MediaWorks has now stolen the series from TVNZ
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand