Soapie smashes TV records
Nkunzi, his wives keep viewers glued to screen
Uzalo’s spellbinding storyline of two women marrying one man at the same time has yielded dramatic results.
The popular SABC1 soapie that airs at 8.30pm weekdays has broken all existing SA television audience records when it clocked 10.2 million viewership. The last time the television industry saw such a high viewership was when Generations: The Lega reached the 10.1 million mark in 2014.
Uzalo is followed by Generations: The Legacy with 8.9 million and Skeem Saam with 7.3 million viewership.
The storyline of MaMlambo and MaNgcobo fighting to marry Nkunzi seemed to have worked wonders when it was flighted in the last week of September.
SABC group executive for TV Nomsa Philiso said the public broadcaster was delighted with the performance of the show.
“The partnership with Stained Glass Productions is one that keeps exceeding all expectations. We are confident that the programme is in line with our strategy of growing audiences and meeting the needs and expectations of the South African public, by delivering on our public service mandate. The SABC remains committed to telling our own stories and delivering on content that continues to educate, entertain and inform our audiences.”
Uzalo’s executive producer Mmamitse Thibedi said: “Words cannot explain how thrilled and grateful we are to hit this milestone. The entire team pulled out the stops to give memorable, enthralling storylines, and audiences responded by keeping their screens locked onto Uzalo.”