LEADING THE WAY IN 2016
PRIME7 STILL NO.1
IN HISTORIC REGIONAL SWITCH YEAR
RECORDS BIGGEST LEAD EVER
Consistent programs, consistent ratings, and consistently No.1 for PRIME7!
PRIME7 is the regional leader again in 2016, remaining the most watched television Network across New South Wales (including the ACT and Gold Coast) and Victoria for the fourth year in a row.
With the official Television Survey Year concluding Saturday 26th November, results to date show that PRIME7 is the No.1 Regional Network for 2016 with a free-to-air share of 31.4%. NINE Content Affiliates recorded 27.1%, the ABC is in third position with 18.0%, while the TEN Content Affiliates rank fourth with 16.9%. PRIME7 now has its largest lead ever over the opposition, with a record gap of 4.8 points to the nearest competitor.
Commenting on the winning end of year ratings results, PRIME Chief Executive Officer Ian Audsley said, āIn a year which saw a once in a generation change where our competitors switched affiliation agreements, itās great to see that our consistent brand and programming continues to resonate strongly with viewers.ā
ļ· PRIME7 No.1 with 31.4% FTA share
ļ· PRIME7 No.1 for the 4th year in a row
ļ· PRIME7 wins 38 of 40 Survey weeks
ļ· PRIME7 No.1 for Weeknight News
ļ· PRIME7 delivers Top 9 most watched āregular programsā on television in 2016
ļ· MY KITCHEN RULES dominates the ratings landscape
ļ· THE CHASE is the most watched game show in 2016
ļ· SUNRISE is the most watched breakfast program in 2016
ļ· SUNDAY NIGHT is the most watched public affairs program in 2016
ļ· MOLLY is the highest rating mini-series in 2016
ļ· WANTED is the most watched Australian drama series in 2016
ļ· The final series of DOWNTON ABBEY is the most watched international series in 2016
Source: Regional TAM ā Free-to-Air, Northern NSW, Southern NSW and Victoria Combined, Total People, Combined Network Shares, Survey Year To Date, 07.02.16 ā 23.11.16 (excluding Easter 20.03.16 - 02.04.16), 6.00pm ā Midnight, Consolidated Data (includes overnight data 17.11.16 ā 23.11.16)| News: Monday ā Friday, 6.00pm ā 6.30pm |Regular Programs: aired 3 or more times| Rankings based on all day parts
Not to mention a HD simulcast of their main channel (mind you, Seven themselves arenāt much better in that regard but letās not go there right now) and maybe even relaunched local news services to properly compete with SCA Nineās new offerings next year.
The switch to MediaHub is taking place next week. Different markets switching over on different days from what Iāve gathered. It should all be cut across by Thursday the 8th, but your area might cut over a few days sooner than that.
My thoughts are with the 26 people who have a week or less to go in their employment. I was lucky to already be leaving when the decision was made to outsource, but I know how difficult these last few months have been for the people who stayed. They deserve accolades for the work theyāve put in under difficult conditions to continue broadcasting to a wide audience. As for Prime Media, I have always had a soft spot for Prime ever since I was a kid (thereās a signed photo of Ross Symonds around here somewhere from when he was reading Prime Local News in Canberra in the mid-1990s and I was in primary school!), so I wish them well in the long term. I canāt say Iām so kind-hearted about the outsourcingā¦but I hope things work out in the long term one way or another.
While there is more I would like to say, if you scroll up the page a bit youāll find a photo which someone on here found on my Twitter feed (because I forgot that my Facebook cross-posts to Twitter if I make something public on Facebook) from the Olympic soccer broadcast in the days before Rioās opening ceremony. From that you may understand that I have certain contractual obligations to my former employer regarding confidentiality. As such, I think Iāve said all I can say.
I will say this thoughā¦I have better photos of Prime/GWNās pres suite than that one up the page. After the cutover to MediaHub, when those photos become historical and not a potential breach of Prime Mediaās trade secrets, I will consider sharing one or two photos with you all.
Should regional viewers be expecting any surprises this week with Prime moving playout operations to MediaHub?
Iām wondering if 7Flix and/or 7Prime HD might be making an appearance. MediaHub already handles playout of 7Flix for Seven so it shouldnāt be too much of a stretch to expect them to provide the channel to Primeās regional viewers.
I think Iāve only watched a couple of episodes of Good Times on 7Flix since the channel started on Seven in February. It will be nice to have the channel as an option when visiting family around the south coast over Christmas where the extensive programming options I have at home arenāt available.
The latest information on Prime7ās Facebook page is that there is āno further information available at this timeā (as of 26 November). Compare that with previous responses, which went to some lengths to highlight the fact that Prime7 had not entered into negotiations with the Seven Network to make 7Flix or HD capability available.
Iām not sure how long affiliation broadcast deals take to draft, negotiate, and finalise, but this is the advice Prime7 has provided since early October. A January rollout would translate to three months of negotiations, and around four weeks of piloting/QA of playout from MediaHub.
This may be ambitious, however - there is no channel 66 in regional NSW as of yet, and I would expect Prime7 to take 7ās lead and make Flix available on this channel.
Will be interesting to see what on air tweaks we see with the move to Media Hub, feeling sad for the employees losing there job I would hate to be in that situation and feel for anyone who isā¦
try getting a capture of before the gladiator movie as I saw a classification warning (full screen one ) as I saw one on prime7 so gwn7 might do the same
Does anyone know why Prime ended up in Canberra as their base for playout in the first place? Wouldnāt they have had existing sites at their heritage stations to develop into their network base.
