Last month Uzalo, Generations and Skeem Saam were nowhere to be seen on SABC2 and 3's
January Top 20 TAMS lists when the three soapies moved from SABC1 during AFCON.
Now, suddenly, they're at the top of the lists on both channels for February.
This means that their viewership plunged by MILLIONS from Monday, 16 January (when they moved to SABC2 and 3) to Tuesday, 31 January and then shot back up by MILLIONS from Wednesday, 1 February to Friday, 3 February, which is when their run ended on SABC2 and 3.
Which is extremely unlikely and highly suspicious.
When the three soapies
failed to appear on SABC2 and 3's lists in January TVSA asked the Broadcast Research Council (BRC), who compile the TAMS, if they were excluded from the SABC2 or 3 lists for any reason and the BRC's Research Director Setshwano Setshogo assured us that they weren't purposely left out.
And now all three have made the Top 20 lists. But only in February.
This means that the only conclusion we can come to is that the BRC's compilation of the numbers is dodgy and misrepresentative of what happened in January or February or both.
All we can do is speculate about what happened instead of looking at the numbers for research and clarity, which is what these numbers are supposed to provide. It makes it impossible for a researcher to use the Top Shows lists for a thesis.
When it comes to numbers, every detail is crucial so there can't be discrepancies and the fact that there's such a big one undermines the integrity of the numbers.
When you speculate about what happened your mind moves to dark places and you wonder... if the January lists were incorrect, why has no-one bothered to correct them? If they weren't, why have they suddenly changed? What's going on with the numbers that we can't see?
These are dark places dear reader. Places we don't want to go but this is what happens when numbers don't add up. It has a dramatic impact on the television landscape because it gives a distorted picture.
We suspect that the February numbers are closer to the truth than January because of how extreme the plunge in numbers was last month but there's no way of being certain so please read the numbers at your own risk.
Besides this situation, you'll see that there are other discrepancies. Mzansi Magic's Lockdown has been included twice in DStv's Top 30 list. It's the only show to be included twice while every other show is only included once, except for repeats. It's described as a Movie in its first mention and it changes to a Drama in its second.
Isidingo also appears twice, but is listed as an Omnibus and a Movie in the second mention, which is impossible because it aired on a Wednesday night for half an hour. This happened last month too.
The fact that these two are mentioned twice, means that the shows that should have been in 20th and 30th positions on each list respectively, have been left off, which further distorts the picture and makes it unfair for the shows that have been excluded.
Also notable: SABC1's Sunday night drama Ingozi has over 3 million viewers while Zaziwa is nowhere to be seen on SABC1's Top 20 list after its move to Sunday nights which means it has plunged from its 3.5 million viewers in January.
But has it?
These are the lists... if you can't see the listing below, then click this link to access them in a document instead:
Top shows on TV: February 2017.
If you're unable to see either of the above documents, this is an overview of the Top 5 shows for each channel/broadcaster:
SABC1
| Show |
Viewers |
| Uzalo |
8,465,238 |
| Generations the Legacy |
7,899,533 |
| Skeem Saam |
6,165,428 |
| Vodacom Millionaires |
4,248,581 |
| Metro FM Awards |
4,840,173 |
SABC2
| Show |
Viewers |
| Uzalo |
7,199,425 |
| Lotto Draw Live |
6,274,021 |
| Muvhango |
6,146,842 |
| Skeem Saam |
4,353,487 |
| Ngwanaka Ngwanaka O Kae |
3,106,857 |
SABC3
| Show |
Viewers |
| Generations the Legacy |
4,066,565 |
| Top Billing |
1,634,695 |
| The Exes |
1,303,772 |
| Isidingo:the Need |
1,159,139 |
| Momentum One Day Internat |
1,004,551 |
e.tv
| Show |
Viewers |
| Scandal |
4,460,791 |
| The Expandables 2 |
3,130,952 |
| The Expandables |
3,116,529 |
| Rhythm City |
3,052,353 |
| Big Momma's House |
3,040,150 |
DStv
| Show |
Viewers |
| Isibaya |
1,153,522 |
| Our Perfect Wedding |
1,081,050 |
| Saints and Sinners |
860,420 |
| Date My Family |
741,991 |
| Lockdown |
699,191 |