Top Shows on TV: April 2019

Written by TVSA Team from the blog Primetime TV Viewing Figures on 15 May 2019
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These are the primetime adult television viewing figures for April 2019.

If you can't see the listing below, then click this link to access them in a document instead: Top Shows on TV: April 2019.

Special notes

Giyani: Land of Blood

SABC2's new Xitsonga series reached 1,792,527 viewers for its most popular episode in its debut month.

What does this mean?

1. By way of comparison: SABC2's Keeping Score, which aired in the same timeslot, attracted 2,173,552 viewers for its most popular episode in its debut month in October 2016.

Important to note is that there was no other competition in the timeslot at the time i.e. e.tv's Imbewu:The Seed hadn't started yet.

2. Imbewu debuted with 2,772,046 viewers in April 2018, which grew to 4,395,904 viewers by December 2018.

And now it's dropped to just under 4-million viewers this month - the first time since it reached over 4-mil.

Viewership has decreased by 235,564 viewers between March 2019 and April. It seems Giyani's made an impact.

What will happen next? The month of May will be the real test.

If you're unable to see either of the above TAMS documents, this is an overview of the Top 5 shows for each channel/broadcaster:

Show	Viewers
Uzalo	9,084,947
Generations: The Legacy	8,440,205
Skeem Saam	7,918,501
Xhosa News	4,868,583
Nyan Nyan	4,721,321

SABC2

Show	Viewers
Muvhango	5,237,053
7de Laan	2,581,668
Live Lotto Draw	2,065,486
Giyani	1,792,527
Nuus	1,557,500

SABC3

Show	Viewers
Isidingo:the Need	844,226
Safari Live	788,834
Mela	523,743
The Emirates Fa Cup:Watford vs Wolverham	523,255
John Carter	515,535

e.tv

Show	Viewers
Scandal	5,883,937
The Karate Kid	4,385,240
Rhythm City	4,310,824
Scoop Network	4,222,245
Imbewu: the Seed	3,952,689

DStv

Show	Viewers
The Queen	1,344,463
Isibaya	952,182
Our Perfect Wedding	949,236
The Herd	866,241
Lockdown	802,771

For an explanation of the TAMS, please see: The TAMS Ratings Explained.

Channels in this post: SABC1, SABC2, SABC3, e.tv, Mzansi Magic, SuperSport HD

3 Comments

Timone
16 May 2019 09:38

Timone edited on
5/16/2019 3:07 PM

Well done to Skeem Sam, holding it down on the number 3 spot. The River needs to move to a different channel but I hear that channel 103 is/will also be available on Compact Plus.

Snapple
16 May 2019 13:57

I doubt that opening 103 to Compact Plus subscribers will change much for The River. If anything, I predict that the channel will either be defunct by 2021 or it will be open to Compact subscribers. Honestly speaking, 1Magic does not have good content. The channel might suffer more while the Lindiwe character is on hiatus. The River has built the show too much around her and made the other stories and characters very weak.

SIDENOTE: I wonder if actors/crew/producers on shows airing on Compact Plus and Premium earn a little more than those on Compact. It would make sense, but this is SA.

righteous-one17
31 May 2019 12:07

Well Snappie that depends on the show and it's ratings...in an ideal situation, if the show brings in the views and advertisment space is ripe with the viewers, the show obviously pays the production houses more money to keep the content coming...The production house politics on the other hand? I mean whats stopping them from hiring and firing interns and crew members and issuing out new contracts for the same salary as they are not aware of how much the executives get paid for the show in the first place? Not to mention hiring freelancers as crew members is far cheeper anyway so do they get paid more? Ask the leading actors because let's face it, at the end of the day, the show needs them and replacing actors can be very detrimental so the actors hold more weight in conclusion.

Secondly, Advertisers are also sketchy, Mzansi and 1Magic get the most views out of all DSTV's local content, though the LSM for most viewers can range from 3 to 10, endorsing shows to advertise products to a clientel that would stand a high chance of not affording to buy the products sold...Means they won't risk it, however premium DSTV viewers are almost guranteed to be of rich folk so advertisers can take a chance as clientel is guranteed continuosly as they can afford the products which mean those shows definatley would pay more to work on them than others...

Hope this helps.

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