by Thinus Ferreira 

Viewers fled the debut of e.tv’s risque new sex-scene filled local telenovela The Black Door in April, with e.tv that lost a shocking one million viewers in a month during prime time after switching the 21:30-timeslot from Imbewu to the Black Brain Pictures produced show.

Elsewhere in April’s South African TV ratings, instead of sinking, Titanic came to SABC3’s rescue, SABC2’s ratings decline continues and Biggie’s live broadcast bye-bye on Mzansi Magic was only DStv’s 9th most-watched show.

The big ratings shocker of the month is on e.tv, where, after its April debut, The Black Door managed to lure what would seem to be a respectable 2.44 million viewers (6.33 AR / 35.1 share) after it took over Imbewu‘s 21:30-timeslot.

In context, however, the 2.4 million viewers for The Black Door are a shocking plunge of one million viewers in the timeslot where Imbewu still got 3.44 million viewers in March. e.tv’s audience share of the timeslot also drop from 42.6% in March, to 35% in April.

Imbewu itself also got damaged in the new timeslot that show got shunted to, still luring 2.86 million viewers in April in the 21:30-timeslot before it was moved earlier and then dropped. 

Also quite telling: The Black Door‘s TV rating of 2.44 million in April is lower than Durban Gen‘s 2.75 million viewers in April on e.tv – a show that e.tv has decided to cancel. 

Elsewhere on the red letter channel, Scandal! was up further from 4.89 to 5.27 million viewers retaining its title in April as e.tv’s most-watched show, followed by House of Zwide also up from 4.3 to 4.58 million viewers – the show’s highest TV rating since it launched on the channel in July 2021.

While e.tv’s eNews TV bulletin at 20:00 continued strong and stable with 1.92 million viewers in April, eNCA’s South Africa Tonight simulcast on e.tv at 19:00 made a good showing with 1.67 million viewers.

Scheduling the drama series Is’phindiselo which was originally meant to be an eVOD streaming service exclusive on Sunday nights, is paying off handsomely for e.tv and lured 1.74 million viewers. Viewers also love e.tv’s Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish telenovelas with Droomverlore grabbing a strong 1.66 million viewers in the 17:30-timeslot. 

SABC1’s mixed bag 

On SABC1 the channel and the country’s most-watched show sagged from its 7 million viewers in March to 6.4 million viewers for Uzalo in April, with Generations – The Legacy that remained flat at 5.56 million viewers.

Skeem Saam edged up slightly to 4.096 million from 4.040 million viewers in March, while Selimathunzi rose from 1.87 million to 2.15 million viewers during April. The Zulu TV news had 2.62 million viewers, while 2.6 million tuned in for the Xhosa TV news.

SABC2’s ratings slide continues

SABC2’s ongoing ratings slide continued in April as the channel starts to mirror the beginning of the troubles that led to SABC3’s ratings problems. 

From just three shows left with over one million viewers in March, SABC2 further deteriorated to just two shows with more than a million eyeballs.

Muvhango as the most-watched show on SABC2 declined from 3.3 million to 3.28 million in April, while Hlala Kwabafileho at 1 066 447 viewers was the only other show to get more than a million viewers on the channel.

The Venda series Giyani dropped from 1 026 424 viewers in March to 987 098 viewers in April. 7de Laan remained stable at 897 739 viewers compared with 897 861 in March. 

The Afrikaans TV news improved from 595 955 to 649 046 viewers, while the latest season of the Afrikaans travelogue show Voetspore pulled a respectable 499 996 viewers to the channel in the 19:00 timeslot.

Morning Live continues to shine with 482 301 viewers.

SABC3 gets Titanic support

Titanic as a Saturday movie lifted SABC3’s sinking ratings in April as the most-watched piece of programming and pulling the channel up from March’s 576 562 viewers to higher viewer waters with 793 301 viewers.

Another film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, also helped lift S3 with 630 920 viewers as the month’s second most-watch content. Even the English TV news at 18:00 was up from 440 491 to 524 295 viewers in April.

The channel’s mix of BBC documentaries, films and variety shows had viewers tuning in for Serengeti (559 490), The Masked Singer (429 838), A Perfect Planet: Oceans (394 972), Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions (375 071), The Shape of Water (349 121), and Water for Elephants (335 628).

Biggie’s goodbye placed 9th on DStv

MultiChoice and M-Net’s revival of Big Brother Mzansi showed slight improvement for its Sunday night finale on 3 April with 752 573 DStv subscribers who tuned to Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) but the live broadcast still ended as only the 9th most-watched show on DStv for the month.

It caps a disappointing ratings season for the reality show during which the channel lost 25% of its DStv audience on Sunday nights – roughly 400 000 viewers less than what the channel used to get in the timeslot before Big Brother Mzansi and the ratings-damaged 17th season of Idols occupied it.

Gomora on Mzansi Magic remained the most-watched show on DStv during April and grew a bit from 1.063 million to 1.27million DStv viewers, with The Queen which also grew a bit again from 814 637 to 1 077 302 viewers.

The River on 1 Magic (DStv 103) also grew from 707 169 to 804 304 viewers, as did Umndeni on Moja Love (DStv 157) from 514 116 to 613 948. The latest season of Housekeepers pulled 497 549 viewers, while Diep City improved from 655 496 to 829 222 viewers.