Screentime With Nicky Greenwall's Poor Ratings Confirm My Concerns

When I saw the guestlist for Nicky Greenwall's new season of Screentime I was shocked and shared my opinion about the fact that Greenwall Productions has failed to use its platform to offer something new but instead relied on recycled celebrities who are over exposed on other channels anyway. Well, the numbers are in and the ratings show that viewers are just as turned off too. 

If the argument is that having people like Boity and all these other "it girls" on a tv show will attract viewers then I am continuously baffled because the reality is that these girls may have the media and Twitter attention but they DO NOT have any significant influence on tv ratings.

I mention Boity because it is so "in your face" clear that the TV personality has been covered extensively this year, so there was nothing new that Nicky could have gotten out her with that interview. Did Nicky actually expect viewers to tune in and watch her ask Boity about the Marie Claire pictures? 

If the numbers reflect that these "it girls" have no considerable impact on the ratings of shows they appear on, what is this obsession with using the same faces on EVERY show on tv across all channels. 

I bemoaned in my article about Screentime, that there are some talented new faces on Scandal and Rhythm City, who I think the public would be interested to know about but alas Nicky Greenwall had to bring back Boity for the second time, as well as interview people that have nothing new and intriguing to share with her.  

Unfortunately the numbers show that viewers are not tuning in. The latest TAMS ratings available for Week 30 (21 - 27 July, 2014) only attracted 295 000 viewers. Far cry from the 600 000 plus it enjoyed in its first season. 

Looking back a few weeks, the numbers show a rather dismal performance by the show's latest season, given that it is on a free channel. 

Screentime Season 3 debuted on June 10th with Lerato Kganyago and rapper Psyfo, and logged an audience pull of around 260 000 viewers. The lowest rating episode being the second episode with DJ Lulo Cafe and Jimmy Nevis. The episode was watched by around 160 000. 

Hopefully these unimpressive numbers will push Nicky Greenwall to do something bold and different. She is the entertainment reporter of etv and will likely keep having shows on the channel for as long as she wants to be there.

PS: In case you are wondering, Boity (who has 340 000 followers on Twitter)'s episode was watched by just over 395 000.