SAMAs TV Ratings Fall Drastically | SAMAs2015 Lowest Rated This Decade

SAMAs 2015 launched with such hope and excitement for the future. Sadly the promise was not to yield any signs of growth for the brand. 


This year's awards kicked off with a campaign that prompted celebrities and ordinary South Africans to get nostalgic about their 21st bdays and the growth they have made since. Little did music fans know that, the campaign that promised a better future will drag the iconic awards brand back to the past with mediocrity.  

"The transition from childhood to adulthood; a chance to do things differently. This marks a point where the influence of the legacy that came before creates the legends of tomorrow" read one of the statement from the campaign.

The organisers claimed that the annual South African Music Awards celebrate their 21st birthday this year by doing just that: learning from the past to inform a bright new future.

A sleek hashtag #XXI  did the rounds on social networks, which prompted Twelebs and their followers to start tht  "When I was #XXI" or "Things to do at #XXI" ... oh boy were they in for a huge surprise on the night of the event.  .

The Beatenburg were the biggest winners of the night, deservedly so after the Metro snub. However, the lack of the usual star power attending the event and the triage of production mistakes ... oh and the Lerato Kganyago fiasco... the poor event had no change of attracting viewers.

The numbers are out and this year's awards lost a whopping 1.1million viewers from last year's 4 million viewers. This year only 2.9 million viewers tuned in to watch HHP drag the awards back to the past and not the future that the XXI campaign promised.

Ok to be fair, the show has lost one of its major sponsors, MTN with its R18m plus cash. It was to be expected that the pinch will be felt and evident on the production but it seemed like the SAMAs went from being a baller to chancer over night.

The mess that was on TV on the night was inexcusable and the viewers responded with their remote controls,.

Am I being harsh? YES. Why? Because I know there are young producers in this country, who [if given a chance] can produce world class events. The problem in this country is that we have people would never even watch the Grammys make decisions about what should be in shows such as these.

I refuse to believe that young producers who are familiar with MTVVMAs, EMAs, BET Awards, etc would not come up with some crazy new ideas that will blow our minds. Instead of blowing money on goodiebags, they organizers should invest in getting fresh minds on board.