[LIST] Top 10 South African TV programs Per Channel | April 2016

As promised here are the full lists of each channel's Top 10 shows as captured in April 2016. The results are sourced and provided by the BRC — which is a non-profit, industry body that has been incorporated to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa.

SABC1

Mzansi Fo Sho had a rather impressive year with viewership pull this year. In the top 20 Most watched shows in South Africa 80% are on SABC1. What's more impressive is that as the competition grow, with the growth of the pay-tv platform such as Dstv, SABC1 viewers do not seem to drop but instead increase.

Generations The Legacy and Uzalo continue to battle it out for the 8 mil mark and number 1 spot. Uzalo owned March and Generations took over April.

For April, Selimathunzi (3 746 726), Nyan Nyan (3 743 649) and Live Amp (3 801 063) fall off the Top 10 list. Friends Like These is at number 18 with 3 071 188.

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	Generations The Legacy	8 091 914	24	66.3
2	Uzalo	7 899 905	23.4	63.8
3	Skeem Saam	6 760 511	20.1	60.6
4	Vodacom Yebo Millionares	5 389 941	16	52.4
5	Mfolozi Street	5 285 025	15.7	48.1
6	Ses'top La	4 677 680	13.9	41.1
7	Jab	4 670 521	13.9	45.2
8	Zulu News	4 352 649	12.9	39.3
9	Isixhosa News	4 287 728	12.7	38.3
10	Zaziwa	3 947 227	11.7	34.8

SABC 2

The South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS) broadcast got a bump up this year from 1 086000 viewers to 1 772 898. 

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	Muvhango	6 602 787	19.6	59.8
2	Lotto Draw LIVE	4 533 581	13.5	39.2
3	Gaabo Motho	2 897 132	8.6	40.3
4	Abomzala (Repeat)	2 489 240	7.4	34.5
5	Skwizas	2 331 073	6.9	22.5
6	Speak Out	2 299 148	6.8	33.3
7	Abomzala	2 028 004	6	20
8	7de Laan	2 020 769	6	18.7
9	Athletics Alive	1 611 920	4.8	28.5
10	It's Gospel Time	1 477 302	4.4	15.2

SABC3

Unfortunately, most of the highest rated on SABC3 are international shows. Local tv drama High Rollers just missed the Top 10 with 2.1 AR of 696 000 viewers. Also missing the cut is the iconic Top Billing with a meagre 577 000 viewers and a 1.7 AR. 

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	The Bold And The Beautiful	1 576 333	4.7	18.3
2	Isidingo	1 427 023	4.2	14.1
3	Days Of Our Lives	1 056 326	3.1	18.2
4	News	1 029 620	3.1	11.7
5	Snowwhite and the Huntsman	998 997	3	16.5
6	Filler: SABC3 Wows Polokwane	994 608	3	15.5
7	Gourmet	930 451	2.8	14.9
8	ICC WOrld Twenty; England V West Indies	927 077	2.8	9.4
9	Filler SABC3 On Air filler	920 865	2.7	15.5
10	Contraband	823 741	2.4	14.3

etv

Umlilo has some great reviews on social media, especially the trial episode. Unfortunately the show failed to make the Top 10 on this captured week. With 1 817 409, 5.4 AR and 28.8 share on Monday 11th, the show was falls to number 20.

My favorite show by far this year, Heist, pulled 1 941 318 on the 26th bagging it the 17th spot on this list. Ashes To Ashes pulled 1 904 055 which is a 5.7 AR and a general average for the show's second season. May may show high digits for Ashes as the death of Violet was a shocker that may have pulled more viewers.  

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	Scandal	4 893 383	14.5	40.4
2	Rhythm City	3 614 525	10.7	30.6
3	Movie - Live Free Or Die Hard	3 144 309	9.3	39.4
4	Movie - Rise Of The Planet	2 982 434	8.8	36.8
5	Movie - Faster	2 847 695	8.4	34.6
6	WWE Wrestling RAW	2 671 363	7.9	34.7
7	The Smurfs	2 627 314	7.8	29.5
8	Movie - A Good Day To Die Hard	2 566 731	7.6	29.4
9	E News Direct Headlines	2 546 454	7.6	29.4
10	Movie - Night At The Museum	2 489 589	7.4	28.5

Mzansi Magic

The darling of social media. No doubt Mzansi Magic has changed the way people watch television. The channel has become the prime leader in multi platform television content experience. Sadly, the hype on Twitter does not translate to huge numbers on air even by DSTV standards ... (I just mean that Pay-tv VS Welfare TV thing).

While some will argue that people aren't watching Mzansi Magic because they dont have DSTV, I dare to challenge that and say even people who have DSTV still make their own choice to avoid certain shows on the channel. For example, it is clear by these numbers that as soon as Our Perfect Wedding ends, a big chunk of viewers change the channel and do not stay for Igazi. You can blame lack of DSTV for that. 

You's also expect shows that constantly trend on Twitter to be at the top of the list but they are not. Somizi Mhlongo's Living The Dream With Somizi, has become a regular number trending topic on Wednesday but the show is the number 18 on the list, watched by on 222000 viewers. The same goes for Date My Family, if you measured its success by Twitter, you'd think its number 1 or 2 but its not. 

Of course if you read my other articles on ratings, I have said this plenty of times, social media hype are not a true reflection of what is happening in our industry. Just because a show trends, it does not mean people are actually watching. 

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	Our Perfect Wedding	1 285 798	3.8	13
2	Igazi	1 242 549	3.7	13
3	Isibaya	1 173 771	3.5	10.6
4	Saints and Sinners	997 114	3	10.4
5	Date My Family	765 936	2.3	8.9
6	Clash Of the Choirs	715 514	2.1	8.4
7	Doubt	572 024	1.7	7.6
8	Movie - Hear Me Move	374 953	1.1	5.8
9	Greed and Desire	308 160	1.1	3.1
10	Living The Dream With Somizi	308 160	0.9	4

Vuzu

Oh Vuzu. Where do I even start. Let's talk about V Entertainment because it got a lot of attention from my tweet. I can say much about it because I have not watched the show since Legend left as a producer.

From what I gather, he left a huge void because the ratings have dropped. Few people on Twitter attribute the ratings decline on Denise's departure, I think it is major factor but I also think South Africans have moved from that American-wannabe thing. Local content that is reflective of our South African sensibility is what is getting people tuned in these days.

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	X Factor	106 340	0.3	1.5
2	Real Housewives of Atlanta	58 246	0.2	0.5
3	EPK - Concusion	56 990	0.2	1.2
4	The Barchelorette	53 958	0.2	0.6
5	VEntertainment Gossip	52 877	0.2	0.6
6	Real Housewives of Atlanta (Repeat)	55 582	0.1	0.7
7	EPK - Avengers	50 642	0.1	0.5
8	VEntertainment	49 930	0.1	0.6
9	EPK - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot	47 491	0.1	0.6
10	EPK - Fury	45 501	0.1	0.5

*EPK means Electronic Press Kit, its one of those Behind-The-Scenes and interviews clips for movies. 

Mnet

	Show	Viewers	AR	SHARE
1	Carte Blanche	258 509	0.8	2.6
2	The Gunman	219 570	0.7	2.7
3	Spy	216 052	0.6	3.2
4	The Duff	193 609	0.6	2.2
5	Focus	151 828	0.5	1.7
6	Grey's Anatomy	88 251	0.3	0.7
7	The Voice SA	87 284	0.3	1.1
8	Chicago Fire	85 319	0.3	0.7
9	Chicago Med	81 702	0.3	0.8
10	Blue Bloods	76 018	0.2	0.7

OVERVIEW

Comparing these numbers from the captured week and day in March, very few changed. With the exception of Generations and Uzalo, much of the table rank remain the same with minor variation in the viewership numbers.

Please note that these ratings numbers were captured on different days in the whole month. This was done to accomodate the fact that some shows are daily while some are aired once a week. This means that (especially with shows that have a less than 10 000 variation) in the same month one show could rate higher than the other on different days.

However, these rating give a reliable estimate to advertisers and ranking capturers as it basically gives a 98% pattern of how the show is performing. The shows ratings were captured between 17h00 and 22h00 on the days chosen thus these are primetime ratings.

Some shows have a good standing because they perform well in repeats as well. Shows like Living the Dream With Somizi almost pull the same numbers in repeats episodes at they do in their original episode TX time.