iNumber Number by numbers

It is undoubtedly South Africa's very first action thriller drama series. Mzansi Magic series iNumber Number's journey from film to television has afforded viewers a thrilling ride and I curiously wanted to know what exactly are the numbers behind putting together this show. 

Set on a gritty urban canvass, iNumber Number takes street warfare to another level on local television. Law and dis-order collide, justice and retribution become strange bedfellows.  

Behind the show, co-produced Quizzical Pictures and Mzansi Magic, is a team of dedicated creatives who makes sure each episode of this high paced show is an event for viewers. 

To bring the world of iNumber Number to life the talents of an excess of 100 performers are employed in the production. The core of the show's story revolves around 15 key cast members but an array of extras (both featured and uncredited) also form the cast team that brings the story to life. 

Surprisingly for a show that looks like a big production on screen, only a permanent crew of 44 people and production crew of 6 are employed to work on the show. Impressive. 

In post production the show has a total of 8 people working on it — that is from assistant editor to the scorer.

The current season of iNumber Number had shooting schedule was from 1 May 2017 – 10 July 2017 and started airing on Mzansi Magic on July 9th ... that's cutting it short. 

Ratings wise the show has not been a smash hit for the channel but has sustained a momentum that has seen it grow by each episode. It pulled 1.14-million viewers on its debut which also happened to be the show's highest rated episode of July, making it the 3rd most watched show on DStv for the month.

Unfortunately numbers dwindled for iNumber Number in August, most likely because of Tjovitjo. iNumber Number's highest rated episode for August pulled 926 533 viewers, which still retained the number 3 most watched show on the Dstv Top 30 list but 200k lower than the previous month. 

Though numbers declined when Tjovitjo premiered on the same time-slot from SABC, iNumber Number is likely to reclaim its million viewers per episode numbers for the remainder of the season as I predict that Tjovitjo numbers will likely drop. 

iNumber Number airs Sundays on Mzansi Magic (Channel 161) at 20:00.