The nation’s political crisis may be occupying politicians and the news media, but television ratings show that the Ukrainian people are more interested in entertainment than news.
According to AGB Ukraine, the firm that monitors the country’s television viewing habits for broadcasters and advertisers, crime dramas and entertainment programs dominated the prime-time ratings over the past three weeks. Only one news show made the top 10.
AGB Ukraine uses special “people-meter” devices to determine who is watching what program, and when. Broadcasters use the demographic data gleaned from these ratings to determine ad rates.
Topping the prime-time people meter once again this year is the immensely popular miniseries/drama “Bourgeoise’ Birthday.” Last year’s first season of the Studio 1+1-produced miniseries consistently topped the ratings in both Ukraine and Russia.
1+1 (UT-2) is continuing the drama this spring. It re-ran all the old episodes from the first season earlier this year, and is now airing new episodes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m., with repeats running the next morning at 9 a.m. The 12th of 15 new hour-long episodes was schedule to air April 26.
Two episodes of “Bourgeoise” were the first and second-rated shows in the three weeks ending April 15. They were followed by “Destructive Power” and “The Street of Broken Lamps” – both of which are episodes of a Russian police miniseries – and “The Turkish March,” another Russian drama. All the top-five shows aired on 1+1.
Rounding out the top 10 were local comedy program “Hidden Camera, Russian documentary “Siberian Ripper,” American movie “Beauty in Handcuffs,” the “Details” news program, and “ProSport.”
For shows aired on a regular (weekly or nightly) basis, AGB took the show’s highest-rated program from the period.
Inter’s (UT-3) “Details” was not only the list’s sole news offering, it was also the only program in the top 10 not shown on 1+1.
According to AGB Ukraine, during the ratings period, advertisers spent $26.3 million on the six highest-rated channels (UT-1, Inter, 1+1, ICTV, STB and Novy Kanal), of which $2.2 million was spent with 1+1 and Inter on the top-10 programs mentioned above.
But AGB’s Shevchenko warns that those spending figures can be misleading, since they assume that advertisers paid the stations’ published rates for their advertising. In reality, he said, discounts and negotiated rates predominate.
“Nobody knows the exact figures,” Shevchenko said.
AGB’s people meters are wired to sets in 1,005 households in 25 oblasts. A program’s rating is calculated by taking the average number of viewers tuned into a program over a given period and dividing it by the total number of potential TV viewers in 25 regional centers of Ukraine.
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The D’Arcy ad agency has launched a campaign for Elle Ukraine, a new edition of the international women’s magazine. This spring, ads will herald the magazine’s first issues, and in fall an ad campaign will ensue to reinforce the message. Television ads are scheduled to run on Inter and Novy Kanal, with radio and outdoor advertising used as well.
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The Mex agency has been awarded tenders for media-buying and media-planning for the Elko company, a distributor of IT products and for Enran Akros, an office furniture manufacturer.
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On April 27 at 7 p.m., Mex will give a presentation of its new Media Expert media-planning software, which allows planners to use the GRP and TRP rating systems while taking the Reach and Frequency indicators into consideration as well. Entry by invitation only. For more information please call 227-2108.
