Perdita
12-09-2008, 06:35
NEIGHBOURS has lost more than half its viewers in the past year, TV Biz can reveal.
Official figures show millions have turned off.
Most have vanished since the Aussie soap moved from BBC1 to Five in February in a £300million deal.
This time last year a combined 4.8million viewers watched its lunchtime and teatime outings.
The 2½million who watched the early episode has plummeted to 850,000 and of the 2.3million who turned on the repeat, just 1.4million remain.
Neighbours was one of Britain’s most popular soaps and launched the careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. In 1988 almost 20million tuned in to watch the wedding of their characters Scott and Charlene.
The show, now featuring characters like Zeke (Matthew Werkmeister) and Taylah (Danielle Horvat), received a blow last week when Ian Smith, who plays buffoon Harold Bishop, announced he was quitting after 21 years.
A show source said: “The show just doesn’t have the same appeal. People who watched Neighbours five days a week can now watch Hollyoaks — a British soap — every night instead.
“Five gets fewer viewers anyway because it’s a smaller channel. The same thing happened to Home and Away when that moved to Five from ITV years ago.”
A Five spokesman said: “Neighbours traditionally experiences a drop in ratings during the summer.
“Audiences are on the up again and we are very happy with the ongoing performance of the show.”
If I like a programme, I don't care which channel broadcasts it, I will still watch it. I can understand viewing figures being down in the summer as people are away on holiday or just out and about, doing other things and perhaps watch the omnibus editions instead of the nightly shows.
Official figures show millions have turned off.
Most have vanished since the Aussie soap moved from BBC1 to Five in February in a £300million deal.
This time last year a combined 4.8million viewers watched its lunchtime and teatime outings.
The 2½million who watched the early episode has plummeted to 850,000 and of the 2.3million who turned on the repeat, just 1.4million remain.
Neighbours was one of Britain’s most popular soaps and launched the careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. In 1988 almost 20million tuned in to watch the wedding of their characters Scott and Charlene.
The show, now featuring characters like Zeke (Matthew Werkmeister) and Taylah (Danielle Horvat), received a blow last week when Ian Smith, who plays buffoon Harold Bishop, announced he was quitting after 21 years.
A show source said: “The show just doesn’t have the same appeal. People who watched Neighbours five days a week can now watch Hollyoaks — a British soap — every night instead.
“Five gets fewer viewers anyway because it’s a smaller channel. The same thing happened to Home and Away when that moved to Five from ITV years ago.”
A Five spokesman said: “Neighbours traditionally experiences a drop in ratings during the summer.
“Audiences are on the up again and we are very happy with the ongoing performance of the show.”
If I like a programme, I don't care which channel broadcasts it, I will still watch it. I can understand viewing figures being down in the summer as people are away on holiday or just out and about, doing other things and perhaps watch the omnibus editions instead of the nightly shows.