There was a sense of anticipation that
Tropika Island of Treasure 5 would premiere with record ratings in the wake of the
Oscar Pistorius/Reeva Steenkamp tragedy.
The new season premiered on SABC1 on Saturday night (16 February 2013) at 18h30 with Reeva as one of seven celebrity contestants and was preceded by a blitz of debate about whether or not the series should have been cancelled or postponed.
Late on Friday afternoon SABC1
released a statement saying that the channel made the decision to go ahead with the scheduled premiere in consultation with Reeva's mother while
other reports said that Reeva's family hadn't been consulted.
The show premiered amidst the chaos and included a tribute to Reeva. There was a sense of expectation that the premiere would achieve record ratings as a result of the drama and issues surrounding the tragedy and the series itself. Many people didn't know who Reeva was before the show so there was also the added factor of people tuning in to find out more about who she was.
Did the ratings soar as a result of it all? No. In fact, the series recorded average ratings that are standard when it comes to properties in the specific timeslot on the channel.
An average of 2 345 778 adults watched the premiere. This is based on the age group 15+, the standard currency used to measure viewership.
The show received an AR of 7.7 and a market share of 28.78%. This means that 28.78% of people watching TV at the time were watching the show.
The difference between these figures and Friends Like These is barely notable. Friends Like These aired in the timeslot before Tropika Island of Treasure started and the Friends Like These finale was watched by 2 222 886 viewers.
The finale aired on 12 January 2013, before the start of AFCON. It received an AR of 7.4 and a market share of 30%.
There's a more notable contrast between figures when comparing the Season 4 Tropika Island of Treasure premiere to Season 5.
Season 4 aired on e.tv on Sundays - the season started on Sunday, 12 February last year and
recorded a viewership of 1 680 000 viewers.
It received an AR of 6 and a market share of 21%. A difference of 665 778 viewers between the two season premieres.
Ultimately the figures reveal that the change of broadcast day and channel has made more of an impact on the viewership figures than the tragedy has.
*For an explanation of how the viewing figures are calculated, please read this article.