These are the primetime adult television viewing figures for January 2023.
If you can't see the listing below, then click this link to access them in a document instead:
Top Shows on TV: January 2023
Special notes
The cruel Stage 6 loadshedding has literally destroyed the TAMS.
January viewership for the free-to-air channels was similar to their ratings crash in
December.
Viewership for DStv's top show Gomora was down by 130,000 viewers and the rest of DStv's ratings were low.
e.g. new telenovela Gqeberha: The Empire, which premiered on 16 January, attracted a meagre 413,227 viewers for its most watched episode of the month and Big Brother Titans, which premiered on 15 January, is nowhere to be seen, despite airing on Mzansi Magic, Channel 198
and Mzansi Wethu.
Ratings for last year's Big Brother Mzansi 3 weren't great: 529,041 viewers in January 2022, and 487,770 viewers in February, but this year it doesn't even appear!
This isn't usual behaviour for Big Brother or a new primetime daily show on Mzansi Magic which emphasises that it's now become unfair to assess the performance of shows based on these Broadcast Research Council ratings.
It was Stage 6 loadshedding on the night of the Big Brother premiere and on the night that Gqeberha debuted.
As we mentioned last month, these ratings represent the number of viewers who tuned in on the night, at the time of the show, but there are viewers who would have caught up on their shows via DStv Catch Up, eVOD, SABC+ or Viu, which aren't represented in these numbers.
Also, the baseline presumption of these Live Viewing figures is that viewers are able to tune into a show if they
want to, but that doesn't exist anymore because they can't. The very essence of the hypothesis has been destroyed by loadshedding.
We'll keep publishing the TAMS for the archives but it's impossible to interpret what they mean because it isn't fair on productions.
All we can do is hold out hope that the BRC manages to find a metric to include streaming and Catch Up on PVRs in these numbers. Even then, every show is still at the mercy of loadshedding.
We reiterate: May the force be with us all.
If you can't see the documents above, here's an overview of the Top 5 shows per channel/broadcaster:
SABC1
| Show |
Viewers |
| Uzalo |
5,270,431 |
| Generations: The Legacy |
4,118,701 |
| Skeem Saam |
3,898,331 |
| The Braai Show with Aka |
2,393,938 |
| Zulu News |
2,198,242 |
SABC2
| Show |
Viewers |
| Muvhango |
1,668,135 |
| Bone of My Bones |
906,461 |
| Kgatelopele |
784,283 |
| 7De Laan |
775,339 |
| Muvhango -O |
616,437 |
SABC3
| Show |
Viewers |
| Taken |
597,658 |
| Maze Runner:the Death Cure |
396,321 |
| The Amazing Spiderman 2 |
379,683 |
| Spider-Man 3 |
372,941 |
| On Point |
365,854 |
e.tv
| Show |
Viewers |
| Scandal |
3,908,196 |
| House of Zwide |
3,203,135 |
| Imbewu |
2,158,984 |
| The Powerball Draw |
1,931,744 |
| Mr Bones |
1,796,656 |
DStv
| Show |
Viewers |
| Gomora |
783,149 |
| Isencane Lengane |
625,293 |
| Uyajola 9/9 |
621,234 |
| The Queen |
608,313 |
| Sizok'thola |
599,382 |
Please note: these ratings don't include viewership from DStv Catch Up, YouTube, Viu, eVOD or SABC+. They only reflect the viewership of people who watched on the day, at the time of broadcast.
For an explanation of the TAMS, please see:
The TAMS Ratings Explained.