These are the primetime adult television viewing figures for October 2024.
If you can't see the listing below, then click this link to access them in a document instead:
Top Shows on TV: October 2024
Special notes
The Muvhango tragedy
SABC2's iconic show slumped to under 1-million viewers for the first time since its premiere in 1997.
The magnitude of this is clearly illustrated when you look back at its ratings over the past five years.
In
October 2019 it attracted 5,623,750 viewers for its most watched episode, with an
*Audience Share of 45,9.
That's a whopping plummet of 4,695,277 viewers in five years, with a 36.2% loss of viewership for SABC2 in the 21h00 timeslot.
| Date |
Viewership |
Audience Share |
| October 2019 |
5,623,759 |
45.9 |
| October 2020 |
3,912,400 |
34.3 |
| October 2021 |
3,643,585 |
34.5 |
| October 2022 |
1,579,884 |
18.1 |
| October 2023 |
1,612 771 |
14.9 |
| October 2024 |
928,482 |
9.7 |
Tragic.
*Audience share refers to the percentage of people who watched a show in relation to the total number of people watching TV countrywide at the time.
No-Show for TV ceremony
Notice how the SAFTAs main awards ceremony is nowhere to be seen on either SABC2's Top 20 list or DStv's Top 30 where it aired on Mzansi Magic. The red carpet appears on SABC2 but not the awards event.
The craft ceremony only aired on S3 in early November so this will be applicable to next month's TAMS.
Interesting to note is that this craft ceremony attracted 86,000 views on the
SAFTAs YouTube channel where it streamed live on the Friday before the main awards.
An indication that these TAMS are becoming more and more irrelevant by not including streaming viewership numbers because 85,000 can make an impact when it comes to a show making the Top 20 list.
If the main ceremony attracted that on SABC+ or Catch Up it might have made the lists.
If you can't see the documents above, here's an overview of the Top 5 shows per channel/broadcaster:
SABC1
| Show |
Viewers |
| Uzalo |
4,814,664 |
| Generations the Legacy |
4,196,711 |
| Skeem Saam |
3,971,633 |
| Mtn 8 Orlando Pirates vs Stellenbosch |
2,806,619 |
| *Zulu News |
2 349 695 |
*We've included the Zulu News here because it isn't clear what S1 2000-2159 refers to in the BRC document.
SABC2
| Show |
Viewers |
| Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Quali |
1,059,266 |
| Muvhango |
928,482 |
| Deal or No Deal |
788,387 |
| Ses/Tsw/Sep News |
787,354 |
| Live Lotto Draw |
783,328 |
SABC3
| Show |
Viewers |
| Total Energies Caf Afcon Qualifiers:Cong |
1,768,571 |
| Miss World South Africa |
446,197 |
| Premier League Manchester City VS. South |
445,338 |
| Tropika Island of Treasure |
440,310 |
| Serengeti |
439,707 |
e.tv
| Show |
Viewers |
| House of Zwide |
3,832,893 |
| Scandal |
3,331,919 |
| Isitha - the Enemy |
3,055,073 |
| Smoke and Mirrors |
2,945,327 |
| Isiphetho - Destiny |
2,337,065 |
,
DStv
| Show |
Viewers |
| Sibongile & the Dlaminis |
1,301,726 |
| Umkhokha:the Curse |
856,625 |
| Fast & Furious 7 |
845,514 |
| The River |
803,350 |
| *Uthando Nesthembu |
655,577 |
We've included Uthando Nesthembu in this position to avoid a double-up of The River.
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.