Traditional television audiences are constantly falling, but, paradoxically, never have so many Quebecers been riveted in front of their small screen at 7 p.m. each evening. The resounding success of the dailies STAT And Indefensible departs from all the trends that have been observed for years in the industry. A phenomenon that surprises, but which also has its share of detractors.
STAT Or Indefensible? The question was on everyone’s lips in September, when, for the first time, TVA programmed a daily fiction series at the same time as that of Radio-Canada. But as the television season draws to a close, everyone finally emerges as the winner of this false rivalry, spurred on by all the media hype around the two productions.
STAT And Indefensible both well over one million viewers each night, according to preliminary data. Not only are the two soap operas by far the most popular weekday shows on traditional television, but they also have a lot of catch-up success.
“The dailies are an interesting television genre because most people watch them live. We can catch up on all four episodes at the end of the week. But it remains that they must be consumed quickly so as not to fall too far behind. Whereas, for heavy series, people can wait a lot longer before watching them, which means that it doesn’t necessarily show up in the ratings, “explains André Béraud, first director of drama programs and feature films. at Radio Canada.
Reverse trend
The famous ratings remain the sinews of war both for TVA and for the public broadcaster, which has been relying on a daily in the early evening since 1991. Marilyn, Virginia Or 30 lives garnered honorable ratings between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., but below what we were used to District 31 Then STAT from 2016 in the same time slot. In 2006, for example, in the golden age of linear television, Virginia attracted some 850,000 viewers, against an average of 1.3 million for STATdespite competition from the Netflix and Disney+ of this world.
This is the complete opposite of what we observe in the rest of the schedule. The 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. slots, once the most popular on television, have seen their audience erode since the appearance of streaming platforms. No issue exceeds one million on weekdays, apart from STAT And Indefensible.
And at first glance, the success of these two series is not felt in the rest of the programming. “People no longer have the reflex to tune into a channel and stay there all evening,” says Stéfany Boisvert, professor at UQAM’s School of Media.
On TVA, the talk show Tower has dipped below 400,000 viewers in recent weeks. A particularly low audience for the most watched channel in Quebec, which announced in February that the program hosted by Gildor Roy was not renewed for next fall.
One would be tempted to conclude that the monster success ofIndefensible could not pull up Tower, strategically scheduled after the daily, at 7:30 p.m., in the TVA timetable. But Nathalie Fabien, senior director of channels and programming at Groupe TVA, prefers to reverse this reasoning. “It is a truth from La Palice to say that the audience has dropped in television. No one can say otherwise, and all broadcasters face it. In this context, TVA is not doing so badly. If the total audience is reduced, we have nevertheless managed to increase our market share this year. If we hadn’t had Indefensiblethe hearing would perhaps have dropped even more, ”she supposes.
The popular “sausage”
Some put the success of the two dailies into perspective. In an interview this winter on Quebec City station FM93, actress Julie Le Breton did not go easy on her when talking about STAT and D’Indefensiblewhich she called “sausage”, after having dropped that “it levels down” Quebec television.
” [Les diffuseurs] hope people will stick around afterwards. They will look at it and they will [re]keep all the programming for the evening there. That’s not what’s happening! People watch it and then they go “check” on Netflix and then on Prime, ”she added.
The opinion of the star actress is not shared by all, but it will be granted that STAT And Indefensible are actually shot at high speed with fairly modest means. On the set, the actors have little room for error. The realization is all in all quite classic, and the intrigues can take time to unfold.
However, we know that, on the platforms, Quebecers are fond of big-budget foreign series, which on the contrary adopt a cinematographic style and a frantic pace. How can we thread the episodes of Squid Game or of The Last of Us and, at the same time, follow a daily newspaper filmed mainly in the studio every evening?
“These are series that meet different needs. On the platforms, the trend is for short series that have very few episodes, and people listen very quickly. So it’s normal that there is a contrary need for series that we will follow over a long period, with characters to whom we will become attached and who will interfere in our daily lives. In addition, the slow pace of STAT and D’Indefensible makes it possible to listen lightly when you’re on public transport or when you’re having dinner, unlike heavier series, which require all our concentration”, notes Stéfany Boisvert, whose university work focuses on the television.
Despite the criticisms, the future smiles on the dailies, both of which have been renewed for the fall. Not only do they rally an impressive number of viewers, but they also have the merit of reaching a slightly younger than average audience, a quality that is worth gold in the eyes of advertisers.
The average age of viewers at Radio-Canada is 55, a figure that is closer to 50 for STAT.