Gerard Ekdom has set a viewing figure record with his show The Tribute: Battle of the Bands. The grand finale of the second season has broken through the one million viewer mark.
It must have been a big surprise for Gerard Ekdom early this morning: the finale of the second season of The Tribute – Battle of the Bands attracted just over 1 million viewers (18 percent) on SBS 6. And such high scores are that channel, except for an outlier of Today Inside, not used to it at all.
Gerard takes record
Gerard was by far the most watched alternative to Wie is de Mol, which recorded 2.2 million viewers (36 percent). Tina Nijkamp, the former channel boss of SBS 6, thinks it is quite an achievement. “We have not seen such a high figure for a John de Mol program at SBS 6 since the first season of Marble Mania in 2021.”
She continues: “In any case, it is one of the rare, well-scoring John formats in eleven years on SBS 6. A viewing figure record for The Tribute, also with a big difference: last year the final scored 668 thousand viewers. Big party and a very big cream cake for Gerard Ekdom, John de Mol, the jury and of course the team.”
‘It’s because of Johan!’
The Tribute was heavily promoted in Today Inside and Shownieuws, where fragments of the program were shown. Tina: “I also get DMs that people went to watch the Tribute final because Johan Derksen advertised a lot during VI for The Tribute. And so the question is: is there a Johan Derksen effect?”
Yes, Gerard thinks. “I absolutely think so indeed. It certainly helped that Johan was positive about the program. Perhaps also a cake from John de Mol for Johan today.”
Gerard’s burden
Tina finds it striking that Wie is de Mol now scores less viewers than usual. “A fantastic score and a wonderful 45.7 percent in 20 to 54 years, but IT IS the lowest score of this season. The program seems to be affected by The Tribute.”
The other most watched prime time titles were NPO 1’s The Connection (892 thousand), RTL 4’s Weet Ik Veel (846 thousand) and NPO 3’s MolTalk (705 thousand).
Viewing figures
The viewing figures of Saturday, February 11, 2023 (SKO):
Top 15 | Market shares (18-24h, 6+) |
|---|---|
| 01. Who is the Mole (NPO1) 2,170,000 | 01. NPO1 / 27.0% |
| 02. Journal 20:00 (NPO1) 1,818,000 | 02. RTL4 / 15.7% |
| 03. News 18:00 (NPO1) 1,276,000 | 03. SBS6 / 15.0% |
| 04. The Tribute Battle of the Bands (SBS6) 1,026,000 | 04. NPO2 / 8.7% |
| 05. Half past seven news (RTL4) 1,011,000 | 05. NPO3 / 4.2% |
| 06. EenVandaag (NPO1) 984,000 | 06.ESPN / 3.8% |
| 07. Studio Sport Eredivisie (NPO1) 966,000 | 07. RTL5 / 3.6% |
| 08. The Connection (NPO1) 892,000 | 08. Vero / 2.5% |
| 09. I Know A Lot (RTL4) 846,000 | 09. RTL8 / 2.1% |
| 10. RTL Boulevard (RTL4) 772,000 | 10. RTL7 / 1.3% |
| 11. Serengeti (NPO1) 736,000 | 11. Paramount / 1.0% |
| 12. MolTalk (NPO3) 705,000 | 12. Discov / 0.9% |
| 13. Nieuwsuur (NPO2) 620,000 | 13. BBC / 0.9% |
| 14. Studio Sport (NPO1) 614,000 | 14. Comedy / 0.8% |
| 15. Laugh at Home Videos (SBS6) 600,000 | 15. ESPN2 / 0.7% |
Market shares per channel group (18-24h, 6+) | More viewing figures at: |
| 01. Public Broadcasting 39.9% |  |
| 02. RTL Netherlands 23.0% | |
| 03. Talpa TV 19.4% |
Programs that did not make it to the top 15 include Kassa (589 thousand), Humberto on Saturday (583 thousand), Casino Royaal (570 thousand), Hart van Nederland (509 thousand) and Shownieuws (430 thousand).
