After their farewell as a musical duo, Nick & Simon are no longer popular as a TV duo. Their show about The Beatles started badly and is now slipping sharply. “It’s the gun factor.”
Together with their friend Kees Tol, Nick & Simon are on the main stage of Dutch television with their program about The Beatles: NPO 1. They started last week after the Ascension edition of The Passion was viewed by more than 1 million people, but only lasted 615 thousand viewers (13 percent market share) left.
Nick & Simon flop
Nick & Simon did not make up for that false start last night: only 555 thousand people (14 percent) watched the second episode, a particularly sad score on the country’s largest TV channel. “In case of poor viewing figures after a second episode, the standard sentence when you work for a channel is: ‘This is not going to get better’,” says Tina Nijkamp.
And according to the viewing figure professor, this sentence now also applies to Nick & Simon. She points out that Kamp Van Koningsbrugge immediately before scored 865 thousand viewers (21 percent). “And so after Ruud & Olcay it is a new flop for NPO 1 with a program in which celebrities are central,” she writes on her opinion channel.
own competitor
Tina is surprised that Nick Schilder was sitting at the table with Eva Jinek at the same time as his own program. “Isn’t that saying enough that this Beatles series is probably also Nick & Simon’s very last program?”
She continues: “Because, as Nick, you are actually saying: I’m moving on with my future and that whole Beatles program and the TV career with Simon is a thing of the past for me and therefore less important. In any case, Nick solo scored higher at Jinek: 597 thousand viewers.”
Gun factor
Bridget Maasland says in the BLVD Podcast: “Wouldn’t it have more to do with the fact that Nick & Simon recently split up and that the public doesn’t quite accept that they can be seen together again, also singing, on TV? Even if it is in a different concept and it is also with Kees Tol… The goodwill factor may have been reduced.”
Colleague Rob Goossens then: “I am indeed afraid that that is the main explanation for this viewing figure disaster, because that is what it is. They really need to look after themselves. It must be a gigantic reality check for those three men.”
Viewing figures
The viewing figures of Thursday, May 25, 2023 (SKO):
Top 15 | Market shares (18-24h, 6+) |
|---|---|
| 01. Journal 20:00 (NPO1) 1,777,000 | 01. NPO1 / 22.5% |
| 02. Journal 18:00 (NPO1) 1,003,000 | 02. RTL4 / 16.4% |
| 03. Today Inside (SBS6) 972,000 | 03. SBS6 / 15.9% |
| 04. Kamp Van Koningsbrugge (NPO1) 865,000 | 04. NPO2 / 7.4% |
| 05. mr. Frank Visser Makes Ruling (SBS6) 852,000 | 05. NPO3 / 5.2% |
| 06. Half past seven news (RTL4) 832,000 | 06. RTL5 / 4.7% |
| 07. EenVandaag (NPO1) 799,000 | 07.NET5 / 3.7% |
| 08. Op1 (NPO1) 614,000 | 08. RTL8 / 3.4% |
| 09. RTL Boulevard (RTL4) 610,000 | 09. Vero / 3.4% |
| 10. Good Times Bad Times (RTL4) 606,000 | 10. RTL7 / 2.6% |
| 11. Jinek (RTL4) 597,000 | 11. Paramount / 1.7% |
| 12. Heart of the Netherlands (SBS6) 564,000 | 12. SBS9 / 1.2% |
| 13. Secret Duets (RTL4) 562,000 | 13. Discov / 1.0% |
| 14. Nieuwsuur (NPO2) 560,000 | 14. BBC / 0.9% |
| 15. Nick, Simon and Kees: The Beatles (NPO1) 555,000 | 15. RTLZ / 0.7% |
Market shares per channel group (18-24h, 6+) | More viewing figures at: |
| 01. Public Broadcasting 35.6% |  |
| 02. RTL Netherlands 28.0% | |
| 03. Talpa TV 24.2% |
Programs that did not make the top 15 include Time for MAX (451 thousand), Nadia (370 thousand) and Shownieuws (340 thousand).