It is the day after Christmas when SBS 6 makes a big splash with a special in which Tooske Ragas talks to Queen Máxima. The result? Horror ratings. “They are really panicking now.”
Queen Máxima and other members of the royal family often only want to give interviews if they can talk about the charities they are affiliated with – really terribly boring. While celebrities can often get away with one or two obligatory questions about their new picture, those royals really only want to talk about social issues.
Tooske and Maxima
We only hear Princess Laurentien orating about low literacy, Princess Mabel shows up every year at a fun celebrity gala that focuses on the fight against HIV/AIDS and Queen Máxima? She only comes to sit in front of the camera if she can talk about debt problems. A huge zapper.
Although SBS 6 viewers are of course not interested in these kinds of social topics, it was apparently enough for the channel that Máxima wanted to talk to them at all. And so we saw Tooske Ragas on the day after Christmas in a one-on-one interview with the queen. Prime time on SBS 6.
Ratings drama
One problem: no dog was watching. “A true ratings drama. Not in the top 50 viewing figures and less than 250,000 viewers,” ratings authority Tina Nijkamp reported the next day. “The time when Máxima guaranteed high viewing figures anyway seems to be definitely over. Just like Willem-Alexander’s Christmas speech continues to decline every year.”
It’s now a week later and all postponed viewers have been counted. What does the score look like now? Tina on her analysis channel: “Viewer horror for the Shownieuws special by Tooske and Máxima: 147 thousand viewers, including delayed viewing. SBS 6 broadcast 200 promos for it, but absolutely NO ONE was interested.”
Royals collapse
These are by far the lowest viewing figures for Máxima ever, according to Tina. “Things are really not going well with the popularity of our royal family. King Willem-Alexander already had the lowest viewing figures ever at Christmas: a total of 1.6 million viewers for his Christmas speech on all channels. Including deferred viewers. That was 1.8 million just linear a year before.”
And now? “Panic at Huis ten Bosch today and an emergency meeting, that’s for sure. A lot of work needs to be done for the PR team because if even the once so popular Máxima achieves these kinds of figures, that says something.”
Really that bad?
Is Maxima’s score really that bad? Yes, says Tina. “How low is the 147 thousand viewers for the exclusive interview with Queen Máxima?”
She concludes: “Unprecedentedly low for SBS 6. NPO 1, NPO 2, RTL 4, RTL 5, Net5, Veronica, RTL 7, RTL 8 and even TLC scored higher at that time. Only NPO3 scored even lower. What a viewer drama.”