The Avastars horror is over: no dog watched the final last night either. The stubbornness of John de Mol ensures that SBS 6 will be associated with pulp television for a long time to come.
The reason that ratings flops are often quickly removed from the tube is because it is a very clear disapproval from the viewer. They just don’t think the program is good enough. And as a TV station you obviously don’t want the viewer to associate you with a bad product. That’s why it’s so embarrassing that Avastars was allowed to finish the entire season.
John too old?
John de Mol apparently couldn’t bring himself to remove Avastars from the transmitter. He has thought about the format for over twenty years and presented it as if we were going to see something that has never been seen before. That turned out not to be true: John’s singing digital puppets took the viewer back to 2000, the year of The Sims 1.
It all looked so dated that friend and foe could not believe that this is what John has been working on for twenty years. Is the 67-year-old media billionaire just too old? Is he stuck in the past? Critics such as Kirsten Jan van Nieuwenhuijzen dared to raise this question.
Worst viewed
Kirsten Jan even suggests that Erland Galjaard, Wendy van Dijk’s husband, has left Talpa because John really doesn’t listen to anyone anymore. John saw the Avastars final score only 134 thousand viewers (2.5 percent market share) on SBS 6 yesterday, slightly more than last week’s score (93 thousand viewers).
RTL Boulevard reporter Joost Mairburg speaks of ‘the worst-watched final on TV ever’. “After six weeks, the mega ratings drama called Avastars has come to an end. It is again just above the hundred thousand limit, but they are still disastrous figures,” he writes analysis channel.
What does Tina say?
What does viewing figures professor Tina Nijkamp say about it? She speaks of a ‘viewing nightmare’. “It is the worst-watched final of a singing talent show ever. In addition to channel management, Nicky Romero, Kalvijn, Nick and Simon and especially Got Talent jury member Dan Karaty will also be happy that this perilous adventure is over. Finally close that book.”
According to media expert Victor Vlam, keeping Avastars on the tube has infected all of SBS 6 and Tina seems to agree. “This show is of course not very good for the name and image of SBS 6 and its stars.”
Actually, Avastars would be succeeded next week by The Talent Scouts, a talent show with a partly overlapping cast. That has been postponed to the end of June due to the Avastars blemish. It should be replaced by an extra long VI, although it seems that no decision has been made yet.
Viewing figures
The viewing figures of Friday, March 31, 2023 (SKO):
Top 15 | Market shares (18-24h, 6+) |
|---|---|
| 01. Journal 20:00 (NPO1) 1,925,000 | 01. NPO1 / 24.2% |
| 02. Cops Maastricht (NPO1) 1,516,000 | 02. RTL4 / 18.5% |
| 03. Half past seven news (RTL4) 1,173,000 | 03. NPO2 / 11.0% |
| 04. Two to twelve (NPO2) 1,113,000 | 04. SBS6 / 8.3% |
| 05. News 18:00 (NPO1) 1,079,000 | 05. RTL5 / 4.7% |
| 06. The Traitors (RTL4) 1,060,000 | 06. NPO3 / 3.8% |
| 07. MAX Pub Quiz (NPO1) 1,032,000 | 07. RTL7 / 3.7% |
| 08. Watched the week (NPO1) 942,000 | 08. RTL8 / 2.9% |
| 09. EenVandaag (NPO1) 902,000 | 09. Vero / 2.8% |
| 10. RTL Boulevard (RTL4) 769,000 | 10.NET5 / 2.3% |
| 11. Today Inside (SBS6) 739,000 | 11. Paramount / 1.8% |
| 12. Sports News (NPO1) 706,000 | 12. ESPN / 1.3% |
| 13. Beau (RTL4) 702,000 | 13. BBC / 1.2% |
| 14. Inside Out (NPO2) 660,000 | 14. Discov / 1.0% |
| 15. Edition NL (RTL4) 629,000 | 15. N.geog / 0.9% |
Market shares per channel group (18-24h, 6+) | More viewing figures at: |
| 01. Public Broadcasting 39.0% |  |
| 02. RTL Netherlands 30.6% | |
| 03. Talpa TV 13.9% |
Programs that did not make the top 15 include Op1 (575 thousand), Khalid & Sophie (558 thousand), Nieuwsuur (538 thousand), Hart van Nederland (536 thousand), Shownieuws (372 thousand) and HLF8 (282 thousand).