That is exactly the oppositre of what I would do. I would showTGUK and TGA back-to-back. Let TGUK draw people in and then go straight into TGA when its over.
I reckon that TGA would be good on a different night of the week to TGUK ... and TGUK needs to come back to being on SBS week in, week out.
S2 reruns are a great idea. Perhaps put them on twice a week, once on SBS ONE and again on SBS TWO? Would help raise awareness of SBS TWO as well. Maybe put some classic TGUK reruns on SBS TWO as well. And maybe subtitled versions of TGR? (after all, SBS is theoretically Australia's multicultural broadcaster).
I'd love for the TG franchise to become to SBS what The Simpsons is to Channel 10 i.e. on every day, non stop, relentless, almost to the point where everybody is sick to death of it but we still watch because we love it to bits .
I watched it that way a few episodes last year (when TGUK was being broadcast in the UK at the same time), it didn't work. Granted TGA was fairly poor then, but I still don't think it would work.
Well ratings are a guess at best established from a small sample size.
Not only that, but being a show about cars, advertising can be very focused on that and be more effective.
So a focused television show about one specific subject will skew ratings by a lot, but provides advertisers with an opportunity of a focused audience more likely to buy their cars, tyres, accessories etc, even if it has lower ratings/viewers.
Also, if you were an SBS marketing type, you'd say the ratings are skewed against ABC/SBS viewers. If you get a ratings box and watch too much of those channels, they take it away from you.
Well they consider people who watch a lot of those channels as not representative of 'regular' viewer patterns. As ratings are primarily to determine ad rates, ratings recording is heavily skewed in favour of the three commercial networks, and Foxtel channels.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2006/4043/ is the only real research I can find, stating:
"The OzTAM sample underestimates SBS households. Programs now broadcast on SBS are underestimated due to an inadequate representation of SBS viewing households in the TV rating panel"
oh yes! the only way to settle utegate.. send them both a rusty ute and tell them to belt it round bathurst with the paparazzi watching. Winner takes all
It's not exactly a terrible rating. As long as they can keep filling the studio (and the audience has got bigger and bigger each week) and the word 'Top Gear' is on people's lips, it'll keep going.