“Tatort” annual balance sheet: loss of TV viewers
Published: Tuesday, Dec 12th 2023, 06:30
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Germany's most popular TV series continues to lose steam: the average number of viewers of the ARD ratings hit "Tatort" in 2023 has fallen noticeably compared to the previous year.
Around 8.6 million tuned in to each first broadcast on average between New Year and the second Advent, as ARD told the German Press Agency. This means that the average reach fell by around 500,000 viewers compared to the same period in 2022. You have to go back to 2011 to find a lower figure. The two Swiss "Tatort" episodes reached 6.4 million viewers in Germany with "Seilschaft" (April 30) and 8.5 million viewers with "Blinder Fleck" (September 24).
However, with an average market share of around 28.6 percent for each new "Tatort", ARD can still be satisfied. The social trend that fewer and fewer people are watching linear television overall may well mean the same or even higher market shares (ratings) than before, despite a lower reach.
Another new "Tatort" this year
There will only be one new "Tatort" this year. It is the Frankfurt case "Kontrollverlust" (Loss of Control) on Boxing Day (26.12.).
Next Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent (17.12.), a "Polizeiruf 110" crime thriller will be shown on the first channel. The Sunday after that is Christmas Eve, when Erste will not be showing "Tatort" from 8.15 pm, but will broadcast the Christmas movie "Wenn das fünfte Lichtlein brennt". On New Year's Eve, a Sunday, "Die grosse Silvester Show" with Francine Jordi and Hans Sigl is broadcast in prime time on Erste.
Strong fluctuations depending on the episode
Viewership of the 34 "Tatort" cases so far in 2023 has fluctuated greatly: almost 14 million watched the Münster crime thriller on March 5, but only around 6 million watched the Viennese "Tatort" on the very sunny Whit Monday (May 29) or the experimental "Tatort" with Ulrich Tukur in October (October 22).
A total of seven of the previous "Tatort" crime thrillers landed below the 7 million mark, only three above the 10 million mark. As always, the most successful films were those from Münster, although the second Münster crime thriller of the year with Axel Prahl and Jan Josef Liefers was watched by almost three million fewer viewers than the first film last Sunday, the second Advent. However, there were still just over 11 million viewers. The third "Tatort" with more than 10 million viewers was the Cologne crime thriller "Abbruchkante" on March 26.
Decline as early as 2022
"Tatort" already experienced a slight decline in viewers in 2022 as a whole: the average audience shrank to just under 9 million (calendar year 2021: almost 9.2 million).
Nevertheless, the ARD "Tatort" with around 20 different teams remains by far Germany's most popular TV series. It has been around since 1970 and 1253 films with the label have been broadcast since then. "Tatort" was particularly popular in 2014 and 2015, when each new episode was watched by an average of almost 10 million viewers.
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