Aracaju
Globo recognizes that “Elas Por Elas” and “Fuzuê”, its current six and seven o’clock soap operas, have problems in terms of their narratives. For the broadcaster, however, the reasons for the series’ low ratings are different: the heat in Brazil and the recent power outages in important capitals such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The station is particularly based on KantarIbope numbers. Data received from Q5 point out that the number of televisions on between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the São Paulo metropolitan area fell by almost 8%, from 52% in July to an average of 44% this month of November.
By Brazilian standards, this is a very low rate, usually exceeding 50% in prime time, the period in which Brazilian television channels present their main products.
One of the justifications Globo finds is that the heat wave caused people to spend more time outside their homes. In fact, it’s normal for the number of people connected to drop on hotter days historically, TV viewership drops as summer approaches. And in recent weeks, temperatures have broken records in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where the feeling of warmth reached almost 60 degrees.
In addition, the power outages in these capitals also made a negative contribution. Power outages are still common in some neighborhoods, particularly in poorer communities that make up the majority of the population.
Among the storylines broadcast, “Elas por Elas” was the one that felt the strongest impact. Since the blackouts hit, the soap opera has seen a steeper decline in ratings, falling from 16 to 14 points in the capital, São Paulo. Each point corresponds to 207,000 people.