In the mid-1990s, the ORF decided to delight young ORF-1 audiences with tons of US sitcom series from the afternoon until the evening before. It was said at the time that the program could not be made cheaper in this dead zone in terms of quotas.
A quarter of a century later, it’s clear that that was a gross misjudgment. Young viewers have long migrated to streaming providers or pay-TV stations that do not program against their needs. Wanting to take countermeasures with “How I met your Mother”, “Young Sheldon” or “Big Bang Theory” was, to put it mildly, slightly anachronistic. From 2019, the then channel manager Lisa Totzauer tried to make the previous evening (5 to 7.30 p.m.) attractive again with in-house productions. Your interim successor and ORF program manager Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz is now hooked here. From April 28th, from 5.40 p.m. until the time in picture 1 (ZiB), which is still switched through, pure own program will be broadcast.
“We start with a short ZiB and then present a new, cheerful quiz,” says Groiss-Horowitz. After that, the proven “Q1” quiz moderated by sports commentator Oliver Polzer will be shown. After ZiB 1, weather and short sports, there is another time-in-picture “magazine”.
“Finally getting into action”
Groiss-Horowitz on her motives: “The program flow in ORF 1 has been very inhomogeneous so far. We must finally get to work here.”
This is also supported by a comparison of the market shares last February: ORF 1 came to 13.1 percent, ORF 2 was 22.9 percent. Slightly increasing trend in each case. “Everything is going wonderfully with ORF 2, there is no schematic discussion,” says the media manager.
More relevance is to be achieved with special programs in the form of solution-oriented service formats. A magazine on current price increases for fuel, heating oil and gas is planned for next week.
From April 25, ORF 1 will be approaching the serious subject of blackout with the self-produced series “Alles finster” with Harald Windisch, Martina Ebm and Hilde Dalik. It is about life in a fictional village where the electricity has gone out.
Source: Nachrichten
