Queen's speech ratings for 2011
Television ratings for the Queen's speech went up in 2011, with almost double the number of New Zealanders tuning in to watch the annual message. According to Throng, 446,320 New Zealanders tuned in to see it, or 12.5% of the adult population. This is almost double on the 2010 figure of 244,340 or 6.9% of the adult population and better than the 2009 figure of 7.2%.
It's important to note, though, that the other highest-rating show on Christmas Day, TVNZ's One News at 6pm, doubled its ratings between 2010 and 2011. In 2010 One News had 282,070 viewers, while in 2011 it was up to 432,440. This would appear to indicate that while the audience doubled, the actual proportion of TV viewers tuning in to the Queen's message didn't. Also, TVNZ made the speech part of their One News broadcast, putting it at the end of the broadcast (i.e. 6:50pm - 7pm) rather than afterwards (i.e. 7pm - 7:10pm) as was the case in 2010. This clearly resulted in the One News audience simply staying with the channel rather than seeing what else was on.
Unfortunately we don't have total audience sizes for the time period (6pm - 7:10) so we can't tell how popular the speech was as a percentage of the total audience (I would love to know what figures Russell Brown was using for his Media 7 video on the issue from last year, I assume they're better than the Throng data). However, these figures do show that the yearly centre piece of the monarchy, the Queen's Christmas message, barely reaches one in five adult New Zealanders. From the flurry of e-mails that came through to myself as I watched the Queen's message, I can safely assume that many of those viewers were monarchists either.
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Christmas day holiday audiences may be fickle, being particulary weather dependent. In many parts Christmas was not so sunny this year perhaps leading to larger audiences.
Last year 2010 the Queen's speech was second most watched TV broadcast on Xmas Day, behind the TV One news. This year 2011 it was the most watched TV broadcast on Xmas with a slight increase from the news. Viewer numbers can vary considerably during a programme. It seems that not ony did the News audience stay with the Queen but additional viewers tuned in for her. Maybe one of the reasons was that some viewers were hoping to see highlights of the royal wedding.
6.3m watched the message in the uk. The message was 9th most watched broadcast in the UK. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8978228/EastEnders-beats-Downton-Abbey-in-Christmas-ratings-battle.html It is Winter in the UK, when audiences are normally larger...and UK Christmas Day is a prime TV day. The NZ population is about 1/14th of the UK population so the NZ viewing figure for the Queen of 446k would be equivalent to about 6.25m if we had the same population as the UK.
How do the viewing figures for the Queen's message compare with viewing figures in other Commonwealth realms? What about the figures for broadcasts of addresses by other countries' Heads...for example how many Irish and Americans view addresses by their Presidents ?
From what I can tell the President of the US, who is an executive head of state and therefore not comparable to the Queen as a ceremonial head of state, does not issue a Christmas Message. They do appear to issue a Thanksgiving message, but again, because of their political standing it doesn't appear to be broadcast on TV.
Speaking from a Media Studies perspective, no one can infer from the viewing figures what the audience was doing with the broadcast. People actively view the media and use it for different reasons. There will be some who watch as a Christmas tradition in the same way they listen to Snoopy's Christmas or leave some beer out for Santa. Some who watch will be mocking her and some will be soaking up every word and toasting her health. Some will have had the TV on but not even be listening. Overall viewing figures can't tell us why or how people were watching. There were four people at my house on Christmas Day. It was a sunny day but we all wanted to watch the speech. Me so I could see if I had predicted what she would say accurately (yes I did, it isn't hard) two because they wanted to laugh at the whole thing and my grandmother who is from London and who always watches and quite likes hearing the Queen speak.
These figures are for those who watched the intitial broadcast. The Queen's message might also be viewed by others who watched recordings, saw repeated clips, watched it on youtube or other online outlets. Yet more may have listened to it on the wireless, or read or listened to it online etc. The figure quoted here would be a starting point in tallying how many NZ people the Queen's Speech actually reached.
However, it would be foolish to try to infer the level of support for the monarch or the monarchy based simply on how many people tune into the TV1 Christmas Day broadcast of the Queen Elizabeth's message.
TV audience is just one possible indicator of interest/approval of what Queen Elizabeth has to say. Watching online is another but that is also not a clear indication of support or approval as people may watch without approval. Both figures however are part of the larger trend. Both support for the Monarchy and viewing figures for the Queen's Speech (as a % of viewers on that) are both declining long term. Put those together and it is fair to say there is a link between them. You can look at all kinds of reasons (like there being more channels and weather) but that overall trend is pretty clear. Irrespective of why people watch the trend over the years is very consistent as people realise how out of touch and disconnected from New Zealand the British Aristocracy are. The instigation of broadcasts by the Governor-General and the Maori King have provided us with alternatives so it will be interesting to watch how that develops. These broadcasts are more relevant and familiar while the Queen's speech is repetitive and heavily Christian (although post Sept.11 attacks she spent a few years talking about 'all faiths'). Each year she says pretty much the same core thing: Service to others is important, family is important, lets remember our men and women serving overseas, She then references other people in her family and the work they do and ties it all up with a comment about life in either Australia Canada or New Zealand (or mentions the Commonwealth Games). It is all about making her and her family look like selfless people working for the greater good.
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