Singing season with Idols on M-Net and DStv

Accompanied by the first Idols winner, Heinz and finalist Bianca, sales reps are outlining the changes to the show, which have been designed to make Idols an even more attractive advertising option than before.

This year's Idols is five weeks longer than the last season, ensuring more exposure for brands on the show and the search this time around is for the best voice - not the 'whole package'. According to Oracle Airtime Sales, many of the elements from the US series are being implemented, after the show took the Americans by storm. Auditions are taking place in additional regions in order to make the competition tougher, and there are also more live spectacular shows.
Research from Idols has shown that it was one of the most popular shows, ranking 3rd amongst A Income Adults across all stations. The finale achieved 13.9ARs amongst A Income Adults and 18.8ARs amongst M-Net Subscribers. 53% of the Pay TV audience watched the finale, as well as 23% of the total TV population. This translates to around 1 112 500 people.

Idols premieres on M-Net on Sunday, 22nd of June 2003 and runs for 18 weeks with the final show on the 19th of October 2003. All the shows will be screened on M-Net in Open Time, significantly increasing the target audience.
Sunday evenings Idols will be screened at 17h30 - 19h00 and the results show will be on Mondays at 18h30 - 19h00. DStv will feature an Idols Extra Channel featuring all the auditions and looped feeds of shows, while the website and interactive TV will be running 24/7.