“Arcadia” has already lost more than a third of its viewers

I’m not feeling well Arcadia. From the very beginning, the most expensive Flemish fantasy series of all time – one million euros per episode – lost more than a third of its viewership. How did this happen? What role does the budget play? And what does that mean for the future of Sunday night fantasy? On a commercial channel, the series has yet to garner 200,000 viewers.

Last Sunday, no more than 386,000 viewers sat in on the sixth episode of Arcadia. According to VRT, the number by Late View, VRT Max and Replays averages 862,483. Without reruns on Saturday, the series draws an average of 678,000, according to CIM (Center for Information on Media, ed.). Not really a high flyer, especially since the series is losing viewers every week. Live is 253,000 less than the first episode, and all numbers have collected 271,000. Good for a third with fewer viewers. Bad report, but at VRT they especially want to emphasize their pride in the series.

“This genre of literature is completely new to Flanders, the series has a great cast and fits perfectly with our mix of local narratives,” says VRT spokeswoman Jasmine van der Borght. “Nowadays people have the option to watch programs in different ways: linear, delayed, digital… so a linear display number doesn’t say it all at all,” figures from Arcadia, which has nearly 1.3 million starts at its VRT Max, tell us. figures from Arcadia Also in line with those of Baggage lossbroadcast during the same period last year.

But that series about the attacks in Zaventem wasn’t immediately a hit on One. With a premiere episode of 781,000 live viewers (as well as falling numbers), this series is only tenth on VRT’s Sunday evening fantasy slate in the past three years. black out (2020), two summer (2022) and the second season of Beau Sejour (2021) had the highest viewing figures with 1.2 million viewers for the first episode.

“euro pudding”

Reviews about Arcadia Divided. Some praise the ominous atmosphere and the courage of its makers for venturing into the “impossible” genre of Low Countries sci-fi. Others talk about an unbelievable world with rusty acting performances. However, no expense was spared for the project: with a budget of €1 million per episode Arcadia The most expensive Flemish series ever. Funds raised through VRT’s collaboration with Dutch NPO and German ARD. Such co-production can also lead to less viewer interest, says media professor Tom Ivins (UGent).

“The fact that the main characters are both Flemish and Dutch can lead to a lack of relevance,” says Ivens. We do not know the Dutch actors and that the central family is a composite family consisting of unrecognizable Flemish and Dutch people. The fact that money comes from all over Europe is good for financing the imagination, but the knife cuts both ways, because it hurts to be recognized. Something similar happened with IUD, a production with a cast from all over Europe, which also failed to catch on. It creates a ‘Europudding’ that the viewer doesn’t get a taste for.”

strong echo

Competition helps Arcadia Also no. Across the series, the VTM and Play4 pistols are used respectively as Farmer looking for a woman (average of 795,000 viewers) and the mole (average 1,374,000 viewers). The latter still gets over a million viewers live, but this is gradually becoming an exception for fantasy series. This will not improve. “Because there is often no compelling side to the fantasy series,” Ivins continues. “Viewers want to watch everything at their own pace. This is completely different The Masked Singer or the mole Where spoilers come into play and hence you have to watch live so you don’t know the outcome in advance. The million for the Sunday night novel is becoming less and less obvious. Although the very popular faces still cause bragging. With Tom Weiss in Arcadia, the series could potentially have a few hundred thousand viewers.”

The series also did not do well in the Netherlands. Arcadia It got to about 100,000 viewers less than with us in the first episode and then fell further and further away. In that regard, the Institute’s Sunday evening VRT was another boon to the series. “On VTM and Play4 commercial channels, the series will not reach 200,000 live viewers,” Ivins said. “One remains an institution with strong resonance. Because they chose a bold series like this, you also have to give VRT credit for that. They dare program complex series that are hard to hit, but the stakes don’t always work out so well.”

Arcadia, every Sunday in one day and entirely on VRT Max.