Expensive fee flop? ZDF series alienates millions of viewers gameandnews

ZDF must have imagined things quite differently: After a strong start, the event series “Der Schwarm” went down significantly. Compared to the opening event, more than 2 million fewer people tuned in to the finale. A small glimmer of hope remains, however.

It is the most expensive German series of all time: ZDF has put more than 40 million euros on the table for “Der Schwarm”. The eight-part series, based on Frank Schätzing’s novel of the same name, was broadcast on ZDF this week in one go. After a strong start on Monday, the expensive production almost all went downhill.

ZDF series “Der Schwarm” loses masses of viewers

A look at the ratings makes the downturn clear. Switched on Monday around 6.8 million viewers at the start a, were it on Day later only 5.37 million viewers a. On Wednesday, “Der Schwarm” then hit its low point with 4.56 million viewers, before it rose again slightly to 4.58 million viewers in the finale (source: quota meter).

The total audience had a market share of 16.4 percent. In the advertising-relevant target group of 14 to 49 year olds, it was enough for 7.8 percent.

The question remains: is “Der Schwarm” an expensive fee flop for ZDF? That’s hard to answer. Quite a few viewers should see the series also looked at the ZDF media library have and are not included in the classic odds statistics.

On the other hand, viewer numbers of 4 to 5 million in the evening are nothing special for ZDF. You would have that for sure also achieved with a canned TV filmwhich would not have cost the fee payers more than 40 million euros.

Our colleagues from Kino.de had the opportunity to talk to the stars of “Der Schwarm”:

Hard but fair with large viewer losses

But not only the ZDF series lost masses of viewers. In the first, “Hart aber fair” reached a new low this week with the new moderator Louis Klamroth.