Just like a free trial you forgot to cancel in time, The Cheap Seats was back for third season in 2023.
Each Tuesday night, Melanie Bracewell and Tim McDonald settled into The Cheap Seats taking a comedic deep-dive into the shallow end of the weekly news cycle.
Politics, world affairs, sport, pop culture, celebrities behaving badly, hosts behaving ever more badly – if it was available at the chemist, broadcast, published, or simply swiped left on in the past week, it appeared on the show.
It was a year of triumph for The Cheap Seats. In a first for the show, they secured a very special interview with none other than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Was it Mel’s Jacinda Ardern impersonations or a last-minute replacement when Bad Avocado pulled out? Who knows? But one thing is for sure, Mel sure knows how to perfectly time a wardrobe/microphone/mouth malfunction when the PM is in the house approving denying her visa application.
This year, The Cheap Seats also won the industry recognition they deserved (craved), winning the 2023 TV Week Logie Award for the Most Outstanding Entertainment Program.
We knew it was just a matter of time before their millennial magic would win critical acclaim. But audiences knew it all along, tuning in each week for the weird and wonderful selection of stories including major news stories, not-so-major news stories, stories involving cats, entertainment, sport, ‘What’s On What’s On In The Warehouse’, and viral videos. What’s not to love? And the ratings show it with The Cheap Seats punching well above their weight.
- 519,000 total national viewers.
- #1 in its timeslot.
- #1 in its timeslot in under 50s, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s.
- 30%+ commercial shares in all key demos.
- Biggest audiences ever on 10 Play.
- 31,000 viewers on 10 Play, up 7% year-on-year.
- Reached 10.8 million Australians across the series.
Don’t worry, we’re sure to forget the cancellation again so warm up your favourite armchair and get ready to shout/laugh/yell at the TV again in 2024 when The Cheap Seats returns.
Source: OzTAM, Regional TAM, OzTAM National VPM, Total Audiences are 7 Day TV + 7 Day BVOD + Live Stream, Reach is Virtual Australia, When Watched, May 1 to November 30 2023