Adele Ferguson and ABC 7.30 spent months building their ‘activist’ critique of the retirement villages sector, broadcast across approximately 10 days, from 30 September to 9 October. Few listened and fewer cared.
Despite harnessing ABC TV, radio and social media, the impact was negligible as measured by the visitor trend (village customers) on our portal villages.com.au. See the graph at top and the ABC activity below.
The chart shows that we averaged 3,000 unique visitors each day before the broadcasts; we had a jump (not a drop) of up to 800 visits a day for the two weeks and since then, we are back to 3,000. Little impact.
As the ratings tell us (and the Chair of the ABC), far fewer people are engaged in the ABC these days – 690,250 people for 7.30 for instance, their current affairs flagship, and now ranked 25th in all TV programs just behind Australian Idol.
Meanwhile on the commercial channels, NINE with its current affairs program 60 Minutes, is ranked 5th with 2,045,000 viewers.
Older Australians are not fools. Most village customers live locally and they hear what the brand reputation of a village is long before they consider moving.
The sector and the village staff gave their all for residents through Covid, and this has not been forgotten.
To suggest, as Adele Ferguson did, that older Australians can’t make significant decisions on their own is disrespectful and flies in the face of the concept of dignity of risk. As one caller responded on ABC Radio, “We are not dills because we are old”.
As a former rusted on ABC listener and viewer, this national downward spiral due to lost standards has lost me and is not good or healthy for our wider community.
Perhaps the village sector should now follow the herd and simply move further away from the ABC. In its current state it does not deserve our investment in time.
