The Face Episodic Judges - H 2013
Walter Sassard/OxygenLONDON – The U.K. debut of Naomi Campbell model competition show The Face drew weaker-than-expected ratings for British pay TV giant BSkyB Sky Living network Monday night.??The show, which aired in the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot, attracted 132,000 viewers, according to the overnight data. That meant a market share of 0.6 percent of British households watching TV at the time.??
According to Broadcast magazine, that was also below the audience Sky Living has averaged in the same time slot — 239,000 viewers (1 percent share) — for the past year, despite heavy marketing.?
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The Face did, however, see a positive trend as its audience built over the course of the first episode, peaking with 149,000 viewers at the end of the hour.?? The format, a competition show in the vein of the Next Top Model franchise, will be sold at MIPCOM next week, with Campbell set tout it to international buyers.
The supermodel will fly in to MIPCOM in Cannes to pitch the Oxygen Media show created by Shine America, the U.S. unit of Elisabeth Murdoch-led 21st Century Fox unit Shine Group. 21st Century Fox also owns a 39 percent stake in BSkyB.??
Campbell is a coach and executive producer of the format. The Face is currently in production on its second U.S. season for Oxygen Media. In Australia, Foxtel has licensed the format and plans to air a local version on FOX8 next year.??
The U.K. version is co-produced by Shine TV and Princess Productions.
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
