Every year it hits: a fuss about the nominations for the Gouden Televizier-Ring. This year, the criticism of the nominated programs seems to be TheBeavers , The Hunting Season and Until here even more stubborn. ButTelevizier sees no reason to do anything about the voting procedure.
By Michiel Vos
“With two downright laughable nominations, it is impossible to maintain thatthis is still the prize of ‘the TV viewer’,” wrote TV columnist Angela de Jongin the newspaper. AD, after it became known that The Beavers and, TheHunting Season have a chance to win the prize for most popular program onDutch television this year.
According to De Jong, the “ever so prestigious audience award”, which has beenawarded by the public since 1964, is “bankrupt”. She joins a long list ofcritics of the voting procedure, including Carlo Boszhard, Jan Slagter,various other broadcasters and television scientists.
The columnist believes that the two programs simply do not attract enoughviewers to be seen as serious candidates for the audience award. The docusoapby folk singer John de Bever attracted an average of between 300,000 and400,000 viewers to RTL 5. To the YouTube success brought to television byTalpa Hunting season of StukTV, an average of 600,000 to 700,000 peoplewatched. Until here van Niels van der Laan and Jeroen Woe reached more thantwo million viewers more than once. The criticism is therefore not aimed atthat program.
The Beavers and The Hunting Season are therefore certainly not among themost watched programs. But thanks to the strong social media support of StukTVand the lobby of De Bever, which also received support from Johan Derksen,they managed to make it to the contenders of the Ring.
De Jong argues that the voting procedure should be overhauled and is not thefirst. Broadcasting MAX boss Jan Slagter previously called the Televizier-Ringan ‘Instagram prize’. He finds it unfair for program makers and presenters whodo not have a large number of online followers to encourage voting.
Chateau Meiland won the Golden Televizier Ring in 2019.
Photo: BrunoPress
Nomination rounds create online voting lobbies
So how exactly does the voting work? Voting for the Gouden Televizier-Ringtakes place throughout the year in four rounds. Each quarter, the fiveprograms with the most votes are forwarded to the next round. After that,Televizier adds five more wildcards to its own taste, after which 25 programscompete for the three nomination spots.
In recent years, program makers, presenters and broadcasters have becomeincreasingly active on social media in recruiting votes. According to criticssuch as De Jong and Slagter, the system therefore needs to be replaced. DeJong argues for a lower limit of one million viewers for nominees or a TVpanel that makes a pre-selection. Slagter is in favor of national researchwith telephone questionnaires.
‘In the end it’s up to the voter’
All not necessary, thinks Jeroen de Goeij of organizer Televizier. He remainssober under the fierce criticism of the price. “We have often had commotionabout programs that would not have been good enough to win or be nominated,”says De Goeij in conversation with NU.nl. By this he means, among otherthings, the profit of VI and Jan Smit’s reality soap. “In the end, it’s upto the voter.”
De Goeij emphasizes that the Gouden Televizier-Ring is not a professionalprize for the best program on Dutch television. “We are looking for thefavorite program through the votes.”
But does the prize in its current form say anything about popularity ifcandidates have a large online following? De Goeij also puts that criticismaside. “The price is not about viewing figures, but above all the connectionthat the voter feels with a certain program. Part of making TV is that youknow how to bind people to you. With only seeking publicity and advertising,you do not win the ring .”
And Slagter’s point that it is more difficult for Omroep MAX to mobilizevoters with older supporters who are less active online? According to DeGoeij, that is also not the case. “Programs like All of Holland Bakt areviewed by all generations. It’s too short-sighted to throw it at age. Andrévan Duin, who presents MAX for Omroep, is nominated and won last year.”
De Goeij says that Televizier is always in discussion about the development ofthe award ceremony, but that this year’s nominees are no reason to changethings up for next year. According to him, the election is getting bigger: thenumber of votes that come in is still increasing every year. And to those leftdisappointed without a nomination this year, he says, “Another round next