Drama helps ratings -- who knew?!
One of the things that's endlessly amusing about the DERO 4EVAH people is when they decry Show for losing audience because they're breaking up the precious couple. What are the writers thinking?!!!
I'm pretty sure they're thinking that they've got a hell of a story here.
Not that EKP is part of the ratings or even considered more than an international oddity (non-German viewers don't mean a thing), but I think it's clear from just our viewcounts/comments that people are more interested in this storyline than they were in that previous state of domestic bliss (or what passes for domestic bliss in Essen anyway).
Even better, it's translating into real numbers that are genuinely impressive. For a long time, Show's ratings weren't great. Quotenmeter's Neuer Cast, neue Geschichten: So macht Alles was zählt wieder Quote attributes its lukewarm reception to plots like Julian lives, less skating, and, of course, Lars and Stella. (In fact, L'Arse and Dulla were called Rohrkrepierer. German speakers, I invite your translations of this word -- I already heard one that made me snort coffee through my nose.)
But that's all changed of late. The numbers speak for themselves: In January 2010, the show had an average monthly value of 15.4 percent; now in May, it's averaging 17.5 percent and for several days, reached well over 19 percent in the target group. The percentage of female viewers in the target age group (14-29 years) is at 26.1 percent, with an increasing trend.
But what's fabulous is that they're attributing this increase specifically to strong stories about Ben, Katja, and Isabelle, and Marc, Roman, and Deniz! And that upcoming plots of hockey and turmoil, conflicts between Roman and Jenny's skating teams, drama surrounding unwelcome family members for Roman and Katja, and the return of an earlier popular cast member are expected to keep the numbers strong.
All of this is good news for Show and, I believe, good news for DeRo. For those who don't watch the entire episodes, it might come as a surprise to know that Deniz and Roman are very much supporting characters. That their storylines are attracting this kind of attention can't be going unnoticed, which if we're lucky will translate into even meatier stories to come.