Cats
Cats crowd the harbour on Aoshima Island in the Ehime prefecture in southern Japan February 25, 2015. An army of cats rules the remote island in southern Japan, curling up in abandoned houses or strutting about in a fishing village that is overrun with felines outnumbering humans six to one. Picture taken February 25, 2015. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Channel Seven Australia's newest "Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud" feature is statistical proof that nobody can ever resist accidentally funny cat videos. The show won the 7:30 p.m. time slot against the competition from other channels, clocking in with about 917,000 viewers. The other programmes, "The Hotplate" (Channel 9) and "The Great Australian Spelling Bee" (Channel 10), had only 839,000 and 642,000 viewers, respectively.

The Herald Sun writes that the feature is apparently a strategy to get viewers back after the locally-made "Restaurant Revolution," which it replaced, delivered poor ratings. The reality show has returned to airing just on Thursday nights, from four nights a week, after the network was forced to shut it down and compensate advertisers for the losses. In an article by The Australian , "Restaurant Revolution" reportedly costs about AU$500,000 per hour to produce, excluding post production.

Initial news about airing recycled cat videos did not sit well with some media, saying it is a "bad look for the sector." David Knox of TV Tonight notes that online is where such types of videos belong and bringing them to Free To Air TV only shows how madly Seven is trying to recuperate from its failed reality show. However, the numbers have apparently proven everyone wrong. In fact, "Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud" turned out to be a huge hit that the network is considering sticking to pet-themed programmes. For one, "Dogs Make You Laugh Out Loud" is expected next Tuesday on the same timeslot. If this continues to work out, it is likely that more pet videos will be coming soon.

"Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud" is a Channel 5 show that is narrated by comic Iain Lee, with commentaries by comedian and self-proclaimed cat lover Susan Calman. It is a collection of home videos by pet owners who caught their cats in the act of doing something silly or deliberately direct them to look outrageous. Channel 5 has a disclaimer on its website, though, reminding owners to make sure that their pets are safe from harm when the videos are made. The first compilation was aired online in March 9, 2015 while the second was shown May 13. Each has a runtime of 20 minutes.

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