By Glenn Dyer

Well the Nine Network had high hopes for the return of the NRL and AFL Footy Shows.
Unfortunately those hopes remain unfulfilled, a 14th place finish on
the list of most watched programs does not qualify as a winning
performance, especially when the direct opposition, The Amazing Race on Seven finished second and Medical Investigation on Ten slots in at No.12.

Third
place does not win, but the 1.047 million people who watched the footy
boys in the various states was an average audience over 90
minutes or so, and that helped Nine’s share to a higher level than
indicated by the average efforts of other shows.

Getaway crept into the top 10 in 8th spot for Nine and Nine News was there in 6th spot. But ER (8.30 pm, 17th) continues to be crushed by Lost, which was the most watched program on the night with 1.977 million viewers for Seven.

Seven started Lost ten minutes later at 8.40pm by allowing My Restaurant Rules to run over, which helped that program to third place nationally with 1.316 million people, helped Lost and helped The Amazing Race. It’s an old programming ploy that worked well (and one Nine has used earlier in February, so no complaints!)

The Footy Show
audiences were up by around 17,000 people on last year, not a
significant move, and accounted for by a higher audience in Adelaide,
compared to the same week last year. Audience numbers were down in the
main viewing cities of Sydney, Melbourne (a touch) and Brisbane
(sharply).

Nine News beat Seven nationally, but Seven News again
won in Sydney. A 130,000 winning margin in Melbourne was the real
difference.

Seven won the night with a 33.6% share to Nine with
27.1%, Ten with 21.8%, the ABC with 13.7% and SBS with 3.8%. Seven won
big in Perth and Sydney and well elsewhere. Seven leads the week but
with the NRL to start tonight in Sydney and Brisbane the week will
again be close.

While Nine and Ten are doing it tough against
Seven, there’s one listed media group copping it both ways – read about the land of The Southern Cross on the site here:
//uatcdn.crikey.com.au/articles/2005/03/11-0924-3962.html