The Winners:

Getaway enjoyed the departure of MasterChef and regained the million viewer mark, which set up Sea Patrol to win 8.30pm.

  1. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.319 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.312 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.219 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.182 million
  5. Getaway (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.109 million
  6. ABC News (7pm) — 1.093 million
  7. Bondi Vet (Ten) (8pm) — 1.088 million
  8. Sea Patrol (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.049 million
  9. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.037 million

The Losers: Ten’s Rush at 8.30pm, 836,000 for episode two and no MasterChef as a lead in. It did better than it should have been because Seven has abandoned Thursday evenings. Lots of fast driving, fast editing and long meaningful stares.

News & CA:

A re-run of Wednesday. Nine was weak in Sydney and much stronger in Melbourne where it won both the 6pm news and 6.30pm slots. Seven won elsewhere in both timeslots. Seven News lost Melbourne by a rather large 100,000 viewers. ACA was under 300,000 viewers for the second night in a row in Sydney, 293,000, 88,000 behind TT.

ACA surprised with a very nice story bagging Jeremy Clarkson who was rabbiting on Top Gear (not seen in Australia yet) about women wearing burquas and juxtaposed that with some local interviews.

  1. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.319 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.312 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.219 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.182 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.093 million
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 851,000
  7. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 788,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 762,000
  9. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 292,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.25pm) — 244,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 144,000
  12. Lateline Business ( ABC) (11pm) — 144,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 143,000

In the morning:

Sunrise on Seven was well and truly polished by Today which has closed the recently widening gap. Lots of problems appearing for Seven across the week’s schedule, and no sign of repairs.

  1. Today (Nine) (7am) — 369,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) (7am ) — 353,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with a share of 32.0%, from Seven with 25.8%, Ten on 19.9%, the ABC, 17.5% and SBS, 4.7%. Seven and Ten lead the week with 26.1%, from Nine with 25.9%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won here with a share of 25.1% from Seven on 22.3%, Ten with 19.3%, ABC 1, 14.2% and SBS ONE, on 4.2%. Ten still leads the week with 24.9%, from Seven on 23.4% and Nine on 22.4%.
  • Digital: A high 15.2% total share for the six digital FTA channels as viewers said a plague on some of your houses. Really, it was driven as much by Nine programming GO as a mini-main channel with recent episodes of Big Bang Theory and Top Gear. GO won the night with a share of 6.9%, from 7TWO with 3.4%, ABC 2, 2.6%, ONE and ABC 3, 0.7% each and SBS TWO, 0.5%. Adelaide and Melbourne were the best markets with a peak audience share of 17.7%.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 26.2%, from Seven on 21.1%, ten with 16.3%, Pay TV was on 15.1% for its 100 plus channels, the ABC, 14.4% and SBS, 3.9%. The 11 FTA channels had a share of 84.9%. That was made up of a total share of 12.1% for the six digital channels and 72.8% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won here with a share of 33.9%, from Prime/7Qld with 24.4%, SC Ten on 21.2%, the ABC on 16.4% and SBS on 4.0%. The main channels were won by WIN/NBN from Prime/7Qld and SC Ten. GO won the digitals easily (as in the cities) with a share of 5.8%, from 7TWO with 2.4% and ABC 2 on 1.8%. WIN/NBN lead the week with a share of 28.7% from Prime/7Qld with 26.3%.

Major Markets:

It was Nine from Seven and Ten in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide in both the overnight and the main channels. In Perth it was Seven from Nine and Ten overall, but Seven from Ten and Nine in the main channels. GO won everywhere quite easily. 7TWO was mostly second, or shared it with ABC 2. Seven leads Sydney from Nine and Ten, Seven also leads Adelaide and Perth. Nine leads Brisbane and Melbourne from Ten and Seven.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The 7pm Project was down to 851,000, but still solid and entertaining. No MasterChef and it was a boring night. Sea Patrol and Rush are really second tier Australian productions, as is Rescue Special Ops.

Thursday night is a good night for both programs. Viewing is low compared to Monday to Wednesday and at the moment Seven is giving away Thursdays in the hope of convincing the NRL that it is worthy of a few crumbs from the new TV rights deal by running The Matty Johns Show in Sydney and Brisbane, the two best NRL markets.

The Matty Johns Show streeted Nine’s NRL Footy Show again. The Matty Johns Show airs at 7.30pm to 8.30pm in Sydney (290,000) and Brisbane (153,000). The NRL Footy Show averaged 153,000 in Sydney and 106,000 in Brisbane from 9.30pm to 11pm. Nine’s The AFL Footy Show averaged 324,000 last night. No Jason Akermanis to talk to his mate, Sam Newsman, and there’s 100,000 fewer viewers.

TONIGHT: NRL and AFL on Seven and Nine. Trial and Retribution on the ABC. Ten has the second of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution that started last week. And The 7pm Project.

TOMORROW: Black hole alert. Except for the final episode of Doc Martin on the ABC and AFL on Ten in the afternoon and evening in most markets it’s a rotten night for TV viewing. Australia is playing New Zealand in the rugby from Melbourne on Seven from 7.30pm in Sydney and Brisbane. NRL and AFL on Foxtel.

SUNDAY: Chats in the morning, lot’s of politics. A good time for coffee outside, friends and or the papers. NRL and AFL in the afternoon and evening on Nine, Seven and Foxtel. Back to normal viewing in the evening. Dancing with the Stars on Seven from 6.30pm, 60 Minutes at 7.30pm on Nine, Modern Family on Ten at 6.30pm. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation returns to Ten at 7.30pm. The Good Wife at 8.30pm. Sir David Attenborough’s latest series Life on the ABC at 7.30pm. Dateline on SBS at 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports