The Winners

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.449 million.
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.342 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm)  — 1.267 million.
  4. Bondi Vet (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.141 million.
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.138 million.
  6. Getaway (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.110 million.
  7. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm, repeat ) — 1.078 million.
  8. Home and Away (Seven, 7 – 7.30 pm) — 1.048 million.
  9. ABC News (7pm) — 1.015 million.
  10. Recruits (Ten) (8pm) — 1.005 million.

What a tired evening of viewing, if this keeps up for much longer, bring on summer.

The Losers

TV viewers last night.

News & CA

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.449 million.
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.342 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm)  — 1.267 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.138 million.
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.015 million.
  6. The 7PM Project (Ten) (7pm) — 891,000.
  7. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 775,000.
  8. Lateline (ABC) (10.25pm) — 324,000.
  9. Ten late News /Sports Tonight (10.30pm) — 297,000.
  10. SBS late News (9.30pm) — 165,000.
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) –152,000.
  12. Lateline Business (ABC) (11pm) — 150,000.

Mornings:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 380,000.
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 324,000.

Seven News lost Sydney to Nine, but won the rest, as did Today Tonight. Seven’s recent 6pm gains in Sydney over Nine seem to be holding for the time being. A Current Affair had an exclusive promoted Wednesday night on actor Ray Meagher being stalked online. By last night, TT had a matcher and ran it, as did ACA, at the head of the program.

The Stats:

  • FTA: Thanks to GO, Nine won with a share of 29.5% from Seven with 27.1%, from Ten with 20.5%, the ABC on 18.2% and SBS on 4.7%. Seven leads the week with 28.4% from Nine with 28.0%. Ten is on 20.7%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with a share of 24.1%, from Nine on 23.8%, Ten was on 19.6%, ABC1, was on 14.5% and SBS ONE was on 4.2%. Seven leads the week with 25.4% from Nine with 24.1%. Ten is on 19.1%.
  • Digital: GO won because it was programmed like a repeat of Monday and Tuesday nights for Nine’s main channel with more repeats of The Big Bang Theory and Top Gear. GO won the night with a share of 5.7% (more than SBS’s overall share), from 7TWO on 3.0%, ABC2, 2.6%, ONE on 0.9%, ABC3 on 0.6% and SBS TWO and News 24 both on 0.5% each. That’s a total share of 13.8% last night for the seven FTA digital channels.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with 24.4%, from Seven with 22.4%, Ten was on 16.9%, Pay TV and its 11 plus channels, 15.3% (week high), the ABC, 15.1% and SBS, 3.9%. The 12 FTA channels had a total share of 85.7%, made up of 11.4% for the digitals and 73.3% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won here with a share of 31.6%, from Prime/7Qld with 23.1%, SC Ten was on 22.2%, the ABC was on 18.6% and SBS was on 4.6%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from SC Ten, then Prime/7Qld. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ABC2. News 24 had a 0.6% share in regional areas, so its settling in. WIN/NBN leads the week with a share of 29.9% from Prime/7Qld on 27.8%.
  • Major Markets: Nine won Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide overall, Seven won Perth. Seven won the main channels in Sydney and Perth. Nine won the rest. GO won the digitals in all five metro markets, 7TWO and ABC shared the minor places. Seven leads the week in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Nine leads Brisbane and Melbourne.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Hard to describe. Unattractive comes to mind. That no program at 8.30pm could attract a million viewers, says it all. Seven’s The Matty Johns Show was a bright spot for the network last night. Its Sydney (334,000) and Brisbane (144,000) audiences again did better than Nine’s effort at 9.30 pm (155,000 for Sydney, 84,000 for Brisbane). But the Sydney audience beat Nine’s Getaway (315,000) and what has to be a first, had more viewers than Nine’s AFL program had in Melbourne (302,000).

But that still doesn’t excuse Cougar Town at 10pm for Seven (353,000). But even this bit of tosh had more viewers in Brisbane (92,000) than Nine’s NRL Footy Show had for an hour and a half from 9.30 pm.

Updates: Don’t Stop Believing has been pulled by the struggling Channel Five in the UK after three eps. It was a version of The X Factor dreamed up by an ad agency and Shine (Elizabeth Murdoch’s company). Ten had it here, but no more. And NBC in the US has axed a Ten buy called Breakthrough with Tony Robbins after two weak outings in summer. Must be rotten.

Shine by the way has recruited Emiliano Calemzuk, president of Fox Television Studios (owned by Liz’s daddy, Rupert Murdoch), to be head of Shine Group Americas (and head of the US production house Reville). Is this a variant on in-house recruitment by family-related companies?

Mediaweek reported this morning that Seven has managed to retain the services of Adam Boland, who was leaving at the end of the year as head of morning TV. It’s believed he will be a consultant to the Network and various shows, and won’t be able to work for other TV networks. He will work with Seven and other non-competing media.

TONIGHT: AFL and NRL on Nine and Seven. Better Homes and gardens on Seven. Ten has The 7PM Project, Waking The Dead returns to the ABC at 8.3 pm (and no, it’s not about waking up Australian TV viewers on a Friday night). Seven no doubt wishes it had tomorrow night’s AFL game on tonight, instead of Essendon playing Carlton.

SATURDAY: AFL, a banger of a day, Swans vs. Hawks in the day, Cats and the Pies at night, all on Ten. NRL on Foxtel and some AFL. Rugby Union Test with Australia playing the All Blacks in deepest Christchurch, Seven and Foxtel.

At 10.10pm on SBS, La Vie en Rose, a movie about Edith Piaf, made in 2007. Might be worth a look, although it does have Gerard Depardieu ands his snoz in the cast.

SUNDAY: The morning politics shows, with the Insiders on a political high on the ABC at 9am. What will all the talking heads do for relevance when the campaign ends? AFL and NRL on Nine and Seven. 60 Minutes on Nine. Dancing with the Stars on Seven. Modern Family, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, The Good Wife, on Ten for those wanting some stimulation. Dateline on SBS at 8.30pm. And an oldie but still a very good goodie, Mother and Son on the ABC at 6.30pm. Head and shoulders above any other comedy on TV. In fact, apart from Modern Family and Packed to the Rafters, Mother and Son would be close to show of the week.