The Winners

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.706 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.473 million.
  3. Dancing with the Stars (Seven) (6.30pm) –1.375 million.
  4. RBT (Nine) (6.30pm) -1.195 million.
  5. 60 Minutes (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.193 million.
  6. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation (Ten) (7.30pm ) — 1.188 million.
  7. Send In The Dogs (Nine) (7pm) — 1.156 million.
  8. Bones (Seven) (8.30pm, repeat) — 1.017 million.

It was a very quiet night and Seven lead from 6pm to 9.30pm.

The Losers

Ten’s movie repeat, The Devil Wears Prada, 9.30pm, 468,000. CSI, Nine, 8.30 pm, a fresh ep (880,000 viewers) beaten by a repeat of Bones on Seven and The Good Wife on Ten (963,000 for the fresh ep).

News & CA

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.706 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.473 million.
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.193 million.
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 926,000.
  5. Ten News (5pm) — 533,000.
  6. Dateline (SBS) (8.30pm) — 289,000.
  7. Insiders (ABC) (9am) — 262,000.
  8. SBS News (SBS), 6.30pm ) — 207,000.
  9. Landline (12pm) — 193,000.
  10. Inside Business (ABC) (10am) — 168,000.
  11. Offsiders (ABC) (10.30am) — 147,000.

Mornings:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) (8am) — 399,000.
  2. Weekend Today (Nine) (8am) — 253,000.

Meet The Press on Ten was pre-empted by the City to Surf broadcast. Seven News had a very strong night last night. On ABC News 24, Insiders, Inside Business and Offsiders had another 20,000 plus viewers in some case for the simulcasts. Insiders had more viewers in its hour than Nine’s Today on Sunday for the second week in a row.

For the week, ABC News 24 averaged 14,000 6am to 6pm Sunday to Saturday last week, against 16,000 for SKY News. But in prime time, 6pm to midnight, ABC News 24 listed to average 20,000 viewers and SKY News fell to 11,000. So overall a narrow win to ABC News 24.

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won with a share of 31.2% from Nine on 28.8%, Ten with 20.7%, the ABC, 13.9% and SBS, 5.4%. Seven won All people and 25 to 54s, Ten won 16 to 39s and 18 to 49s in prime time (6pm to 10.30pm).
  • Main Channel: Seven had an easy win, finishing with a share of 27.0%, from Nine with 21.8%, Ten on 19.6%, ABC1, 12.3% and SBS ONE, 4.7%
  • Digital: The seven digital channels had a total share of 14.6% in prime time last night, boosted by the strong win by GO which Nine programmed like a combination of Monday and Tuesday nights with lots of repeats. GO finished with a share of 7.0% (more than SBS overall), from 7TWO with 4.2%, ONE on 1.1%; SBS TWO with 0.7%, ABC2 and News 24 on 0.6% each and ABC3 on 0.4%.Melbourne had the highest share for the seven digital channels, 16.2% in prime time last night (they really love Top Gear and Two and a Half Men down south).
  • Pay TV: Seven had a share of 25.6%, Nine was on 23.7%, Ten, 17.0%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels, 15.7%, the ABC, 11.4% and SBS, 4.45. The 12 FTA channels had a share of 84.3%, with digital on a total share of 11.9% and the main channels, 72.2%.
  • Regional: A win to WIN/NBN with a share of 32.3%, from Prime/7Qld on 28.8%, SC Ten on 19.3%, the ABC with 14.0% and SBS on 5.6%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld, while GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ONE. ABC News 24 finished with 1.1% in regional areas and was the best performed of the three ABC digital networks last night in prime time.
  • Major Markets: Seven won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth from Nine and Ten overall; Nine won Melbourne and Brisbane overall. Seven won all the main channels in the five metro markets from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals everywhere, from 7TWO and ONE, except in Perth, where SBS TWO finished third.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Last week, Seven won All People overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals. WIN/NBN won the regional areas. ABC News 24 averaged 0.5% prime time share in the five metro markets last week and 0.8% in regional areas.

Last night was a clear win to Seven. Nine only managed to hang in there by programming repeats of Top Gear, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory on GO and attracting a lot of young male viewers who would otherwise have been doing something else. After Seven wins Tuesday night with Packed To The Rafters, it will win the week. Ten was behind, but did very well in the demos with Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation the standout.

Updates: The Seven Network is bringing back Sunday Night for the election campaign next Sunday, August 15. It is a belated decision. Why Seven News and Current Affairs boss, Peter Meakin, didn’t bring it back straight away for the duration of the campaign is mystifying. It’s all about being serious in current affairs. Seven has so far left the running to the ABC, SBS, ABC News 24 and Sky News.

London reports say that Gordon Ramsay stands to make a motza after the UK independent TV production company behind Midsomer Murders, All3Media, was announced as the buyer of rival producer, Optomen and One Potato Two Potato, the joint venture in which Ramsay has 50% stake. In 2008 Optomen set up One Potato Two Potato as a joint venture with Ramsay to produce all his TV shows. Optomen is also responsible for Heston’s Feasts with Heston Blumenthal, Police Camera Action! and Mary Portas show Mary Queen of Shops.

TONIGHT: A struggle of a night. A lot of politics. Julia Gillard on Q&A on the ABC at 9.35pm. Australian Story is the second part of a good report on the death of a young American woman on her honeymoon on the Barrier Reef at 8pm. Seven has Criminal Minds, Nine has Rescue Special Ops (both at 8.30pm) and Ten has The 7PM Project and Good News Week (also at 8.30pm). SBS has a new Man vs. Wild at 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports