The Winners: There was nothing on after 7pm that was really interesting to viewers, so the news and current affairs shows dominated the ratings. The ABC documentary Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle averaged a very solid 960,000.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.372 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.292 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.194 million
  4. Getaway (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.140 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.110 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.067 million
  7. Bondi Vet (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.056 million
  8. Rush (Ten) (8.30pm) — 1.002 million

The Losers: It was Thursday night, not much on at all. The NRL Footy Show in Sydney and Brisbane.

News & CA: Seven News and Today Tonight lost Melbourne to Nine News and ACA. Nine News and ACA lost Sydney and other metro centres to Seven. An average night.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.372 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.292 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.194 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 1.110 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.067 million
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 874,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 868,000
  8. The 7.3o Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 817,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 353,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 307,000
  11. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 155,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 136, 000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm)– 111,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 381,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 313,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with a share of 29.1%, from Seven with 23.5%, the ABC was third with 22.5%, Ten was on 20.9% and SBS was on 4.1%. Ten won 18 to 49 and 16 to 39s in 6pm to 10.30pm prime time. Seven leads the week with 28.3% from Nine with 27.9%. Ten is third with 19.9%, the ABC is on 19.0%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won with 24.1%, from Seven with 20.8%, Ten on 19.9%, ABC 1 on 18.7% and SBS One on 3.5%. Seven leads the week with 25.2%, from Nine with 23.5% and Ten on 19.0%.
  • Digital: Nine programmed GO like its main channel and it won with a share of 5.0%, from ABC 2 on 2.8%, 7TWO on 2.7%, ONE on 1.0%, ABC 3 and SBS TWO on 0.6% each and News 24 on 0.3%. That’s a total share for the seven FTA digital channels of 13.0%. GO leads the week with 4.4%, from 7TWO with 3.1%. Perth had the highest share with 15.5%, Adelaide was on 13.5% Melbourne 12.7%.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with 24.2%, from Seven on 19.5%, the ABC with 18.7%, Ten on 17.4%, pay TV’s 100 plus channels shared the 14.8% reported and SBS was on 3.4%. The 12 FTA channels shared a total of 85.2%, made up of 10.9% for the digitals and 74.8% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: A win for WIN/NBN with a share of 31.0%, from Prime/7Qld with 20.6% and the ABC was on 20.1%. SBS finished with 4.4%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld, and GO won the digitals with 5.2% from 7TWO with 2.3% and ABC 2 on 1.5%. News 24 had 0.4%. WIN/NBN lead the week on 29.9% from Prime/7Qld with 27.8%. Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle was Number 10 in the most watched programs in regional areas with 367,000 viewers. Interestingly the ABC finished second in the southern NSW regional market, its best performance in regional areas last night. It was third in northern NSW, solid in Tasmania, but in Queensland it was ignored.

Major Markets:

  • Sydney: The ABC won Sydney, from Nine and Seven overall and on the main channels as Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle and the Q&A debate afterwards dominated viewing from 8.30pm onwards. In fact the doco was the most watched program in Sydney on the night and Q&A was third. It confirms that, as with the results on Wednesday, intelligent, topical TV can do wonders. Nine and Seven filled the minor placings. GO won the digitals from 72 and ABC 2, Seven still leads the week from Nine and the ABC.
  • Melbourne: But the two ABC shows were Sydney centric. In Melbourne they did OK (237,000 and 235,000) but didn’t stand out. It was the same story elsewhere. So Nine won from Seven and Ten overall and in the main channels in was Nine from Ten and Seven. GO won the digitals from ABC 2 and 7TWO. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Brisbane: It was Nine from Seven and Ten both overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals with 7TWO and ABC 2 tied for second. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Adelaide: It was Nine from Ten and Seven overall, but in the main channels it was Ten from Nine and Seven. GO won the digitals from ABC 2 and 7TWO, Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
  • Perth: Seven won from Nine and Ten overall and in the main channels, it was Seven from Ten and Nine. GO won the main channels from ABC 2 and 7TWO. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle and Q&A did well for the ABC, but only in Sydney and NSW. And that was the night. The documentary did well with male viewers, increasing its ranking from outside the top 10 in 16 to 39 to second for men aged between 25 to 54. It didn’t attract women viewers at all, the gender divide is very clear from the demographic splits. And it was the 6th most watched for the over 55s.

TONIGHT: AFL and NRL on Seven and Nine. The 7pm Project on Ten. Movies on Seven in northern markets, AFL in the south. Movies and other programming on Nine in southern markets, NRL in the north. The ABC has a fresh Waking the Dead.

SATURDAY: AFL on Ten in the afternoon and evening (in southern markets). Movies in the north. Movies on Nine and Ten. The ABC has a repeat of New Tricks at 7.30pm, which is actually the highlight on what’s a cheap, miserable night of viewing.

SUNDAY: AFL and NRL on Seven and Nine in the afternoon, after the morning chats. Dancing with the Stars on Seven at 7.30pm, right after Sunday Night which returns with an interview with Kevin Rudd. 60 Minutes at 7.30pm on Nine and the manufactured political coverage story of Mark Latham.

Ten has Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation and Modern Family. Mad Men returns SBS at 9.30pm. Ten has Offspring at 8.30pm. The only hesitation is that John Edwards is the producer and he’s also responsible for Rush.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports