The Winners: Gruen Nation, Spicks and Specks and Yes We Canberra again forced Ten into third place. But the election will be over by next Wednesday, so a different result? Overall, Melbourne had 10 programs with 400,000 or more audiences, Sydney had just three.

  1. Gruen Nation (ABC) (9pm) — 1.540 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.442 million
  3. World’s Strictest Parents (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.425 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.399 million
  5. Spicks and Specks (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.331 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.304 million
  7. Nine News (6pm) — 1.303 million
  8. The Farmer Wants a Wife (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.262 million
  9. Yes We Canberra (ABC) (9.45pm) — 1.250 million
  10. Hot Property (Nine) (8pm) — 1.151 million
  11. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm) (repeat) — 1.111 million
  12. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.091 million
  13. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.078 million
  14. ABC News (7pm) — 1.004 million

The Losers: Ten, because it seems that many of its viewers again became Gruen Nation and Yes We Canberra viewers last night. Only The Simpsons and The 7pm Project held up for Ten last night.

News & CA: News 24 had its best night since launching, getting its highest share of 1.5% in the five metro markets, (1.3% in regional areas) and three programs with more than 100,000 viewers,: the 8pm news with 128,000, the simulcast of The 7.30 Report with 120,000, The Quarters at 6.45pm 100,000.

Sky News had its broadcast of the Brisbane forum for the election. In prime time from 6pm to 10.30pm Sky won with 81,000 viewers to 72,000 for News 24. Of course the majority of TV viewers ignored both and watched other programs, especially the ABC.

I watched much of The 7pm Project last night. The use of other personalities/journalists such as the ABC’s chief insider, Barry Cassidy is clever, just as using George Negus, Steve Price and Jen Byrne on other nights is. It adds a necessary seriousness to the program, adds a little to its news credibility and looks good.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.442 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.399 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.304 million
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.303 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.004 million
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 854,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 799,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 775,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.20pm) — 637,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) –281,000
  11. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.55pm) — 257,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 229,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 51,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 402,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 300,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with a share of 30.2% from Seven on 26.8%, the ABC was on 22.8%, Ten was on 16.4% and SBS finished with 3.8%. Seven with 30.0%, leads Nine on 27.5% in the race to win the week.
  • Main Channel: A win for Nine here with a share of 25.8%, from Seven on 24.2%, ABC 1 was on 19.5%, Ten was on 15.8% and SBS ONE, 3.4%. Seven still leads the week with a share of 26.8%, from Nine on 23.5%.
  • Digital: GO won with 4.4%, from 7TWO on 2.6%, News 24 was third on 1.5% (its best effort so far), ABC 2 was on 1.3%, ONE and ABC 3 were on 0.6% each and SBS TWO finished with a share of 0.4%. That’s a total of 11.4% for the seven FTA digital channels. Brisbane was the best market with a total share of 13.9%, with Adelaide next with 12.6%.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 25.2%, from Seven with 22.3%, the ABC was on 19.0%, Pay TV and its 100 plus channels was on 14.1%, Ten, 13.7% and SBS, 3.2%. That’s a total of 85.9% for the 12 FTA channels, made up of 9.4% for the digitals and 76.5% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: A win to WIN/NBN with a share of 32.8% (they love a rural love story and farmers getting wives in cities like Wollongong and Newcastle), from Prime/7Qld with 27.5%, the ABC with 18.8%, SC Ten was on 16.8% and SBS, 4.0%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and News 24. WIN/NBN leads the week with 29.6% to Prime/7Qld on 29.5%.

Major Markets: The ABC finished third every and in front of Ten. Nine won the overall in every metro market, from Seven. In the main channels Nine won Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven won Sydney and Perth, with the ABC third everywhere. GO won the digitals from 7TWO. In Sydney and Brisbane, News 24 slipped into third for its best performance in any market so far. ABC 2 was third in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten in all markets.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The ABC’s night with Gruen Nation, Spicks and Specks and Yes We Canberra. All good TV. Nothing more to be said. Ten was squeezed, Nine less so.

Update: The Seven Network has revealed its new third digital network will be “Bloke TV”, or 7mate. It’s the first third channel to be launched by an Australian commercial television network in Australia.

Seven says “7mate will launch on 25 September with high definition coverage of the Australian Football League Grand Final and will primarily target men. 7mate will be more than sport, though. It is the first broadcast television channel to cater for men 16-49 and is designed to complement Seven and 7TWO programming.”

Seven hopes to strip some male viewers away from Ten and Nine.

TONIGHT: Football shows on Seven in Sydney and Brisbane, Nine (everywhere and AFL and NRL). Getaway on Nine, The 7pm Project on Ten, plus Rush. Heston’s Feasts on SBS for those really into hardcore foodieism. The 7.30 Report for Clarke and Dawe’s last take on you know what.

Correcting the record: Yesterday I said that the Liberals Launch got 770,000 viewers at 7.30pm on Tuesday and The 7.30 Report got 447,000 at 8pm. They didn’t. Due to last minute changes of plans, the Liberal Party Launch on Tuesday night was shifted to 6.30pm, not 7.30pm as in most guides and The 7.30 Report went back to its regular timeslot. Julia Gillard’s launch of the ALP campaign was moved from 7.30pm (as in most guides) to 6.30pm yesterday. It didn’t improve on the second outing.

I missed early Wednesday night because I was at the taping of the Gruen Nation‘s episode last night. So The 7.30 Report got around 770,000 on Tuesday night. Because of the guides, The 7.30 Report probably missed out on a few viewers, especially those who might have wanted to record while watching something else. The Tuesday change was obviously too late for ABC programming people to change the codings in the first ratings issued on Wednesday morning, or no one remembered to do it.

Last night the ALP launch averaged 210,000, The 7.30 Report, 775,000 with normal service restored. I should have twigged from the numbers on Tuesday night. 770,000 people watching the Liberals? Dreamin’!

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports