A boring night of TV

The Winners: A standard Thursday night of TV. Not much to interest viewers or hold us enthralled.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.359 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6pm) — 1.330 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.212 million
Getaway (Nine, 7.30 – 8.30 pm) — 1.119 million
ABC News — 1.108 million
Bondi Vet (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.066 million
Recruits (Ten) (8pm) — 1.036 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.035 million
Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.034 million
Rush (Ten) (8.30pm) — 1.005 million.

The Losers: Not much to lose last night, seeing how it was such an average night. Actually, anyone who missed Clarke and Dawes’ wrap up of the election on The 7.30 Report.

News & CA: Seven News lost Sydney, but won Melbourne and the other metro markets. Today Tonight won all five metro markets, including Melbourne. The 7pm Project continues to be strong for Ten. Clark and Dawes should be bottled on their final take on the election last night at the end of The 7.30 Report. Vintage stuff.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.359 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6pm) — 1.330 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.212 million
ABC News — 1.108 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.035 million
The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 877,000
The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 810,000
Ten News (5pm) — 780, 000
Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 269,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 226,000
SBS News (9.30pm) — 211,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 146, 000
Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 116,000

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 335,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 296,000

The Stats:

FTA: A win for Nine with 30.3%, from Seven on 24.3%, Ten with 21.0%, the ABC, 19.3% and SBS on 5.1%. Seven still leads the week on 28.9% from Nine with 28.0%.
Main Channel: A win for Nine with 24.9%, from Seven on 21.5, Ten on 20.2%, ABC 1 on 15.0% and SBS ONE on 4.7%. Seven leads the week with 25.8%, from Nine on 23.8%, Ten with 19.2%, ABC 1 on 14.7% and SBS ONE on 4.5%.
Digital: A win for GO with 5.4%, from ABC 2 and 7TWO tied on 2.8% each, with News 24 next on 0.9%, ONE on 0.8%, ABC 3 on 0.5% and SBS TWO, 0.4%. That’s a total of 12.6%. GO leads the week with 4.3%, from 7TWO on 3.1%. GO of course did well because Nine is programming it as a male skewing mini main channel full of more contemporary repeats and movies. Perth was the best market for the digitals, with 15.7%, but Brisbane 14.4% and Adelaide had 14.3%. It was a Thursday night where the pickings on the main channels were again slim.
Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 25.0%, from Seven on 20.1%, Ten on 17.4%, the ABC, 16.0%, Pay TV and its 100 plus channels on 15.3% and SBS on 4.2%. That left the 12 FTA channels with a total share of 84.7%, made up of 11.4% for the seven digital channels and 73.3% for the main channels.
Regional: A win for Nine through WIN/NBN with 30.1%, with Prime/7Qld with 24.4%, with SC Ten on 22.8%, the ABC 17.6% and SBS with 5.2%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld. GO won the digitals on 5.7% with 7TWO on 2.6%, ABC 2, 1.4% and News 24 on 0.9%.

Major Markets:

Sydney: Nine won from Seven and the ABC in the overall and in the main channels it was Nine, Seven and Ten. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ABC 2. News 24 averaged 1.5% last night in Sydney. Seven still leads the week from Nine and the ABC.
Melbourne: It was Nine from Ten and Seven in both the overall and main channels. GO won the digitals from ABC 2 and 7TWO. Nine leads Seven and Ten in the week.
Brisbane: It was Nine from Seven and the ABC overall, but Nine from Ten and Seven in the main channels. GO won the digitals from ABC 2 and 7TWO. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
Adelaide: Nine won from Seven and Ten overall, and Nine won from Ten and Seven in the main channels. GO won from 7TWO and ABC 2 was third in the digitals. Seven leads Nine and Ten for the week so far.
Perth: Nine won from Seven and Ten overall, but in the main channels, it was Seven from Ten and Nine. GO won the digitals 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: Standby for speculation about changes at Nine’s Footy Shows, especially the fading NRL one in Sydney and Melbourne. Nine won’t do much ahead of a decision on a new broadcast contract sometime next year, but the ratings are now diabolical.

Seven’s The Matty Johns Show averaged 248,000 in Sydney and 166,000 in Brisbane. That was at 7.30pm. At 9.30pm, the Nine show averaged just 128,000 in Sydney and 86,000 in Brisbane. That can’t last, but Nine knows it can’t spend much money on a revamp until the fate of the broadcast contract is known.

The AFL Show averaged 356,000 last night in Melbourne, which is the best for several weeks. It desperately needs Eddie McGuire back fronting it.

Rush did well in the important demographics, as did Seven’s two episodes of How I Met Your Mother. That is why Seven is keeping How I Met Your Mother in the line up, even though on the raw numbers (800,000 and 748,000) it didn’t do well.

A it’s a big happy birthday to ABC’s Four Corners for yesterday. 49, I think. It started in August 1961.

TONIGHT: AFL, NRL in some markets on Nine and Seven in early prime time, late or not at all in others. The ABC has a another Waking the Dead. Seven has the first of a two part Touch of Frost in Sydney and Brisbane and some regional markets. They are the last episodes of this venerable series (14 seasons in 18 years). Ten has The 7pm Project, then it’s a case of you decide.

SATURDAY: AFL, NRL on Ten and Foxtel/Austar. And lots of elections everywhere, but SBS doesn’t start its coverage until 8.30pm. Ten, Seven and Nine all start their coverage around 5pm with News or election chat.

SUNDAY: The morning after the night before; prime time for Insiders and Meet The Press on the ABC and Ten. Nine’s Today on Sunday and Seven’s Weekend Sunrise from 8am. And then it’s into footy on Seven, Foxtel and Nine (and Austar). Sunday Night and 60 Minutes on Seven and Nine at 6.30pm and 7.30pm respectively might resume political coverage. Talking’ ‘Bout Your Generation and Offspring on Ten, Dancing With The Stars on Seven, Mother and Son on the ABC, at 6.30pm. It’s a repeat, but still one of the best things on TV.