The Winners: Such Is Life – The Troubled Times Of Ben Cousins, the one off programming won the night convincingly for Seven. The ABC again did well. The Gruen Transfer was as good as Gruen Nation and needed the 45 minutes that the fill in program had. The two entries in “The Pitch” for selling conscription were very good.

  1. Such Is Life – The Troubled Times Of Ben Cousins (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.996 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.562 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.486 million
  4. World’s Strictest Parents (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.404 million
  5. The Gruen Transfer (ABC) (9pm) — 1.358 million
  6. Nine News (6pm) — 1.342 million
  7. Spicks and Specks (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.313 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.242 million
  9. Yes We Canberra! (ABC) (9.30pm) — 1.189 million
  10. Hot Property (Nine) (8pm) — 1.142 million
  11. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.093 million
  12. ABC News (7pm) — 1.090 million
  13. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm) — 1.066 million
  14. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 1.032 million
  15. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.031 million
  16. The Farmers Wants a Wife (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.020 million

The Losers: Ten last night.

News & CA: The 7pm Project had far more news content than the 6.30pm programs, TT and ACA last night. The 7pm Project looked at Canberra and the trapped miners story in Chile. TT and ACA led with stories on mince meat.

Seven News and TT beat Nine News and ACA in every metro market and nationally last night. The 7.30 Report continues to get viewers interested in the carnival like atmosphere in Canberra.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.562 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.486 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.342 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.242 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.090 million
  6. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 1.032 million
  7. The 7pm Project (ten, 7 – 7.30 pm) — 951,000
  8. Ten News At Five (Ten) (5pm) — 859,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 393,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 278,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 201,000
  12. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 161,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 75,000.

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 393,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 337,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: A clean sweep for Seven with a share of 32.9%, from Nine with 25.7%, the ABC on 21.7%, Ten on 15.9% and SBS on 3.8%. Seven leads the week with 30.8%, from Nine on 26.5%, Ten on 19.5% and the ABC on 18.4%.
  • Main Channel: A win to Seven with 30.3%, from Nine on 22.7%, ABC 1 with 18.6%, Ten on 15.3% and SBS ONE on 3.3%. Seven leads the week with 27.7% from Nine on 22.9% and Ten on 18.8%.
  • Digital: A win to GO with 3.0%, from 7TWO on 2.6%, ABC 2, 1.9%, ABC 3, news 24 and SBS TWO each with 0.6% and ONE on 0.5%. That’s a total share of the seven channels of 9.8%. GO leads the week with 3.6% from 7TWO on 3.1%.
  • Pay TV: Seven won with 27.7%, from Nine on 21.6%, the ABC, 18.3%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels on 13.5%, Ten was next with 13.4% and SBS was on 3.2%. The 12 FTA channels had a total share of 86.5% with the seven digitals on 8.2% between them and the five main channels sharing 78.3%.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 30.6% from Prime/7Qld on 28.7%, the ABC was third with 18.5%, SC Ten was next with 17.6% and SBS was on 4.5%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels from WIN/NBN with SC Ten third and ABC 1, 4th. GO won the digitals with 7TWO and ABC 2 tied for second. Prime/7Qld leads the week with a share of 29.3%, from WIN/NBN on 28.8%.

Major Markets: Seven won overall and the main channels in all markets, while Nine was second and the ABC was third. Ten was squeezed. In the digitals, 7TWO won Sydney and Brisbane from GO and ABC 2. GO won Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth from 7TWO and ABC 2. Seven leads from Nine everywhere. The ABC is third in Sydney and Adelaide. Ten is third in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Two words. Ben Cousins. Such Is Life – The Troubled Times Of Ben Cousins dominated the night, especially in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide (as it should have).

Ten got badly squeezed by that and the ABC. It was a very bad night for the network. Just no traction at all.

The second part of the Cousins doco is on at 8.30pm on Seven tonight. Another 518,000 people watched the Ben Cousins in regional areas (it wasn’t the most watched program in these markets). That took the national total to just over 2.5 million viewers.

TONIGHT: Part two of Such Is Life – The Troubled Times Of Ben Cousins. Nine has Getaway. Ten has The 7pm Project, Recruits and Rush. SBS has Heston’s Feast and The Taste of Iran, which is the final episode of what has been a sleeper and quite good.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports