The Winners: The second part of Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins dominated the night. And with the addition of  before and after panels in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, Seven effectively devoted three hours of prime time to the Cousins story. Adding in the first part on Wednesday night, that’s four hours. That’s overkill, but it’s also AFL.

  1. Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.744 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.377 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.341 million
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.191 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.142 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.138 million
  7. Bondi Vet (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.118 million
  8. Recruits (Ten) (8pm) — 1.052 million

The Losers: Night two of Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins on Seven. It’s stunt TV, so no real losers elsewhere.

News & CA: Seven News (323,000) lost Sydney to Nine (331,000 )and the ABC which finished on top with 334,000 (but at 7pm). The 7pm ABC News and The 7.30 Report in Sydney with 322,000 both had more viewers than A Current Affair in Sydney, which averaged 252,000, which was a big fall (79,000 viewers) from what Nine News had.

In Melbourne Today Tonight lost to ACA and also shed viewers from Seven News, around 52,000. ACA added 46,000 in Melbourne from Nine News, in contrast to its weak Sydney effort. TT in Sydney added 39,000 viewers from Seven News. A hard night to work out what was going on in both markets.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.377 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.341 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.191 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 1.142 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.138 million
  6. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) –981,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 862,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 849,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 283,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 248,000
  11. SBS News (9.30pm) — 165,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 147,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 131,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7|am) — 385,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 312,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won with a share of 33.8%, from Nine with 26.1%, Ten on 18.5%, the ABC was on 17.2% and SBS, 4.5%. Seven leads the week with a share of 31.4%, from Nine on 26.4% and Ten on 19.3%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with a share of 30.4%, from Seven with 20.8%, Ten with 17.7%, ABC 1 was on 13.6% and SBS ONE, 3.9%. Seven leads with the week with a share of 28.2%, from Nine on 22.5% and Ten with 18.6%.
  • Digital: A very strong night for the digitals as GO continues to look like a mini-main channel and is adding viewers on Thursdays as Nine’s main channel stagnates. GO won with 5.3%, from 7TWO on 3.4%, ABC 2 on 2.5%, ONE on 0.8%, News 24 and SBS TWO on 0.6% and ABC 3 on 0.5%. That’s a total of 13.7% for the seven FTA digital channels. Brisbane was the best market with a total share of 16.3%, followed by Sydney with 14.8%.
  • Pay TV: Seven won with a share of 28.2%, from Nine on 21.7%, Ten with 15.5%, the ABC on 14.4%, Pay TV and its 100 plus channels on 14.1% and SBS with 3.7%. The 12 FTA channels shared a total of 85.9%, made up of 11.4% for the seven digitals and 74.5% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 29.0% from Prime/7Qld on 28.6%, SC Ten on 21.3%, the ABC, 15.8% and SBS, 5.3%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with a share of 25.5%, from WIN/NBN on 24.1%. GO won the digitals with 5.0%, from 7TWO on 3.1%, ABC 2 with 1.8%, ABC 3 on 0.9% and News 24 on 0.8%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 29.2% from WIN/NBN on 28.9%

Major Markets: Seven, Nine, Ten was the order everywhere for the overall and the main channels except in Sydney where the ABC finished third overall, but not in the main channels where it swapped with Ten. GO won the digitals everywhere with 7TWO and ABC in the minor placings in that order except on Brisbane where they swapped. Seven leads from Nine and Ten everywhere bar Sydney where the ABC still has its nose in front of Ten in third and will probably get home there for the week.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Two words, Ben Cousins, again. Enough said. By the way, watch for a little ABC filler called Minuscule. It’s a couple of minutes long, it’s animated, it’s about insects and it’s very funny. There was one on just before the 7pm ABC News last night and it averaged 606,000. Worth it.

In the battle of the football shows… Nine’s AFL/NRL Footy Shows averaged 586,000 nationally. The AFL program in Melbourne averaged 258,000 and took a hit from the after chat on Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins. The NRL program in Sydney averaged 130,000 and 83,000 in Brisbane at 9.30pm. Seven’s The Matty Johns Show averaged 524,000, with 299,000 in Sydney at 7.30pm and 162,000 in Brisbane. Its shown late in the night in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and rates poorly.

TONIGHT: AFL on Seven in the early evening in southern markets, late in the north. NRL on Nine in the early evening in the northern markets. The ABC has another episode of Waking the Dead. In Sydney and Brisbane A Touch of Frost ends with part two of the last episode. Ten has The 7pm Project and then Jamie Oliver goes to North Africa in Jamie Does.

SATURDAY: AFL on Ten in the afternoon and evening. Nine and Seven have movies. The highlight is the repeat of New Tricks on the ABC at 7.30pm. A night to ignore really, or watch football or the digital channels. Better still, go out and have a life.

SUNDAY: AFL with the home and away games ending today and the finals starting next week. Seven has the AFL in the afternoon in various markets and times. Seven also has Sunday Night and Dancing With The Stars.

NRL on Nine and 60 Minutes later. Ten has Modern Family, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation and Offspring.

The ABC has Gracie!,  a biopic of Gracie Fields, at 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports