Brownlow Medal counts the night out

The Winners: A night that sort of didn’t really count. Ten had the Brownlow Medal award in AFL states, Nine ran dead down there, Seven battled on, Ten had normal programming in Sydney and Brisbane. Seven’s The X Factor, 978,000, was squeezed by the Brownlow Blue Carpet show and then the start of the awards broadcast in the south.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.502 million
A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30 – to about 7.20 pm) –1.369 million
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.331 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.309 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.080 million
Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm) (repeat) — 1.073 million
Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.067 million
Home and Away (Seven) (7pm ) — 1.046 million

The Losers: With the Brownlow Medal count on and dominating Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth audiences last night, it’s hard to say. Nine ran dead in those markets by not running showing the final episode of Rescue Special Ops for the year. That aired in Sydney and Brisbane. Likewise Ten with Good News Week which only ran in Sydney and Brisbane and was beaten in those markets by Rescue Special Ops from 8.30pm.

News & CA: ACA did well with a long interview with Reg Grundy (the former TV producer) and his wife, Joy Smithers in Bermuda. Grundy has published an autobiography, so the “scoop” interview was as much PR as it was news. But being a TV person, I found it fascinating. Grimshaw did a solid job.

Nine News won Sydney by 1000 and Adelaide by a bit more. But Seven News won big in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. ACA won Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and TT won Adelaide and Perth. Sunrise moved back in front of Today.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.502 million
A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30 – to about 7.20 pm) –1.369 million
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.331 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.309 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.080 million
The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 925,000
Ten News (5pm) — 851,000
Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 803,000
The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 744,000
Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 639,000
Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 617,000
Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 603,000
Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 415,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 314,000
SBS News (6.30pm) –175,000
Lateline Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 173,000
SBS News (9.30pm) –131,000

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 426,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 310,000

The Stats:

FTA: Ten won with 27.9% from Nine on 24.8%, Seven with 24.0%, the ABC with 16.7% and SBS on 6.6%. Nine leads the week with 26.6% from Ten on 26.0% and Seven with 24.7%
Main Channel: Ten won here with 24.9%, from Seven with 21.8%, Nine on 20.9%, ABC 1 with 13.6% and SBS ONE on 5.7%. Ten lead the week with 23.8%, from Nine on 22.6% and Seven with 22.5%.
Digital: GO won with 3.9%, from ONE with 3.0% (Brownlow broadcast helped ), 7TWO on 2.2%, equal with ABC 2, SBS TWO with 0.9% and ABC 3 and News 24 both with half a per cent each. That’s a total of 13.2% for the seven FTA digital channels last night. GO leads the week with 4.0%, from ONE and 7TWO on 2.2% each. Adelaide had the highest total of 15.4% for the digital channels, followed by Brisbane with 14.6% and Perth on 13.7%..
Pay TV: Ten won with a share of 23.6%, from Nine on 21.0%, Seven with 20.3%, the ABC on 14.1%, Pay TV and its 100 plus channels with 12.8% and SBS on 5.6%. That left a share of 87.2% for the FTA channels, which was made up of 11.1% for the digital channels and 76.1% for the five main channels.
Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 28.3%, with Prime/7Qld second on 24.7%, from SC Ten on 22.7%, the ABC with 16.0% and SBS on 5.8%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld. GO won the digitals with 4.4%, from ONE on 2.8% with its Brownlow broadcast in Victoria, 7TWO on 2.0% and ABC 2 on 1.8%. WIN/NBN lead the week on 29.0% from Prime/7Qld on 4.9%. Apart from regional Victoria, the Brownlow just didn’t click in league mad NSW and Queensland regional areas.

Major Markets: A two speed market: Brownlow OK in the South, boring in the north in NRL country, except on Ten’s digital channel in Brisbane.

Sydney: Seven and Nine tied overall, with the ABC third. In the main channels it was Seven from Nine and ABC 1. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ABC 2. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
Melbourne: It was Ten from Nine and Seven both overall and in the main channels. ONE won the digitals with its Brownlow simulcast. Go was second and ABC 2 third. Ten leads the week from Nine and Seven.
Brisbane: Nine won from Seven and Ten overall, but in the main channels it was Seven from Nine and Ten. GO on the digitals from ONE and ABC 2. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
Adelaide: Ten won from Seven and Nine here in both the overall and main channels. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ONE. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
Perth: It was Ten from Seven and Nine here both overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals from ONE and ABC 2. Ten leads the week from Seven and Nine.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: What would happen if they broadcast an AFL awards ceremony in Sydney and Brisbane late on the evening that it went live in Melbourne and southern states on the Ten Network and no one watched? Well what resulted last night.

From 11.45pm just 12,000 (yes, 12,000) people watched the Ten Network in Sydney. In Brisbane it was 17,000. On Ten’s ONE digital channel, 90,000 watched the Brownlow in Melbourne live, but 46,000 did in Brisbane, and only 12,000 in Sydney. So in Sydney apathy won the night and the Brownlow didn’t even score a goal, just a behind.

The so-called Blue Carpet bit was watched by 32,000 in Sydney from 11.15pm and 29,000 in Brisbane. The trouble is that anyone interested would have watched Ten’s late News at 10.30pm, learned that Chris Judd won his second medal — it is not good news for the AFL and its expansion plans.

While 661,000 watched in Melbourne, that’s not the point. The AFL is spending a reported $200 million expanding into western Sydney and the Gold Coast. On these figures it will have to pay the networks to show games in both markets from next year onwards.

TONIGHT: Packed to the Rafters on Seven, which has flicked the silly Beat a Star at 7.30pm and switched Four Weddings from Wednesdays into the slot to try and boost the night and give a better lead in for Packed to the Rafters.

On the ABC, Foreign Correspondent at 8pm has an excellent story on a nasty form of fraud in the US, which has happened here.

Nine has Top Gear at 7.30pm and then Derren Brown: The Events (a show about magicians) at 9pm. Ten has Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation after The 7pm Project. SBS has a good Cutting Edge at 8.30pm on how many people can populate this planet.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports