The Winners: The AFL Footy Show averaged 576,000 in Melbourne for more than two hours last night and that gave the network an easy win in the south and nationally. End of story on a tragic night of TV elsewhere.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.322 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.218 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.102 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.073 million
  5. The Footy Show (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.045 million
  6. Bondi Vet (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.027 million
  7. ABC News (7pm) — 1.017 million.

The Losers: Getaway on Nine, 872,000 at 7.30pm, weak for a program that has been a network stalwart for years now. Rush on Ten at 8.30 pm, 800,000. Cops L.A.C on Nine averaged 529,000 without Melbourne. With Melbourne it might have made 750,000.

News & CA: Everyone was weak in Sydney last night, bar the ABC News. Maybe it’s the lighter evenings, maybe it’s just tiredness with the commercial offerings, or a long commute home. Who knows? But the 7pm ABC News averaged 340,000 in Sydney, Nine News, 337,000 an hour earlier and Seven News, 310,000. ACA beat Today Tonight in Sydney; TT and Seven News won the other metro markets and won nationally. Sunrise is still in front of Today.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.322 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.218 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.102 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.073 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.017 million
  6. Ten News (5pm) –868,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 844,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 804,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.20pm) — 317,000
  10. SBS News (9.30pm) — 225,000
  11. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) –193,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 169,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.55pm) — 164,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) –408,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) –319,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with a share of 34.1%, from Seven with 22.9%, Ten on 18.4%, the ABC on 17.6% and SBS with 7.0%. Nine leads the week with a share of 27.5%, from Seven on 26.2% and Ten on 22.9%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won with a share of 27.3%, from Seven on 20.1%, Ten with 17.7%, ABC 1 with 13.8% and SBS ONE with 6.0%. Seven still leads the week with 23.7%, from Nine on 23.3% and Ten on 21.4%.
  • Digital: GO won easily (all those main channel repeats) with a share of 6.8%, from 7TWO with 2.9%, ABC 2 on 2.7%, SBS TWO with 1.0%, ONE on 0.7%, ABC 3 with 0.6% and News 24 on 0.5%. That was a combined total for the seven FTA digitals of 16.2% with the peak market in Adelaide where the channels totalled a 19.5% share, with 17.5% in Perth and 16.3% in Brisbane. GO leads the week with a share of 4.2%, from 7TWO on 2.5% and ABC 2 with 1.9%.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with 28.1%, from Seven with 18.9%, Ten on 15.2%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels, 14.9%, the ABC with 14.5% and SBS with 5.8%. That left the 12 FTA channels sharing 85.1%, made up of 12.5% for the digitals and 72.6% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 32.6%, from Prime/7Qld with 21.5%, SC Ten on 19.7%, the ABC on 16.8% and SBS, 6.9%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld and SC TEN. GO won the digitals with a share of 6.6%, from ABC 2 on 2.0% and 7TWO with 1.8%. WIN/NBN leads the week with 28.5%, from Prime/7Qld with 25.4%.

Major Markets: Nine won everywhere overall, from Seven and Ten. In the main channels, it was Nine from Seven and everywhere, bar two cities. In Brisbane they tied for top spot, in the main channels and in Perth it was Seven first in the main channels, with Nine and Ten in the minors. GO won the digitals convincingly everywhere. 7TWO was mostly second, except in Brisbane and Perth where ABC 2 was second and Seven third. ABC 2 was third elsewhere. For the week Nine leads Melbourne from Ten and Seven and Brisbane where its Seven and Ten in the minors. Seven leads Nine and Ten in Sydney and Adelaide and in Perth its Seven from Ten and Nine. The NRL finals tonight and tomorrow will ensure Nine wins both Brisbane and Sydney and the week nationally.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Nothing more to be said. A wasteland last night.

TONIGHT: NRL final on Nine in northern markets. In Melbourne, in an act of contempt, it’s on at 12.25am Saturday. Nine shows a move at 10.2 pm, after a first movie, instead of the final.

Seven has Better Homes and Gardens and then a forgettable movie. Ten has The 7pm Project, then a Jamie Does episode. The ABC has Waking the Dead. SBS has another episode of As it Happened which is on The Great Depression, which has so far failed to inform us. Nine’s third channel, GEM, was due to start broadcasting today at Noon.

SATURDAY: Very hard to avoid the AFL Grand Final on Seven today (and Ten has already started boating about how the 2011 GF is a highlight). And the rest is a barren time for TV watchers.

Ten’s movie at 8.45pm, Tropic Thunder, might be worth a look or recording if you haven’t watched it. Cracker replaces Lewis on 7TWO, but they’ve been to air on the ABC a decade ago.

7Mate, Seven’s appalling-named third digital channel starts today. Nine’s second NRL final is the highlight of the night, sadly. And what about Melbourne? 11.45 pm, better than the previous night, sort of. But it does mean the two NRL finals can be seen in Melbourne on the same day. Wonderful! When the AFL G/F is over, winter has finally finished in Melbourne, will anyone notice?

SUNDAY: Junior MasterChef, Offspring and Modern Family on Ten, 60 Minutes on Nine, the final Midsomer Murders on the ABC, Sunday Night on Seven. Dateline on SBS.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports