The Winners: Nine’s The Big Bang Theory, new at 8.30pm, old at 9pm, proved the difference on a close night. But seeing Seven News topped the audience figures, it wasn’t seen as the strongest night for viewing by the audience. Nine did very well on the demos with The Block and The Big Bang Theory.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.337 million
  2. The Force (Seven) (8pm) — 1.319 million
  3. Border Security (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.241 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.233 million
  5. The Block (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.191 million
  6. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) (8.30pm) (returning series) — 1.183 million
  7. Nine News (6pm) — 1.151 million
  8. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) (9pm) (repeat) — 1.097 million
  9. City Homicide (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.036 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.036 million
  11. Glee (Ten) (7.30pm) –1.029 million
  12. ABC News (7pm) — 1 million
  13. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1 million

The Losers: Reasonable choice again last night but the ABC’s offering failed to leave a mark. Strictly Speaking at 8pm, 436,000; cringeworthy TV. The Librarians at 8.30pm on the ABC, 541,000. House at 9.30pm on Ten, 600,000 … going, going…

News & CA: Nine’s cash give away in Melbourne at 6pm helped boost the news past Seven News last night, with ACA winning over TT at 6.30pm. Nine is also offering loot for Today in Melbourne, that pushed Today past Sunrise in that market. But the cash splash will be needed in Sydney again after the very sharp and unexplained slump in Nine’s 6pm to 7pm ratings.

Nine News won Monday and Tuesday nights with well over 300,000 viewers. Last night it fell to 258,000, which then pushed ACA down sharply to 280,000. Seven News and TT won easily last night.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.337 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.233 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.151 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.036 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1 million
  6. The 7PM Project (Ten) (7pm) — 791,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 733,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 668,00
  9. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten, 10.30 – 11.15 pm) — 307,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 248,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 167,000
  12. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 144,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 119,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 394,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 354,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won narrowly with a share of 31.3%, from Nine on 31.0%, Ten back on 19.1%, the ABC on 14.2% and SBS on 4.3%. Nine still leads the week with 30.2% from Seven on 29.4% and Ten with 19.6%.
  • Main Channel: Nine’s strength last night (like Seven’s on other nights), showed up in the main channels where it won with a share of 25.8%, from Seven with 24.7%, Ten on 18.3%, the ABC with 15.7% and SBS on 4.3%. Seven and Nine are tied in the week so far at 24.2% apiece, from Ten on 18.7%.
  • Digital: The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 16.1%, a bit higher than might have been expected given the face value of the programming on the main channels last night. GO and 7Mate tied with 3.5% each, from 7TWO on 3.1%, Gem on 1.7%, ABC 2 on 1.4%, GO and SBS TWO with 0.9% each, ABC 3 on 0.6% and News 24 on 0.5%. GO leads the week with 4.5%, from 7TWO on 2.7% and 7Mate on 2.6%.
  • Pay TV: Seven won narrowly with 25.5% (three channels) from Nine and its three channels on 25.2%, Pay TV and its 100 channels, 15.8%, Ten on 15.6% for two channels, the Four ABC channels with a total of 11.5% and SBS and its two channels on 3.5%. That left the FTA channels with a total of 84.2%, made up on 12.9% for the digitals and 71.3% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: Prime/7Qld with 33.4% won with WIN/NBN on 32.2%, SC Ten on 17.1%, the ABC with 12.6% and SBS on 4.7%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 27.5%, from WIN/NBN on 27.2%. GO won the digital channels with 3.5%, from 7Mate on 3.1% and 7TWO on 2.8%. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 15.6% last night in prime time. WIN/NBN leads the week with 30.5% from Prime/7Qld on 30.2%.

Major Markets: OK night for the digitals, Nine was mostly dominant on the main channels and now leads the week in most markets.

  • Sydney: Nine won from Seven and Ten both overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals from 7Mate and 7TWO. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten. The nine FTA digitals had an FTA share of 12.8%, Pay TV had a share of 19.2%.
  • Melbourne: Nine also won here and overall, with GO beating 7Mate and 7TWO in the digitals. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten. The nine digitals had an FTA share of 17.4%, Pay TV’s share was 14.6%.
  • Brisbane: Seven won both overall and the main channels from Nine and Ten. 7Mate won the digitals from 7TWO and GO. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten. The digital channels had an FTA share of 15.8%, pay TV’s share was 15.7%.
  • Adelaide: Seven won the overall from Nine and Ten, but Nine won the main channels from Seven and Ten. 7Mate won the digitals with 7TWO and GO tied for second. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten. The digital channels shared a total of 17.6% (FTA), Pay TV, 10.8%.
  • Perth: It was Seven winning overall and in the main channels from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and 7Mate. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 18.9%, Pay TV’s share was 15.3%.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: There are two new indicators to tell readers just how viewers found the night’s offering on FTA TV: the share of viewing by the nine digital channels and Pay TV. Last night pay was up, the digital channels share was slightly higher.

Ten had poor figures during the Commonwealth Games and since it ended a week ago, hasn’t done well. In fact it seems to have slipped a little. We will see next week just what the damage has been to solid programs like The 7pm Project, which should have been kept going during the Games. It’s audience rose a bit last night. It has to get back to 900,000 or more Monday to Wednesday, otherwise it’s been damaged by being taken off air.

TONIGHT: After the last three nights, a FTA drought. Rush is back on Ten, after Keeping Up with the Joneses and Bondi Vet at 7.30pm. But Nine has Cops L.A.C at 8.30pm, on its way to the boneyard and has brought back the just as dull CSI at 9.30pm.

Seven has not only the fading The Amazing Race, but returns Beauty and The Geek at 8.30pm, for 90 minutes — send me to bed early.

The ABC and SBS are not welcoming either, so the FTA digital channels will do well, as will Foxtel, and it’s not hard to understand why. Especially GO which is again programmed like the repeat channel of Nine’s main channel.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports