The Winners: The low number of million plus programs reflected the poor night on FTA TV. Seven scored well in the demos with Beauty and The Geek Australia (971,000) and How I Met Your Mother (676,000 for episode 1 and 545,000 for episode 2 from 9.30pm to 10.30pm).

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.247 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.210 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.012 million
  4. CSI (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.008 million

The Losers: A long list: Cops L.A.C on Nine at 9.30pm, 560,000. Rush, Ten at 8.30pm, 687,000. Getaway, Nine, 7.30pm, 857,000. Still fading, not used to sub-one million audiences.

News & CA: Nine News and ACA took another pounding last night. Seven News and TT again won Sydney, although not with audiences as high as on Wednesday night. ACA fell short of a million viewers again. Sunrise was again strong in the morning, while Today lifted from its levels earlier in the week. Seven News in Melbourne had the highest audience in the country last night, 359,000. Says a lot about how unattractive FTA TV’s offering was.

  1. Seven News (6pm)– 1.247 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.210 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.012 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 978,000
  5. ABC News (7pm)  — 856,000
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 742,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 698,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 612,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.20pm) — 259,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 245,000
  11. SBS News (9.30pm) — 205,000
  12. SBS News (9.30pm) — 152,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.55pm) — 145,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 422,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 343,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won with a share of 30.1%, from Nine on 29.5%, Ten with 18.2%, the ABC, 15.4% and SBS, 6.8%. Seven leads the week with 30.2%, from Nine with 28.1% and Ten on 20.3%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won here with a share of 23.7%, from Nine on 22.2%, Ten with 17.2%, ABC 1 with 11.5% and SBS ONE, 6.2%. Seven leads the week with a share of 24.6%, from Nine on 22.4% and Ten with 19.0%.
  • Digital: The nine FTA channels had a share of 20.1% (in the FTA space). GO won the night with 5.5%, from 7TWO on 3.9%, ABC 2 on 2.6%, 7Mate with 2.5%, Gem with 1.8%, ONE with 1.0% and SBS TWO, ABC 3 and News 24 all with 0.6% each. GO leads the week with a share of 4.1% with 7TWO and 7Mate equal on 2.8% each.
  • Pay TV: Seven won narrowly with 24.0% for its trio of channels, from Nine on 23.6% (for its three channels), Pay TV and its 100 plus channels totalled 17.4%, Ten and its two was on 14.5%, the ABC, 12.3% (four channels) and SBS’s two channels shared 5.5%. That left 82.6% for the FTA channels, made up of 15.3% for the nine digital channels and 67.3% for the five main channels. Foxtel’s highest share was 22% in Sydney, the low was 12% in Adelaide,
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 32.4%, from Prime/7Qld on 27.0%, SC Ten was on 20.2%, the ABC, 14.3% and SBS, 6.2%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld and SC Ten both close together, but well back. GO won the digitals with 5.9%, from 7TWO with 4.7% and 7Mate on 2.5%. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 20.6%. Prime/7Qld lead the week with 30.6% from WIN/NBN on 30.3%.

Major Markets: A big night for digitals, and Foxtel in Sydney.

  • Sydney: Seven won from Nine and the ABC overall, but Seven won from Nine and Ten in the main channels. GO leads from 7TWO with ABC 2 third. Seven leads Nine and Ten in the week so far. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 16.4%.
  • Melbourne: Nine beat Seven and Ten overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and 7Mate. Nine now leads the week from Seven and Ten. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 18.3%.
  • Brisbane: Nine won overall from Seven and Ten, but Seven won the main channels from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and Gem. The nine digital channels had a combined FTA share of 22.1%, the highest in the metro markets last night. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
  • Adelaide: Seven won from Nine and Ten overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and 7Mate. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten. The digital channels had an FTA share of 20.9%.
  • Perth: And wins for Seven both overall and in the main channels from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals with 7TWO second and ABC 2 and 7Mate equal third. The digital channels had an FTA share of 21.7%. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Poor night for Ten, weak night for FTA generally. No wonder one in five FTA viewers were watching the digital channels. With Pay TV included (17.4% all Foxtel, including a 22% share in Sydney and second) and the digital channels (15.3%) together had a total share of 32.7%. So a third of the audience wasn’t watching the money (main) channels last night of the three commercials, the ABC and SBS.

TONIGHT: Better Homes and Gardens on Seven. Luther on the ABC at 8.30pm; Junior MasterChef on Ten at 7.30pm. Go out or watch digital or Pay TV, read a book.

SATURDAY: Spooks returns to the ABC at 8.30pm after a new New Tricks at 7.30pm. Good viewing. Hey Hey it’s Saturday is on Nine at 7.30pm. Ten has movies. The Rugby Union is on Seven at 7.30pm.

SUNDAY: The morning chats, Dateline on SBS at 8.30pm, Sunday Night at 6.30pm on Seven. Nine has Rugby League in some markets at 6.30pm then Twenty20cricket between Australia and Sri Lanka from 8.30pm in Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania. Daylight saving affects the timing of both elsewhere. Seven also has Bones at 8.30pm. Ten has Modern Family at 7.30pm and Offspring at 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports