The Winners: The National IQ Test averaged just 1.030 million viewers on Nine. Not helped by the slump in the 7pm audience for the Two and a half Men repeat which averaged 950,000. Seven won all the demos.

  1. Packed to the Rafters (Seven) (8.30pm) — 2.093 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.311 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.309 million
  4. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.230 million
  5. Nine News (6pm) — 1.200 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.152 million
  7. NCIS (Ten) (8.30pm) — 1.107 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.043 million
  9. The National IQ Test (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.030 million

The Losers: Nine’s The National IQ Test — two hours and just 1.030 million viewers. Iron Chef Australia on Seven at 7.30pm, 925,000. The X Factor failed to crack the million mark on Monday night, now Iron Chef Australia in the 7.30pm slot last night. Given all the money sunk in both programs, not good for Seven.

News & CA: Seven News and TT regained Sydney from Nine, but slipped behind in a rather large way in Melbourne. ACA shed a lot of viewers from Monday night. Those stunt episodes of current affairs programs no longer add to audience numbers over time.

The final episode of Foreign Correspondent confirmed why this is the outstanding current affairs program on TV. And why the ABC Beijing correspondent, Stephen McDonell stands out. A fine reporter.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.311 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.309 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.200 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.152 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 936,000
  6. The 7PM Project (Ten) (7pm) — 787,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 735,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 708,000
  9. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) (8pm) (final) — 656,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 361,000
  11. Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 205,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 164,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 138,000
  14. SBS News (9.30pm) — 121,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 399,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 350,000

The Stats

  • FTA: Seven won with a share for its three channels of 32.6%, from Nine (3), on 28.5%, Ten (2), was on 20.3%, the ABC (4), 13.7% and SBS (2), 4.8%. Seven leads the week on 29.7% from Nine on 27.6% and Ten on 20.9%.
  • Main Channel: Seven with a share of 27.1%, from Nine on 21.8%, Ten, 19.9%, ABC 1, 11.7% and SBS ONE, 3.8%, Seven leads the week with 24.9% from Nine on 21.5% and Ten with 19.9%.
  • Digital: GO again won with a share of 4.9% from 7Mate on 2.9%, 7TWO on 2.7%, Gem on 1.8%, ABC 2 on 1.4%, SBS TWO on 1.0%, ONE on 0.4% and ABC 3 and News 24 on 0.3% each. That’s a total FTA share of 15.7%, which ranged from the usual Sydney low of 12.1% to a peak of 18.1% in Perth and 17.8% in Melbourne. GO leads the week on 4.7%, from 7Mate with 2.5% and 7TWO with 2.3%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 27.4%, from Nine on 23.9% (3); Ten (2), 17.0%, Pay TV (100 -plus, 13.3%, the ABC (4), 11.5% and SBS, 4.1%. That left the 14 FTA channels sharing 86.7%, made up of 13% for the digital channels and 73.7% for the five main channels. Foxtel’s share in the metro markets ranged from the usual low of 9.6% in Adelaide to the usual Sydney high of 16.6%. Melbourne was a lowish 11.5%.
  • Regional: A win for Prime/7Qld with a share of 33.5%, from WIN/NBN on 30.2%, SC Ten with 19.6%, the ABC, 12.5% and SBS, 4.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with WIN/NBN next. GO won the digitals with 4.6% (FTA share) from 7TWO on 3.2% and 7Mate on 2.7%. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 16.0% in prime time last night. Prime/7Qld lead the week on 31.0% from WIN/NBN on 28.6%. Prime/7Qld lead the main channels, GO, the digitals. 839,000 people watched Packed To The Rafters in regional markets last night.

Major Markets: Packed to the Rafters topped every market and every demo for Seven last night. Seven won overall and the main channels in all five metro markets, with Nine second and Ten third. GO won the digitals in every market. 7TWO and 7Mate were the place getters, with Gem slipping into third in Melbourne. Seven leads from Nine and Ten in every market bar Melbourne where Nine leads.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Another weepie episode for Packed to the Rafters did it for Seven and offset the fade for Iron Chef Australia. A story in the Melbourne Herald Sun today quoted someone warning of the dangers of grief for viewers of Packed to the Rafters last night. Gee, it’s only TV and you shouldn’t be watching if you can’t work out that the last two weeks of Packed to the Rafters have been more examples of the way storylines are manipulated for Network benefit. Deaths, marriages, births, bombs, car crashes etc are all staples.

TONIGHT: A mostly poor night, with The Block a stand out on Nine amid the acned program favourites, The Big Bang Theory. Glee and The 7pm Project carry the flag for Ten, but the overdue card should be issued for The Librarians on the ABC. Seven has the fading City Homicide.

For me Poh’s Kitchen at 6.30pm on the ABC is now the improver of the year. Well made, informative and entertaining. Her ABC program gets good viewer numbers and she has grown into the role.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports