Viewers switch to digital channels and pay TV

The Winners: After 7pm, no one really cared. Repeats of Modern Family on Ten (929,000) at 7.30pm and Criminal Minds on Seven (889,000) at 8.30pm, did sort of OK and were the standouts. Better With You at 8pm on Nine, 710,000. We now understand why it’s a summer series. Weak, even for this time of the year.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.325 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.198 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.190 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.030 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.020 million

The Losers: A very poor night on the main channels, the digitals and Foxtel profited.

News & CA: A better night for Nine. The News won Melbourne (401,000 which was the highest audience anywhere last night), but lost the rest. ACA won Sydney and Melbourne, but lost the rest.

But in the morning a different story again. Seven’s Sunrise was again well over 400,000 viewers and Today eased to 294,000, leaving the margin at 135,000, which among the largest for years. I know these figures bounce around, but in the past month, Sunrise has picked up strongly, while Today is a bit weaker. Sunrise won despite losing Melbourne to Today (which will be what Today takes from the figures).

Seven News (6pm) — 1.325 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.198 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.190 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.030 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.020 million
The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 817,000
Ten News (5pm) — 768,000
The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 742,000
Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) –254,000
SBS News (9.30pm) — 182,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 179,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 165,000
Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 88,000

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 429,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 294,000

The Stats:

FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 33.1%, from Nine (2), on 25.1%, Ten (2) and the ABC (4) were on 17.3% each and SBS was on 7.3%. Seven leads the week with 30.5% from Nine in 27.1% and Ten on 19.0%.
Main Channel: Seven won easily with a share of 22.8%, from Nine on 19.3%, Ten on 16.6%, ABC 1, 13.6% and SBS ONE, 5.5%. Seven leads the week on 22.5% from Nine on 20.9% and Ten on 18.3%.
Digital: The nine digital channels had a total share of 23.1% in prime time last night, with 7TWO winning with 5.8%, from 7Mate on 4.5%, GO on 3.9%, ABC 2, 2.3%, Gem on 1.9%, SBS TWO 1.8%, ABC 3, 0.7% and News 24 and One were on 0.6% each. The digital channels had FTA shares ranging from a low of 18.1% in Sydney to a high of 25.7% in Adelaide and nearly 23% in Melbourne and Perth. 7TWO leads the week with 4.7% from GO on 3.8% and 7Mate on 3.2%.
Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won easily with 26.4% from Nine on 20.1% (3), Pay TV, 17.3% was third (100 plus channels), Ten was on 13.8% with its two channels, the ABC (4), was also on 13.8% and SBS (2) was on 5.8%. The 14 FTA channels had a share of 82.7%, made up of 17.8% for the nine digitals and 64.9% for the five main channels. Foxtel’s shares ranged from the high in Sydney of 20.4% (which put it second in market), to a low of 13.4% in Adelaide with readings of more than 16% in the three other metro markets.
Regional: Prime/7Qld won with a share of 35.4% from WIN/NBN on 27.2%, SC Ten on 16.3%, the ABC, 14.3% and SBS, 6.9%. 7TWO won the digitals with a share of 5.0%, from GO on 4.5% and 7Mate on 2.9%. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 21.1% in prime time last night. Prime/7Qld leads the week on 30.7% from WIN/NBN on 29/.6%

Major Markets: Seven won overall and the main channels everywhere. The ABC was a third overall in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Ten and Nine shared the other placings. 7TWO won the digitals from 7Mate and GO in all markets. 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: It was not good, but proved the worth (if it needed proving anymore) of the digital channels for the FTA networks. But a total of 35.1% of the watching audience was on the nine FTA digital channels or on Foxtel in the five metro markets, and a similar proportion in regional areas. The main channels were a desert by design last night.

TONIGHT: The Amazing Race continues on Seven. Do we care? Warnie is on tonight as some sort of warm up for the Test cricket tomorrow. Rake is on the ABC and even though flawed, stands out tonight. Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam is back for another series on SBS at 7.30pm, a must watch, even in Winter in the middle of ratings. Ten returns the cops show Recruits and continues Rush.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports