Viewers in Sydney switch off

The Winners: Not a program in Sydney was watched by more than 300,000 viewers last night. Six in Melbourne had more than 300,000 viewers. There must be less to do in the south than in Sydney at this time of year.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.196 million
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.096 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.036 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.008 million

The Losers: A frightful night, but one that has to be endured, if you don’t, Santa won’t bring you the Spicks and Specks Christmas edition on Christmas Eve. So be good and keep watching your free to air TV, otherwise….

News & CA: Seven News and TT won Sydney and the country. Nine News and ACA won Melbourne. Situation normal.

In the morning Sunrise fell below 400,000 viewers, Today picked up some from its low of Wednesday. Situation normal.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.196 million
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.096 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.036 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.008 million
ABC News (7pm) — 953,000
The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 752,000
The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm)
Ten News (5pm) — 650,000
Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 282,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.15pm) — 219,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 158,000
Lateline Business (ABC) (10.50pm) — 143,000
SBS News (9.30pm) — 92,000

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 393,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 319,000

The Stats:

FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.9% from Nine (3) on 26.8%, Ten on 22.1% (2), the ABC (4), 16.8% and SBS (2), 5.4%. Seven leads the week with 30.2%, from Nine on 27.1% and Ten on 19.6%.
Main Channel: Seven won the main channels with a share of 21.8%, from Ten with 20.5%, Nine was third on 18.2%, ABC 1, 13.4% and SBS ONE, 4.5%. Seven leads the week on 22.4%, from Nine with 20.4% and Ten on 18.7%.
Digital: The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 21.5% (meaning one in five people who watched prime time TV on FTA channels last night ignored the main channel offerings). GO won with a share of 5.3%, from 7TWO on 4.0%, Gem was on 3.3%, 7Mate was on 3.1%, ABC 2, 2.2%, One was on 1.6%, SBS TWO, 0.8%, ABC 3, 0.7% and News 24, 0.5%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.6% from GO on 4.1% and 7Mate on 3.2%.
Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 22.8%, Nine (3) was on 21.2%, Pay TV (100 plus channels), was on 18.1%, Ten (2), 17.4%, the ABC (4), 13.3% and SBS (2), 4.2%. That left the 14 FTA channels to share in 81.9% of the viewers last night. the nine digital channels had a total share of 17.2%, the five main channels, 64.7%.
Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 30.8%, from Prime/7Qld on 27.2%, SC Ten was on 22.2%, the ABC, 14.7% and SBS, 5.1%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with a share of 22.2% from SC Ten on 21.1% and Prime/7Qld on 20.1%. GO won the digitals with 6.0%, from 7TWO on 4.0% and 7Mate on 3.2%. The nine digital channels had an FTA share in prime time last night of 21.8%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 31.0% to 29.4% for WIN/NBN.

Major Markets: a mixed night, only GO was consistent across all markets and winning and Seven leads Nine and Ten in every market. Foxtel won Sydney with its 100 channels.

Sydney: Seven won overall from Nine and Ten, but in the main channels it was Seven from Ten and the ABC, which was a bit of a turn up. Foxtel’s share here was a market leading 22%. GO won from 7TWO and 7Mate. The FTA share for the nine digital channels was 19.3%, high for this market and an indication of how bad the main channels were last night.
Melbourne: Seven won from Ten and Nine overall and in the main channels. GO won from 7TWO while 7Mate and Gem tied for third in the digitals. Foxtel’s share of 16.3%, the FTA share for the nine digital channels was 21.8%.
Brisbane: Nine won the overall from Seven and Ten. Seven won the main channels from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals from Gem and 7TWO. Foxtel’s share was 17.8% and the nine digital channels had an FTA share of 19.6%.
Adelaide: Nine won here from Seven and Ten, but in the main channels, Ten won from Seven and Nine. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and Gem. Foxtel’s share was its usual low, this time 14.0%, the FTA share for the nine digitals channels was a very high 26.5%.
Perth: A standard result here with Seven winning the main channels and overall from Ten and Nine. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and 7Mate. Foxtel’s share was 17.6%, the Digital channels FTA share last night was 23.3%.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The most watched programs tell us all about last night. From 7pm onwards, viewers just didn’t want to watch, especially Warnie, just 486,000 at 8.40pm, down from the 854,000 who tuned in last week (shifting the night to Thursday didn’t help, it’s a lower viewing night). In TV terms he’s a turkey, but it didn’t have to be that way.

TONIGHT: Oh, there’s a TV set in the room and it’s off. Leave it that way. But if you didn’t know, there’s Test cricket from Adelaide. Identity on the ABC at 9.30pm. I can’t suggest anything else. There’s also golf on Ten.

SATURDAY: More cricket and golf. The ABC has buried the new series of Bed of Roses at 7.30pm. A repeat of a repeat of New Tricks would have been more watchable. Spooks is after that. At least it’s new. On Seven we find out why local series Leave or No Leave and High Road Low Road are on tonight between 6.30pm and 7.30pm. Can they really be that bad? I will point out that there are very few nights lower in viewing terms than a Saturday evening at the start of summer (well, there is, it’s next Saturday and the one after that). There is nothing else on anywhere. Ten has two Kevin Costner movies on, Field of Dreams and The Untouchables. What happened to Waterworld?

SUNDAY: The morning chats on the ABC. Perhaps, Who Do You Think You Are on SBS at 7.30pm (it’s Rod Marsh, the former Australian Test wicketkeeper). Bones, perhaps on Seven at 8.30pm. 60 Minutes is on Nine.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports