The Winners: Australia got into the Oprah spirit last night, well maybe it was the folk from The Sound of Music and the music that helped. Oprah’s normal day time program on Ten rated just 236,000 people at 1pm, perhaps a truer indication of her longer term interest to Australian viewers. Nine programs in Melbourne had audiences over 300,000 viewers, just one in Sydney.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.311 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.208 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.205 million
  4. The Oprah Winfrey Show (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.144 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30|pm) — 1.045 million
  6. ABC News (7pm) — 1.004 million

The Losers: Another of those nights.

News & CA: Nine News won Melbourne, Seven won the rest. ACA won Sydney and Melbourne, Seven won the rest. In the morning Sunrise had another 100,000 plus lead over Nine’s Today, despite the latter winning Melbourne 114,000 to 111,000.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.311 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.208 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.205 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30|pm) — 1.045 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.004 million
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 850,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 798,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 760,000
  9. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 362,000
  10. ABC News Update (10.20pm) — 293,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 199,000
  12. SBS News  (9.30pm) –196,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 435,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 329,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.7%, from Nine (3), 26.7%, from Ten (2) on 21.4%, the ABC (4), 15.2% and SBS, (2), 8.0%. Seven leads the week with 30.6% from Nine on 28.0% and Ten with 18.6%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won with a share of 21.1% from Ten on 20.6%, Seven was third with 19.6%, ABC 1 was on 12.4% and SBS ONE, 6.3%. Seven leads the week with 22.1%, from, Nine on 21.1% and Ten with 17.7%.
  • Digital: A solid night with the nine channels having a prime time FTA share of 20%. 7TWO won with a share of 5.3%, from 7Mate on 3.8%, Gem with 3.1%, GO was on 2.5%, SBS TWO, 1.6%, ABC 2, 1.5%, ONE was on 0.8%, ABC 3, 0.8% and News 24 was on 0.6%. The digital channels had FTA shares ranging from 17.3% in Sydney to just over 24% in Perth and 20.5% in Melbourne. 7TWO now leads the week with 5.1% from GO with 4.4% and 7Mate on 3.4%.
  • Pay TV: Seven, with 3 channels won with a share of 23.1%, from Nine (3) on 21.5%, Ten was on 17.2% with its two channels, Pay TV (100 plus channels) finished with a share of 16.5%, the ABC (4), 12.3% and SBS (2), 6.4%. Foxtel’s shares ranged from a winning 21.6% in Sydney, to the usual Adelaide low, last night it was 11.2%. Perth had the next best, 16.9%. That left the 14 FTA channels to share 83.5%, which was made up of 16% for the nine digitals and 67.5% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: Prime/7Qld won with a share of 30.3% from WIN/NBN on 27.0%, SC Ten was on 18.7%, the ABC, 14.2% and SBS, 7.7%. The main channels were won by WIN/NBN with 22.9%, from Prime/7Qld on 21.5%. The Digital channels battle was won by 7TWO on 5.3% and GO and &Mate on 3.5% each. the nine digital channels had an FTA share of 20.1% last night in prime time. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 31.5% from WIN/NBN on 29.1%.

Major Markets: Seven won overall everywhere bat Melbourne where Nine got up. In the main channels, Nine won Sydney and Brisbane, Ten won Melbourne and Adelaide, Seven won Brisbane. 7TWO won the digitals in each of the five metro markets with 7Mate or Gem or GO in the minors, except in Perth where SBS TWO notched up a 3.6% reading, one of the highest for the SBS digital channel in any market since it started. Seven leads the week everywhere bar Melbourne where Nine is in front.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Another night to forget. Just 177,000 people watched England administer the last rites to the current Australian cricket team in a way that resembled the Aussies of years gone by.

TONIGHT: Oh, no, not another night of TV. The Trophy Room on the ABC at 8.30pm. Criminal Minds at 8.30pm on Seven stands out, as the formula show of the night, but so does Cold Case on Nine at 8.30pm, NCIS Los Angeles and White Collar on Ten and a host of other programs. The digitals might appeal. A Top Gear repeat is on GO.

But woofs of joy! Rex in Rome is back on SBS at 7.35pm in new episodes! So get your best mate and all their furry friends and watch.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports