The Winner: The tennis and cricket were the only programs that mattered last night.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.324 million
  2. One Day Cricket, session 2 (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.307 million
  3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.301 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.170 million
  5. Australian Open (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.007 million

The Losers: Well, anyone who didn’t like sport, especially cricket and tennis. There wasn’t much on otherwise on the main channels. So many bored viewers opted for the digital channels or Pay TV. And then there’s The Trophy Room on the ABC at 8.30pm, 227,000. Not good (and not the viewing figures).

News & CA: Not a real night, a holiday, the cricket and tennis skewed audience figures. In the morning, the holiday saw Sunrise and Today figures down. The figures for 6PM with George Negus and Ten Evening News were also down. Actually the first meaningful figures will come in April into May when nights shorten, the temperature falls, winter sports have returned, school’s back and normal viewing habits return for then late autumn, winter, early spring viewing peaks.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.324 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.301 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.170 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 717,000
  5. Ten News (5pm) — 648,000
  6. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 635,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 569,000
  8. 6PM with George Negus (Ten) (6pm) — 443,000
  9. Ten Evening News (Ten) (6.30pm) — 406,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 272,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 151,000
  12. ABC News Update (ABC) (10.30pm) — 119,000
  13. World News Late (SBS, 9.30 – 10 pm) — 88,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 325,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 301,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 34.8% from Seven (3), on 34.1%, Ten (3), was back on 14.6%, the ABC (4), was on 12.0% and SBS (2), finished with 4.4%. Nine leads the week on 32.1% from Seven with 30.6% and Ten’s on 18.8%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won easily with 29.6% from Seven on 25.5%, Ten was on 10.9%, just ahead of ABC 1 with 8.9% and SBS ONE with 3.7%. Nine leads the week with 24.3%, from Seven on 21.9% and Ten on 14.8%.
  • Digital: The Ten digital channels had a total FTA share of 21.3%, 7TWO won with a share of 5.7%, from Eleven on 3.4%, 7Mate on 3.4%, Gem was on 2.7%, GO, 2.4%, ABC 2, 1.8%, ABC 3, 0.8%, SBS TWO, 0.7%, News 24, 0.5% and ONE finished on 0.3%. 7TWO leads the week with 5.0%, from GO on 4.0%, Gem and 7Mate on 3.7% and Eleven on 3.6%. The 10 channels shares ranged from the usual low in Sydney, last night it was 17.3% in total, to a high in Adelaide of 27.6%, and just over 26% in Perth.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 28.6% (three channels) from Seven (3) on 28.1%, Pay TV (100 plus channels), 14.8%, Ten (3) was on 12.1%, the ABC (4), 9.9% and SBS (2), 3.7%. The 15 FTA channels had a share of 85.2% last night in primetime, made up of 17.5% for the 10 digital channels and 67.7% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: The cricket did it for Nine last night with WIN/NBN (3 channels) finishing with a share of 37.8% from Prime/7Qld (3) on 32.0%, SC Ten (3) on 14.2%, the ABC (4) on 11.5% and SBS (2) on 4.5%. WIN/NBN won the main channels thanks to the cricket from prime/7Qld’s tennis. 7TWO won the digitals on 5.7%, with Eleven on 3.8% and GO on 3.7%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share of 23.0% in prime time last night. WIN/NBN leads the week on 34.0% from Prime/7Qld on 29.9%. prime/7Qld won Tuesday night.

Major Markets: Nine won everywhere overall and in the main channels bar Perth where Seven got up as viewers there rejected the Australian cricket team. Actually the match finished around 7pm local time and was all but over by 6pm local. The tennis went on with the Nadal defeat on Seven the highlight. 7TWO easily won the digitals in every market with Eleven, Gem, GO and 7Mate battling for the minors. Seven leads in all metro markets bar Perth, where Seven is ahead.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Cricket for Nine. Tennis did OK for Seven. On Tuesday night Seven won the main channels and overall from Nine and Ten. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and Gem.

TONIGHT: Tennis on Seven. Getaway returns to Nine at 7.30 pm. It has two new faces, Jennifer Hawkins and Kate Ceberano, as Nine’s producers try to give the old warhorse new relevance. 6PM with George Negus on Ten, followed by The 7pm Project. The Good Wife on Ten at 8.30pm, to be joined next Thursday night by Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy on Seven.

News: The double header hosts for the new look The 7.30 Report, Leigh Sales and Chris Uhlmann won’t debut until March because the ABC is building a new digital studio for the program, which Lateline will share. Lateline returns on Monday night with Ali Moore filling the chair three nights a week, Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Tony Jones does Wednesday and Thursday. Lateline will broadcast from a news studio while the new studio is being finished.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports