The Winners: A low night. Over a third of the TV audience was on the digital channels or Pay TV. That says it all about last night.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.151 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.123 million

The Losers: The NRL Footy Show on Nine at 9.30pm, 160,000 in Sydney, just 73,000 in Brisbane, its two major markets. With the season starting tonight, you’d have thought it would have done better. It was third in Sydney and 4th in Brisbane with the repeat of Grand Designs on the ABC (102,000) beating it. The AFL Footy Show averaged a solid 414,000 in Melbourne, which was the highest audience in the country last night. It flopped in Perth and struggled in Adelaide.

News & CA: Seven News won Sydney by 1000 viewers, won the rest a bit more easily. Today Tonight beat ACA in all five markets on low numbers. Ten’s 6PM With George Negus and the 6 30pm Evening news had a solid Thursday evening (for them). That Nine News, 996,000 and ACA, 891,000, finished with less than a million viewers each (compared to earlier in the week) would seem to indicate that Ten continues to drain more viewers from them than from Seven News and Today Tonight.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.151 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.123 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 996,000
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 918,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 891,000
  6. The 7PM Project (Ten) (7pm) — 741,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 664,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 661,000
  9. 6PM With George Negus (Ten) (6pm) — 350,000
  10. Ten Evening News (6.30pm) — 323,000
  11. Lateline (ABC) (10.20pm) — 251,000
  12. 6PM With George Negus Late (Ten) (10.30pm) (repeat) — 219,000
  13. SBS News (6.30pm) — 187,000
  14. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (11pm) — 127,000
  15. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.55pm) — 117,000
  16. SBS News (9.30pm) — 84,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 387,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 343,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with a share of 30.8% for its three channels, from Seven (3) with 28.5%, Ten (3) on 20.0%, the ABC, (4) on 16.2% and SBS (2) on 4.5%. Seven still leads the week on 31.8% from Nine on 27.0% and Ten with 20.2%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won with 23.4% from Seven on 21.6%, Ten on 15.3%, ABC 1, 12.7% and SBS ONE, 3.8%. Seven leads the week on 24.6% from Nine on 20.5% and Ten with 15.6%.
  • Digital: The 10 digital channels had a combined FTA prime time share of 22.5% last night, with GO winning with 4.0%, from Eleven and 7Mate on 3.8%, Gem on 3.3%, 7TWO on 3.2%, ABC 2 was on 2.3%, ONE was on 0.9%, SBS TWO was on 0.7% and News 24 and ABC 3 finished with 0.6% each. 7TWO leads the week on 3.8%, from GO on 3.6% and 7Mate and Eleven each on 3.4%.
  • Pay TV: Nine (3 channels) won with 24.9% from Seven (3 channels) on 23.1%, Ten (3) was on 16.2%, was Pay TV (100 plus channels). The ABC with four channels finished with 13.1% and SBS (2), was on 3.6%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share of prime time viewing last night of 83.8%, made up of 19.0% for the digital channels and 64.8% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won with 31.9% for their three channels, from Prime/7Qld (3) on 29.0%, SC Ten was on 19.3% for its trio of channels, the ABC (4) was on 15.8% and SBS (2) finished with 4.0%. WIN/NBN won the main channels and 7Mate with 4.9% won the digitals from GO on 4.7% and Eleven on 4.1%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA prime time share last night of 25.7%. Prime/7Qld still lead the week on 32.4% from WIN/NBN on 28.1%.

Major Markets: Nine won nationally because of a solid winning margin overall and in the main channels in Melbourne (thanks to the AFL Footy Show), supported by a win in Adelaide. In the other AFL market, Perth, Seven got home overall and in the main channels as viewers ignored the AFL Show. Seven won Sydney and Brisbane overall and in the main channels, despite the reappearance of the NRL Footy Show on Nine. It is going to be a long season for this program and Nine. 7Mate won Adelaide and Perth. GO won Sydney and split Brisbane with 7Mate. Eleven won Melbourne. GO won nationally. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten in all five metro markets.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Despite Nine winning All People, Seven won the demos as female viewers stayed loyal to How I Met Your Mother, Grey’s Anatomy, Home And Away and Desperate Housewives (which was weak in All People).

TONIGHT: The NRL starts on Nine in Sydney and Brisbane. Seven has Better Homes and Gardens at 7.30pm. The ABC has New Tricks (which has gone off a bit) and Ten has The 7PM Project and then the The Biggest Loser. Blue Bloods is hidden away at 9.30pm after tanking at 8.30pm Wednesdays.

Saturday: NRL on Foxtel. Repeats on Ten — avoid. Repeats on Nine — avoid. Repeats on Seven, plus the TV debut of the film Valkyrie — avoid (Tom Cruise is why). The ABC starts a show called Strike Back at 8.30pm, might be worth recording or watching if you remain indoors. Inspector Morse on 7TWO at 8.40pm, a repeat, but still good.

Sunday: The morning chats for more carbon emissions. More NRL on Nine and 60 Minutes on Nine at 7.30pm and then The Mentalist. Sunday Night on Seven at 6.30pm. The Biggest Loser and Modern Family on Ten. The final Ms Marple on the ABC at 8.30pm. Dateline on SBS, also at 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports