The Winners

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.180 million.
  2. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.074 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.001 million.

And that was the night. Seven got home because its post 7pm shows were popular with female viewers for all the night. Nine’s AFL Footy Show did well in Melbourne, as it does (But then the same viewers love Two And A Half Men, so that’s no great recommendation). Ten was nowhere.

The Losers

Nine: NRL Footy Show: The 134,000 viewers in Sydney put it 25th in that market. The 77,000 who watched in Brisbane put it 27th in that market. It’s a long way from the 313,000 The AFL Footy Show drew in Melbourne (number 1 in the market and the country last night). The AFL show averaged 96,000 in Adelaide (6th in market) and 62,000 in Perth (21st in market). Million Dollar Drop at 8.30pm, 730,000. Average. The Good Wife on Ten at the same time, 669,000. Getaway, Nine, 8pm, 755,000.

News & CA

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.180 million.
  2. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.074 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.001 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 960,000.
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 957,000.
  6. 7.30 (ABC) — 709,000.
  7. The 7PM Project (Ten) — 688,000.
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 675,000.
  9. 6PM With George Negus (Ten) — 336,000.
  10. Ten Evening News (6.30pm) –297,000.
  11. 6PM With George Negus Late (10.30pm, repeat) — 225,000.
  12. Lateline (ABC, 10.30pm) — 222,000.
  13. SBS News (6.30pm) — 192,000.
  14. Ten late News/Sports Tonight (Ten, 11pm) — 170,000.
  15. SBS late News (9.30pm) — 117,000.
  16. Lateline Business (ABC, 11.05pm, replay) — 117,000.

Mornings:

  1. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 397,000.
  2. Today (Nine, 7am) — 378,000.

A Current Affair changed names to Are You Being Served for its special broadcast from the opening of the new Myer store in Melbourne. It beat Today Tonight in that city, and in Sydney. TT won the rest. It took me back to the early days of TV viewing when local stations used to stage live broadcasts of shop openings. A blast from the past!

Seven News won all five metro markets. Today won Sydney and Melbourne by big margins over Sunrise, but still finished behind because Sunrise easily won the rest.

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won with a share for its three channels of 29.3%, from Nine (3) on 27.8%, Ten (3), was on 21.8%, the ABC, (4) was on 15.6% and SBS (2) ended with 5.5%. Seven leads the week on 31.9% from Nine on 26.6% and Ten on 20.7%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 22.6% from Nine on 20.6%, Ten was on 16.1%, ABC1, 12.6% and SBS ONE was on 4.9%. Seven leads the week with 24.4% from Nine on 19.5% and Ten with 15.7%.
  • Digital: Eleven won with 4.4%, from 7Mate on 4.2%, GO was on 3.8%, Gem finished with 3.4%, 7TWO was on 3.0%, ABC 2, 2.1%, ONE was on 1.3%, SBS TWO and News 24 ended with 0.7% and ABC3 was on 0.5%. That’s a total FTA share last night of 23.1%. GO leads the week on 4.3%, from 7TWO on 4.0%, Eleven on 3.7% and 7Mate on 3.5%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 23.8% from Nine (3) on 22.6%, Ten (3) was on 17.7%, Pay TV (100 plus channels) ended with 15.7%, the ABC, (4) was on 12.7% and SBS (2) finished with 4.5%. The 15 FTA channels had an 84.3% share of TV viewing in prime time last night. That consisted of 19.7% for the digitals and 64.6% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN (3) won with a share of 31.7%, from prime/7Qld (3) with 29.8%, SC Ten, (3) was on 18.0%, the ABC (4), ended with 15.3% and SBS (2) was on 5.3%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 24.5% from prime/7Qld on 20.6%. 7Mate won the digitals with 5.7%, from Eleven on 4.6% and GO on 3.7%. The 10 digitals had an FTA share in prime time last night of 27.3%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 32.1% from WIN/NBN on 29.8%. The NRL on WIN/NBN and AFL in the South on Prime will produce a close result for the week.
  • Major Markets: Seven won overall and in the main channels in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Nine won Melbourne. 7Mate won Sydney and Perth. Eleven won Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven leads 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: I wonder how much Nine received for ACA‘s ‘special’ hosting outside the new Myer store in Melbourne? Did it get cash, more advertising, costs covered? Tracy Grimshaw looked cramped and limp at the same time squeezed into a narrow shot outside the door with a skinny red carpet behind her. ACA averaged 278,000 in Melbourne last night, rival Today Tonight 275,000, so no real advantage.

Nine then ran a program, called Myer Celebrates at 7 pm which averaged 186,000, which was the 21st most watched program in Melbourne last night. It finished 4th in the timeslot as well, which summed up the audience’s view of the opening. A big yawn. But one way or another, Nine got their money and Myer got exposure for an event that was already generating a lot of free publicity (Today Tonight did a Myer story the day before).

TONIGHT: NRL on Nine in the north, nothing in other markets. Better Homes and Gardens on Seven, then AFL in the south. Nothing of interest in the north. New Tricks on the ABC, plus Whitechapel. The 7PM Project on Ten, plus The Biggest Loser.

SATURDAY: AFL, NRL on Foxtel, AFL on Ten (Gold vs. Carlton at night; it will bomb). In the afternoon The Wobbles vs. The Shins. On Nine, nothing but movies, likewise on Seven. The ABC has yet another series of Spooks. RockWiz on SBS. The World Cup of cricket, India vs. Sri Lanka on Pay TV and on Nine.

SUNDAY: Don’t forget the end of Daylight Saving in the sensible states in the morning. Sleep in, save carbon, don’t watch the morning chatteries. Sunday Night on Seven. Nine has its Sunday edition of A Current Affair in the schedule. It will certainly have 60 Minutes. Ten has Modern Family and Bondi Rescue. The ABC has Midsomer Muders. SBS has Dateline.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports