The Winners: News must have spread about Paper Giants as the audience swelled from Sunday night’s 1.278 million. And some of those extra viewers must have been under 40 because the episode jumped to the top of all demographic groups to easily be the most watched program on the night. Seven News was ahead of it because of more viewers over 54.

The move by the ABC to run the series in two episodes over two nights and pre-empt Four Corners, Media Watch and Q&A was supported by viewers. We know the ABC isn’t interested in ratings, but even last night’s figures would have pleased everyone, bar the grumblers on Four Corners, Media Watch and Q&A.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.366 million
  2. Paper Giants (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.344 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.282 million
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.082 million
  5. Border Patrol (Seven, 7.30 – 8 pm) — 1.071 million
  6. ABC News (7pm) — 1.069 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.045 million

The Losers: Nine and Ten. Yes, it is non-ratings and at least Ten can be said to have tried with fresh episodes of The 7pm Project and Good News Week, offset by the repeat of Glee. But Nine ran back to back repeats from 7pm and the audience reacted accordingly, pushing Nine into third.

News & CA: Seven News won all five metro markets, Sydney by just 1000. Today Tonight had clear wins over ACA in all five metro markets. The 7pm ABC News with 335,000 slipped into second in Melbourne behind Seven News with 367,000 and ahead of Nine News which on 331,000 viewers.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.366 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.282 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.082 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 1.069 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 999,000
  6. Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 925,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 785,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 743,000
  9. Ten News (5pm) — 665,000
  10. 6.30 With George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 404,000
  11. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 245,000
  12. 6.30 With George Negus (Ten) (10.40pm) — 200,000
  13. SBS News (6.30pm) — 178,000
  14. SBS News (9.30pm) — 162,000
  15. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (11.10pm) –144,000
  16. Lateline Business (ABC, 11.05 – 11.35 pm, replay) — 131,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 383,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 357,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 30.7% from the ABC on 23.0% for its four channels, Nine (3) was on 22.5%, Ten was 4th with 17.6% (3 channels) and SBS (2) ended with 6.3%. Seven leads the week with 30.0% from Nine on 23.8% and the ABC on 20.7%. Ten is on 19.7% and should move into third tonight.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with a share of 21.6%, from ABC 1 with 19.8%, Nine was on 16.5%, Ten finished with 12.6% and SBS ONE was on 5.5%. Seven leads the week with 22.9% from ABC 1 on 18.1%, Nine on 17.3% and Ten on 14.1%.
  • Digital: 7mate won with a share of 4.8%, from 7TWO on 4.3%, Eleven was on 4.0%, GO, 3.2%, Gem was on 2.8%, ABC 2, 2.0%, ONE, 0.9%, SBS TWO, 0.8%, News 24, 0.7% and ABC 3, 0.4%. That’s a total FTA share of 23.9% for the 10 digital channels in prime time last night. 7TWO leads the week on 3.9% from GO and Eleven on 3.7%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 25.0%, from the ABC (4) on 18.7%, Nine (3) was on 18.3%, Pay TV (100 plus channels) ended with 16.1%, Ten was on 14.3% (3 channels) and SBS with two channels was on 5.1%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share of prime time viewing last night of 83.9% made up of 19.7% for the digitals and 64.2% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 30.4% from WIN/NBN (3) on 26.2%, The ABC (4) was on 20.1%, SC Ten (3), 4th on 16.7% and SBS (2) on 6.5%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 21.2%, from WIN/NBN on 19.9%, ABC 1 was on 16.5% and SC Ten was 4th with 11.5%. T7TWO won the digitals with 5.1%, from 7mate on 4.2% and Eleven on 3.9%. Prime/7Qld leads the week on 30.8% from WIN/NBN on 27.9%.

Major Markets: Seven won overall in every market and the main channels everywhere bar Sydney where Paper Giants pushed the ABC 1 to the top position. The ABC finished second overall in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Nine was second in Melbourne and Brisbane and the ABC was third. In the main channels, The ABC was second behind Seven in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. In the digitals, 7mate won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, 7TWO won Adelaide and Perth. Seven leads the week everywhere. The ABC is second in Sydney, third in Melbourne and Perth. Nine and Ten make up the minors in Brisbane and Adelaide.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Paper Giants was more popular in Melbourne last night with 449,000 viewers, to 412,000 in Sydney, they were the first and second largest audiences in any market last night. It wasn’t anywhere near as popular in Brisbane (where it was nearly banned), Adelaide and Perth. But in regional areas it didn’t quite have the same impact: 414,000 viewers watched (taking the national audience to well over 1.75 million. But Australian Story had more viewers for the ABC for its half hour and programs like ACA, Nine, Seven and WIN News and Border Patrol on Seven, also had more viewers for their timeslots.

TONIGHT: Winners & Losers on Seven at 7.30pm. The only reason this program is continuing with fresh episodes over the Easter break is that Seven is bedding it in to hook viewers. Parenthood at 9.30pm is also fresh, but fading.

Nine rests Top Gear after the appalling figures for the oft repeated Vietnam episode last week. A movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, replaces Top Gear. Ten has fresh episodes of The 7pm Project and Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation. NCIS is a repeat, not so NCIS Los Angeles which has never rated well. The ABC has Foreign Correspondent at 8pm and then Stephen Fry in The Great American Oil Spill.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports