The winners: An easy win for Seven with the competition coming from the ABC with strong showings for the 8.30-9pm timeslot on ABC 1. Nine had one program with a million or more viewers, Ten had none, the ABC had three, Seven has four. Seven’s Criminal Minds, Suspect Behaviour at 8.30pm, 893,000. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation on Ten at 8.30pm, 754,000, which is weak. This program is definitely losing the affection of viewers.

  1. The X Factor (Seven, 7.30 – 8.30 pm) — 1.527 million.
  2. Seven 6pm News — 1.261 million.
  3. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 1.230 million.
  4. Home and Away (Seven, 7 – 7.30 pm) — 1.176 million.
  5. The Gruen Transfer (ABC 1 9 – 9.30 pm) — 1.164 million.
  6. At Home With Julia (ABC 1, 9.30 – 10 pm, debut) — 1.066 million.
  7. Nine 6pm News — 1.062 million.
  8. Spicks and Specks (ABC 1 8.30 – 9 pm) — 1.005 million.

The losers: Losers? Nine and Ten were poor. ABC showed both how to do entertaining TV that viewers want to watch. On paper Ten had a more solid-looking line-up than Nine. Not so. The Mentalist, a fresh ep for Nine at 8.30pm, 515,000.

News and CA: Hot Seat beat Deal Or No Deal nationally, but more importantly in Sydney where the margin was a massive 100,000 viewers, 193,000 to 93,000. As a consequence Nine News won in the market by 352,000 to 285,000, a margin of 67,000. Seven News won everywhere else.

Today Tonight though had a clean sweep, Nine’s gains only lasting half an hour.

  1. Seven 6pm News — 1.261 million.
  2. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30-7pm) — 1.230 million.
  3. Nine 6pm News — 1.062 million.
  4. 7pm ABC 1 News — 942,000.
  5. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30-7pm) —  903,000.
  6. The 7 PM Project (Ten, 7-7.30pm) — 679,000.
  7. 7.30 (ABC 1, 7.30 – 8 pm) — 614,000 + 21,000 on News 24 simulcast.
  8. Ten News At Five (Ten, 5 — 6.30pm) — 566,000.
  9. Sunrise (Seven, 7-9am) — 406,000.
  10. 6.30 With George Negus (Ten, 6.30-7pm) — 352,000.
  11. Today (Nine, 7-9am) — 349,000.
  12. Lateline (ABC 1, 10.30-11.05pm) — 289,000.
  13. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten, 10.40-11.10pm) — 256,000.
  14. World News Australia (SBS, 6.30-7.30pm) — 176,000.
  15. Lateline Business (ABC 1, 11.05-11.35pm, replay) — 138,000 +24,000 on News 24 at 8.30pm
  16. World News Late (SBS 1, 9.30-10pm) — 69,000.

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 34.2% from Nine (3) on 20.9%, the ABC (4) was on 20.4%, Ten (3) 20.2% and SBS (2) ended on 4.3%. Seven leads the week with 34.2% from Nine on 25.0% and Ten on 19.2%.
  • Main Channels: Seven won with 24.9% from ABC 1 on 15.7%, with Nine on 15.0%, Ten was on 14.0% and SBS ONE ended on 3.5%. Seven leads the week with 26.5% from Nine on 19.3% and Ten on 13.7%.
  • Digital: 7mate with 4.9% won, from 7TWO on 4.4%, Eleven was on 4.0%, ABC 1 was on 3.4%, GO was on 3.1%, Gem was on 2.3, ONE was on 2.2%, SBS TWO was on 0.8%, ABC 3 was on 0.6% and News 24 was on 0.6%.

Pay TV

Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.0%, from Nine (3) on 17.1%, the ABC (4) was on 16.7%, Ten (3) was on 16.6%, pay TV (200-plus channels) was on 15.4% and SBS (2) ended on 3.5%. The 15 FTA channels had an 84.6% share of TV viewing in prime time last night. The 10 digital channels had 21.7% and the five main channels were on 62.9%.

In pay TV homes (city and regional), the top five channels were:

  1. Fox 8, 3.42%
  2. TV1, 2.38%
  3. Lifestyle, 2.04%
  4. Nick Jr, 1.79%
  5. Fox Classics, 1.69%.

The five top pay TV programs were:

  1. AFL 360 (Fox Sports 1), 89,000
  2. Jersey Shore (MTV), 86,000
  3. Deadliest Catch (Discovery), 84,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox 8), 82,000
  5. Glee (Fox 8), 82,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld won (3 channels) with a share of 34.8%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 25.0%, with the ABC (4) on 18.4%, SC Ten (3) was on 17.7% and SBS (2) was on 4.0%. The main channels were won by Prime/7Qld with 24.4%, from WIN/NBN on 19.2%, ABC 1 on 13.4% and SC Ten was on 12.0%. The digitals were won by 7mate with 5.6% from GO on 4.1% and Eleven on 4.0%. The 10 digitals channels had an FTA viewing share last night of 27.6%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 35.5% from WIN/NBN on 27.5%.

Major Markets: A varied night with the only constant Seven winning everywhere and the ABC doing better in some markets than Nine or Ten. In Sydney it was Seven from Nine and the ABC both overall and the main channels (ABC 1). In Melbourne it was Seven from Nine and Ten overall and Seven from ABC 1 and Nine in the main channels. In Brisbane it was Seven from Nine and Ten overall and Seven from Nine and ABC 1 in the main channels. In Adelaide it was Seven from Nine and the ABC overall and Seven from ABC 1 and Ten in the main channels. In Perth it was Seven first overall and in the main channels with the ABC (and ABC 1) from Ten overall and Nine in the main channels. In the digitals, 7mate won Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. 7TWO won Sydney and Brisbane. Seven leads the week everywhere from Nine and Ten.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Seven’s night. The X Factor and Home and Away again were the major differences for Seven, helped by the News and Today Tonight. Nine and Ten were simply rotten. The ABC’s programs Spicks and Specks, The Gruen Transfer and the first episode of At Home With Julia were what viewers preferred because they were at least entertaining and well made.

The X Factor was the only program with 2 million or more viewers nationally last night. It had 2.150 million viewers, 623,000 in regions (No.1) and 1.527 million in the five metro markets. Seven News was second with 1.778 million viewers (517,000 in the regions, No.2) and 1.261 million in metro markets. Home and Away was third with 1.656 million viewers, with 480,000 in the regions (No.5) and 1.176 million metro viewers. The Gruen Transfer was fourth with 1.591 million national viewers, with 427,000 in the regions (No.6) and 1.164 million in the metro markets. Nine News was fifth with 1.545 million viewers with 483,000 in the regions (No.4) and 1.062 million metro viewers. At Home With Julia was sixth with 1.409 million viewers, with 343,000 regional viewers (No.10) and 1.066 million metro watchers.

Tonight: The X Factor on Seven. The finals series of the AFL and NRL footy shows on Nine, after another Gap Year from Hamish and Andy. And the best AFL show is the Marngrook Footy Show on ABC 2 at 7.30. Rush on Ten at 8.30 and Crownies on ABC 1, also at 8.30. A warning. If you are a fan of The Voice on GO at 7.30, it’s not there tonight, as forward schedules had it. Nine has suddenly replaced it with Are You Fitter Than A Pensioner?, which would have to be close to the silliest reality program that Nine has screened. So go for the other new Nine reality program; Are You Smarter Than A Nine Programmer? You bet, that’s easy. Watch something else, go out or switch to ABC 2 if you are an AFL fan.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports