The Winners: Seven’s night, but compared to a week ago, a few programs leaked viewers.

Spicks & Specks on the ABC at 8.30pm, 996,000 (1.046 million a week ago).

CSI on Nine at 8.30pm, 734,000, down from 907,000 a week ago

The Chaser’s The Hamster Wheel, 880,000. Not a big number, but the program was OK. It does have a few similarities to Gruen Planet.

  1. Seven News — 1.179 million
  2. Gruen Planet (ABC) (9pm) — 1.130 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.106 million

The Losers: Hard to say from last night; so many candidates.

Prime Suspect on Nine at 9.30 is certainly a prime suspect after falling to 539,000 (629,000 a week ago). But at least it beat Ten’s weak Hawaii Five O which averaged 521,000 (up from 433,000). But then there’s Law and Order: Los Angeles on Seven in the same slot: it averaged 428,000 (unchanged).

The Renovators on 754,000.

News & CA: Nine News had another big win over Seven News in Sydney, 273,000 to 223,000. Deal or No Deal got beaten in Sydney by 43,000 by Nine’s Hot Seat. In Melbourne, Seven News won by 48,000 and in Brisbane Seven news was 59,000.

ACA Beat TT in Sydney 260,000 to 228,000, but lost the rest to TT by big margins.

6.30 with George Negus, 354,000, another weak night.

  1. Seven News (6pm)  — 1.179 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.106 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 949,000
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 886,000
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 880,000
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 759,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 612,000 (+ 16,000 on News 24 simulcast)
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 554,000
  9. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 354,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 193,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 144,000
  12. SBS News (9.30pm) — 117,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 83,000 (+ 14,000 on News 24 at 8.30pm)

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 318,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 277,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 29.1% from Nine (3) on 24.6%, Ten (3) was on 21.8%, the ABC (4) was on 19.8% and SBS (2) ended on 4.8%. Seven leads the week with 30.4% from Nine on 28.1% and Ten on 21.7%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 19.5% from Nine on 17.3%, Ten on 15.8%, ABC 1 was on 15.3% and SBS ONE was on 3.9%. Seven leads the week with 22.6% from Nine on 21.0% and Ten on 16.5%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won with 4.9% from GO and 7mate on 4.6% each. Eleven was on 4.1%, ABC 2 was on 3.3%, Gem was on 2.8%, ONE was on 1.9%, SBS TWO was on 0.9%, ABC 3 was on 0.6% and News 24 was on 0.5%. That’s an FTA viewing share last night of a high 28.2%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.4% from GO on 4.2% and Eleven on 3.6%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 24.1% from Nine (3) on 20.4%, Ten (3) was on 18.1%, the ABC (4) was on 16.4%, pay TV (200-plus channels) was on 14.8% and SBS (2) was on 4.0%. The 15 FTA channels had an 85.2% share of TV viewing last night in prime time. The 10 digitals had a share of 23.6% (which is high) and the five main channels had a share of 61.6%.

The five most-watched pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 (3.76%)
  2. Lifestyle (2.43%)
  3. UKTV (2.20%)
  4. TVI (2.13%)
  5. Nickelodeon (1.77%)

The five most-watched pay TV programs were:

  1. The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 88,000
  2. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 80,000
  3. Jersey Shore (MTV) — 69,000
  4. Deadliest Catch (Discovery) — 64,000
  5. Relocation Relocation Australia (Lifestyle) — 63,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 31.0% from WIN/NBN (3) on 30.3%, the ABC (4) was on 18.9%, SC Ten (3) was on 18.6% and SBS (2) was on 5.2% The main channels were won by Prime/7Qld with 30.0% from WIN/NBN on 19.1%, ABC 1 on 13.8% and SC Ten on 12.8%. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.6% from 7mate on 5.4% and GO on 4.3%. the 10 digital channels had an FTA viewing share last night of a very high 30.3%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 30.9% from WIN/NBN on 29.7%.

The five most watched programs in regional markets last night were:

  1. Seven News — 515,000
  2. A Current Affair — 474,000
  3. Nine News — 472,000
  4. The One: Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic — 472,000
  5. Home and Away — 459,000

Major Markets: Seven won overall and the main channels in every market with Nine second in all markets. In Sydney and Perth the ABC was third overall and in the main channels. The ABC was also third in the main channels in Adelaide. GO won the digitals in Sydney, 7TWO won them in Melbourne and Brisbane and 7mate won them in Brisbane and Perth. Nine leads Seven and Nine in Sydney. Seven leads Nine and Ten in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: I know daylight saving makes a mess of program audiences in the early evenings, such as the 6-7pm news broadcasts (aided by school holidays), but last night’s figures were very light on. Some programs, such as 6.30 with George Negus, were down 100,000.

The top five national programs were:

  1. Seven News — 1.695 million
  2. Gruen Planet — 1.561 million
  3. Home and Away — 1.456 million
  4. Spicks & Specks — 1.429 million
  5. Nine News — 1.420 million

Tonight: Ten has Rush after The Renovators. The ABC starts The Slap at 8.30 and then has Crownies back at 9.30. Nine doesn’t have The Footy Shows, but does have a new US program called Unforgettable. From the promos it’s very forgettable. Seven has Four Weddings, Beauty and The Geek Australia plus the return of The Amazing Race (the US version).

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports