The Winners: That only two programs managed more than a million viewers tells us how weak the night was. It is very late in the year and programming initiatives are finished for ratings.

  1. Seven News — 1.116 million
  2. Beauty And The Geek Australia (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.020 million

The Losers: A very slow night. Rush on Ten, 656,000 for the last episode of 2011.

News & CA: Nine News and A Current Affair won Sydney and Melbourne, Seven News and Today Tonight won the rest.

A big cash give away is helping Today top Sunrise. How long will it last?

  1. Seven News — 1.116 million
  2. Nine News — 989,000
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 961,000
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 859,000
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 815,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 710,000
  7. The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 541,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 487,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 211,000
  10. SBS  News (6.30pm) — 189,000
  11. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 130,000 (+46,000 on News 24)
  12. SBS News (9.30pm) — 128,000

In the morning:

  1. Today (Nine) (7am) — 384,000
  2. Sunrise (Nine) (7am) — 376,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.3%, from Nine (3) on 26.2%, Ten (3) was on 21.1%, the ABC (4) was on 19.2% and SBS (2) ended on 5.2%. Seven leads the week with 29.6% from Nine on 28.1% and Ten on 21.1%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 19.3% from Nine on 18.2%, Ten was on 14.8%, ABC 1 was on 14.0%, and SBS ONE was on 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 21.7% from Nine on 19.7% and Ten with 14.0%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won the digitals with 5.3% from GO on 4.2%, Eleven on 4.0%, Gem on 3.8%, 7mate was on 3.7%, ABC 2 was on 3.2%, ONE was on 2.3%, News 24 was on 1.3% and SBS TWO and ABC 3 ended with 0.7% each. That’s a total FTA share last night of a high 29.2%. GO leads the week with 5.3%, from 7TWO on 4.5% and Eleven with 3.8%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 22.9%, from Nine (3) on 21.2%, Ten (3) was on 17.1%, pay TV (200-plus channels) was on 16.6%, the ABC (4) was on 15.6% and SBS (2) ended on 4.2%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share last night of 83.4%, with the 10 digital channels on a high 23.8% and the five main channels on a low 59.6%.

The top five pay TV channels were: 1.

  1. Fox Sports 2 (6.72%)
  2. Fox 8 (3.29%)
  3. Sky News (2%)
  4. TVI (1.98%)
  5. Disney (1.69%)

The top five pay TV programs were:

  1. Cricket: South Africa versus Australia (Fox Sports 2) (7pm) — 189,000
  2. Cricket: South Africa versus Australia (Fox Sports 2) (9.30pm) —  153,000
  3. Grand Designs (Lifestyle) — 113,000
  4. Golf: Presidents Cup (Fox Sports 2) (1pm) — 85,000
  5. Cricket: South Africa versus Australia (Fox Sports 2) (12.10am) — 73,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 29.5% from WIN/NBN on 28.5%, with SC Ten (3) on 20.9%, the ABC (4) on 16.8 % and SBS (2) was on 4.3%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 18.6% from Prime/7Qld with 18.4%. 7TWO won the digitals with 7.0% from GO and Gem on 5.0% each. the 10 digital channels had a near record FTA share of 33.1% in regional areas last night. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 33.1% from WIN/NBN on 28.6%.

The top five programs in regional markets were:

  1. Home and Away — 486,000
  2. Seven News — 473,000
  3. Beauty And The Geek Australia — 460,000
  4. Nine News — 442,000
  5. A Current Affair — 425,000

Major Markets: Seven won overall and the main channels everywhere bar Brisbane where it and Nine shared the night overall and Nine won the main channels. In Sydney the ABC and ABC 1 pushed Ten out of third. In Perth the ABC was third overall and second in the main channels, with Nine third. 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. GI and Eleven shared Brisbane, 7mate won Adelaide. Seven leads Nine and Ten everywhere bar Melbourne where Nine still leads the week from Seven and Ten.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: A weak night except for The Slap and Beauty And The Geek Australia (for its demographics, that is).

The five most-watched programs nationally were:

  1. Seven News — 1.589 million
  2. Home and Away — 1.485 million
  3. Beauty And The Geek Australia — 1.481 million
  4. Nine News — 1.431 million
  5. A Current Affair — 1.284 million

Next week is the final week of official ratings and sees Nine’s The Celebrity Apprentice conclude on Monday, Seven’s The X Factor over Monday and Tuesday, Junior MasterChef on Ten on Wednesday night and Beauty and The Geek Australia on Thursday night on Seven. And The Slap‘s final episode, called “Ritchie”, is on Thursday night on ABC 1.

Tonight: Not much, again. Better Homes and Gardens on Seven, then movies. Test cricket on pay TV tonight, golf on Nine in the afternoon, a Midsomer Murders repeat on ABC 1, House on Ten, movies on Nine after a Two and A Half Men repeat.

Saturday: Test cricket at night on pay TV, golf on Nine in the afternoon, Doc Martin on ABC 1, repeat movies, movies, movies and not one worth rewatching on Nine, Ten and Seven, well maybe Kung Fu Panda on Nine. RocKwiz on SBS at 9.30pm.

Sunday: The final Sunday of 2011 official ratings. The morning chats. Test cricket (hopefully) on pay TV at night. Golf on Nine in the late morning and afternoon. That’s after the Rugby League Four Nations Final on Nine very early. Sunday Night on Seven and the final Wild Boys, Frozen Planet and 60 Minutes on Nine, the Junior MasterChef final week starts on Ten at 7.30pm. The Night Watch on ABC 1 at 8.30pm might be worth a look.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports