The Winners: The early end to the third Test in Perth complicated matters for Nine and made the night unreliable.

The gem last night was Comic Relief: Uptown Downstairs Abbey on ABC 1: a spoof on Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. Very nicely done.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.126 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.115 million
  3. Grand Designs (ABC) (7.20pm) — 1.109 million

The Losers: Summer ratings, so no losers, except the Indian cricket team. It’s a Knockout, Ten, 6.30pm — 375,000. An unmitigated disaster.

News & CA: Nine continues to dominate Sydney and Melbourne at 6pm, even allowing for the impact of the cricket.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.126 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.115 million
  3. ABC News (7pm) — 941,000
  4. Ten News (5pm) — 513,000
  5. SBS News (6.30pm) — 196,000

In the morning:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) (8am) — 337,000
  2. Weekend Today (Nine) (8am) — 289,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 27.0%, from Nine (3) on 26.8%, Ten (3) was on 20.2%, the ABC (4) was on 17.8% and SBS (2) ended on 8.2%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 19.5% from Nine on 16.2%, ABC 1 was on 14.4%, Ten was 4th with 12.2% and SBS ONE was on 6.9%
  • Digital: GO won with 6.2% from Eleven on 5.0%, Gem was on 4.4%, 7TWO was on 4.1%, 7mate was on 3.4%, ONE was on 3.0%, ABC 2 was on 1.2%, SBS TWO ended with 1.2%, News 24 was on 1.0% and ABC 3 ended with 0.9%. The 10 digital channels finished with a total FTA viewing share of 30.5%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 21.1%, from Nine (3) on 20.9%, pay TV (200-plus channels), was on 19.3%, Ten (3) was on 15.8%, the ABC (4) was on 13.9% and SBS (2) ended on 6.4%. The 15 FTA channels had a share of 80.7% in prime time last night. The 10 digital channels had a share of 23.9%, the five main channels share was 56.8%.

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. TV 1 (2.56%)
  2. Fox 8 (2.36%)
  3. Lifestyle (2.24%)
  4. Fox Sports (1.87%)
  5. showtime premiere (1.86%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Vicar of Dibley (Comedy Channel) — 84,800
  2. Absolutely Fabulous (Comedy Channel) — 74,400
  3. Mr. Bean (Comedy Channel) — 73,300
  4. The Big Bang Theory (Comedy Channel) — 71,600
  5. Australia’s Great Flood (National Geographic) — 71,100

Regional: WIN/NBN (3 channels) won with a share of 28.9% from Prime/7Qld on 28.2%, SC Ten (3) was on 20.4%, the ABC (4) was on 16.8% and SBS (2) was on 5.6%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 18.8% from WIN/NBN on 17.6%. GO won the digitals with 6.2% from 7TWO on 5.7% and Eleven, Gem and 7mate on 5.0% each. The 10 digital channels had a high FTA share of 33.2%.

Major Markets: The early end to the cricket made it hard across the country. Seven won Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide (overall and the main channels). Seven won the main channels in Melbourne. Nine won overall in Melbourne and overall and the main channels in Sydney. The ABC did well in Sydney (third in the main channels) and third overall in the main channels in Melbourne. The ABC was second in the main channels in Melbourne and Perth. GO won Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Gem won Brisbane.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Australia did the job on the Indian cricket team (a new Cricket Australia marketing slogan for Tests: buy two, get three free days?). That leaves clear air for Seven to start its summer blockbuster, the Australian Open tennis, today and tonight with Bernard Tomic kicking off proceedings this afternoon. Seven is hoping Tomic and Stosur make it deep into week two, which would boost ratings quite nicely.

Tonight: Tennis on Seven. A repeat of The Mentalist on Nine. The Drum on ABC 1 at six o’clock. Ten has repeats. The Glades at 9.30 is new and might be worth a look.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports