A thrilling ODI final good for ratings and Australia

A good win for Australia in a thrilling One Day International final. The Sri Lankans were described as 'gallant' in some newspaper reports today, the usual Aussie sportswriter put down for a losing team from a smaller cricketing power.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A good win for Australia in a thrilling one-day international final. The Sri Lankans were described as “gallant” in some newspapers today, the usual Aussie sportswriter put-down for a losing team from a smaller cricketing power. The same writers failed to describe the Australians as “lucky”, although they played better than Tuesday night. The Sri Lankans were outstanding, and unlucky. Last night’s game reminded us that ODI cricket is attractive, especially when it’s low scoring and tight!

The session of the cricket averaged 1.034 million for Nine from 6.30pm to well after 10pm. But it ran a distant second to My Kitchen Rules on Seven at 7.30pm with 1.799 million (it’s audience wasn’t touched by the cricket). Today Tonight beat the ODI at 6.30pm as those ACA fans who didn’t like cricket went to Seven for their daily hit of “current affairs” (as they did on Tuesday).

The main channel ratings shares last night were tied at 24.3% for Seven and Nine. The cricket helped the NRL Footy Show on Nine (after the ODI finished), which was watched by 420,000 people in Sydney and Brisbane, up on last week.

But looking at the metro markets, the absence of a live broadcast in Adelaide after 4pm hurt, as it has hurt in past games, while the time differences generated by daylight saving in Brisbane and Perth also saw Seven win and beat the ODI. That left Sydney and Melbourne where the cricket really did well.

Will Nine and Cricket Australia risk another series that ends so late in the year? Nope. The audiences for the four Indian Tests were the real bonus for Nine and ACA, especially final session of each day of play when audiences topped the million viewer mark nearly every time. They were in the height of summer. From February when the ratings battle starts, the rival channels have big programs such as My Kitchen Rules and Packed To the Rafters that viewers want to watch, not one-day cricket, which has lost a lot of its attractions for many fans, especially when there’s also football to watch.

Tonight: NRL on Nine, Better Homes and Gardens on Seven. Not much of interest on Ten, The Biggest Loser and Glee. Miss Fisher’s Murders on ABC1. Super Rugby on Foxtel. NAB Cup on pay TV.

Saturday: Super Rugby and NAB Cup on pay TV, New Tricks and a new Spooks on ABC1. Mad Men on SBS if you can be bothered. Nothing on Seven, Nine or Ten except old stuff and weak movies being repeated.

Sunday: The morning chats. Super Rugby and NAB Cup on pay TV, Sunday Night, MKR and Bones on Seven. 60 Minutes returns to Nine at 7.30pm. Nine’s telemovie, The Great Mint Swindle looks good at 8.30pm. Ten has New Girl, Modern Family and Homeland. The ABC has another new episode of Waking The Dead.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.455 million.
Seven News — 1.739 million.
Nine News — 1.696 million.
ODI cricket, Session 2 (Nine) – 1.656 million.
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.465 million.
Home and Away (Seven ) — 1.381 million.
ABC News (7pm) — 1.279 million.
Grey’s Anatomy (Seven) — 1.117 million.
The Biggest Loser (Ten) — 1.111 million.
The Project Kony Special (Ten) — 923,000.

Metro Winners:

My Kitchen Rules (Seven. 7.30pm) — 1.799 million.
Seven News (6pm) — 1.226 million.
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.146 million.
Nine News (6pm) — 1.131 million.
ODI Cricket Session 2 (Nine, 6.30pm) — 1.034 million.

The Losers: The Straits on ABC1, 375,000. Even with the ODI on Nine, that is low. deserted by all but the really hard rusted-on ABC core audience.

Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney and Melbourne, Seven won the rest.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.226 million.
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.146 million.
Nine News (6pm) — 1.131 million.
ABC News (7pm) — 901,000.
Ten News (5pm) — 680,000.
The Project Kony Special (Ten, 8pm) — 647,000.
The Project (Ten, 6pm) — 518,000.
Lateline (ABC1, 10.15pm) — 170,000.
SBS News (6.30pm) — 164,000.
SBS News (10.30pm) — 135,000.
The Business (ABC1, 10.50pm) — 119,000.
The Drum (News 24, 6pm) — 33,000.

In the morning: Seven’s cash giveaway is getting more bang for the bucks than Nine’s spending is for Today, which seems to have fallen off the pace in the past week. Today‘s new set isn’t a help and clearly looks like a set and in a TV studio (and has definitely lifted the colour scheme from Sunrise).

Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 423,000.
Today (Nine, 7am) — 326,000.
The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 166,000.
Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 84,000.
The Circle (Ten, 9am) — 55,000.
Breakfast (Ten 7am) — 42,000.
ABC News Breakfast (ABC 1, 6 – 9 am) — 39,000 + 24,000 on News 24 simulcast.

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 33.2% from Nine (3) on 30.2%, Ten (3) was on 19.5%, the ABC (4) ended on 11.6% and SBS (2) was on 5.6%. Seven leads the week with 34.3% from Nine on 26.8% and Ten on 19.4%. Main channels: Seven and Nine tied with 24.3% each. Ten was on 13.9%, ABC 1, 8.0% and SBS One finished with 4.9%. Seven leads the week with 26.75 from Nine on 21.3% and Ten on 14.3%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 4.7% from 7mate on 4.1%, Eleven on 3.7%, GO on 3.6%, Gem on 2.2%, ABC 2 on 2.2%, ONE on 1.9%, News 24 on 0.7% and SBS TWO and ABC 3 with 0.6% each. The 10 digital channels had and FTA share last night of 24.4%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.3%, from 7 mate on 3.3% and GO and Eleven on 3.0% each.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 27.9% from Nine (3) on 25.5%, Ten (3) was on 16.4%, pay TV (200-plus channels) was on 13.2%, the ABC (4) ended on 9.8% and SBS (2) was on 4.7%. the 15 FTA channels had an a total viewing share last night of 86.8%, with the 10 digitals on 20.4% and the five main channels on 66.4%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox 8 — 2.60%.
Lifestyle — 2.24%.
TV 1 — 1.99%.
111 Hits — 1.97%.
Disney Jr — 1.72%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 73,700.
American Idol (Fox 8) — 73,600.
Grand Designs (Lifestyle) — 70,700.
Storage Wars (A&E) — 65,200.
Family Guy (Fox 8) — 63,500.

Regional: The ODI cricket powered WIN/NBN (3 channels) to a win last night with a share of 34.4% from Prime/7Qld (3) on 31.4%, SC Ten (3) ended on 17.7%, the ABC (4) was on 12.1% and SBS (2) ended with 4.4%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 28.3% from Prime/7Qld on 20.3%. 7TWO won the digitals with 7.1% from 7 mate on 5.1% and GO on 3.9%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 27.0%. prime/7Qld leads the week with 34.1% from WIN/NBN on 29.4%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

MKR — 657,000
ODI cricket, session two — 622,000.
Nine News — 566,000.
Seven News — 512,000.
Home and Away 410,000.

Major Metro Markets: Nine won Sydney and Melbourne, overall and the main channels with the ODI final. Seven won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth where it tied with 7mate. 7mate won Melbourne, while Eleven again did well and won Brisbane. Seven leads in fall five metro markets, but it’s close in Sydney where Nine has the NRL games tonight. Seven is further in front in Brisbane where Nine also has two NRL games tonight and will win.

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