Being Lara Bingle: terrible TV and a catwalk short of a fashion shoot

At least I know what one of those apartments above Bondi Icebergs looks like inside, and the view is amazing.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A close night, Seven just in front, but Nine and Ten won the demos again with The Block and MasterChef. It was one of those nights where there were a lot of winners.

A good night overall then, except for one program.

Being Lara Bingle, a fine example of the new genre of reality TV. Call it “helium TV”. Last night’s debut episode was TV light at its most navel gazing. There she was moaning (along with her agent!) about being in the public eye, those nude photos (the ones that appeared on A Current Affair). Talk about being a catwalk short of a fashion shoot. Her agent is calculating and probably the smartest of the lot. It was in fact uncomfortable TV with no redeeming values whatsoever.

Being Lara Bingle averaged 925,000 metro viewers. Ten said on reported times, the figure was 928,000. Being Lara Bingle had 1.194 viewers million nationally (266,000 in regional markets). But the reality is that over 300,000 metro viewers tuned out from MasterChef once Bingle started, and then around 120,000 returned to Ten to watch Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms.

Who cares about her? Obviously the struggling Ten Network does because it is a demo play on the 16 to 49 female viewer where it did OK, running neck and neck with Seven’s Once Upon a Time (which started just after 7.30pm and ran an hour). Being Lara Bingle started at 8.11pm and from 8.12pm, Once Upon a Time on Seven had more viewers until it ended just after 8.30pm. Being Lara Bingle‘s audience started around a million, fell under that level until 8.32pm when Once Upon a Time finished. Once Upon a Time‘s audience rose once Being Lara Bingle was on air and averaged more than 1.2 million viewers for the last 20 minutes of last night’s episode.

The test is next week and how many viewers return. At least I know what one of those apartments above Bondi Icebergs looks like inside, and the view is amazing.

Tonight: The NRL State of Origin on Nine (and WIN). Be there, in front of the TV, or be square! Ten has MasterChef Australia, followed by Offspring. Seven runs dead with repeats and weak movies in Sydney and Brisbane. Australia’s Got Talent and The Amazing Race are on in AFL markets. The ABC starts two new programs: Myf Warhurst’s Nice at 8pm and Life’s Too Short at 9pm, after Randling.

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

Seven News — 2.150 million
Packed to the Rafters (Seven) — 1.996 million
The Block (Nine) — 1.964 million
Nine News — 1.853 million
MasterChef (Ten) — 1.777 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.634 million
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.573 million
Once Upon a Time (Seven) — 1.548 million
Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms (Ten) — 1.483 million
The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.457 million

The Metro Winners:

Seven News (6pm) — 1.498 million
The Block (Nine) (7pm) — 1.420 million
Packed to the Rafters (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.384 million
MasterChef (Ten) (7pm) — 1.294 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.288 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.274 million
The Big Bang Theory (Nine) (8pm) — 1.254 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.127 million
One Upon a Time (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.058 million
Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms (Ten) (8.40pm) — 1.029 million

The Losers: A tight night. No real losers, except TV generally with Being Lara Bingle on Ten.

Metro News & CA: Nine News and A Current Affair won Melbourne. Seven News and Today Tonight won the rest. The exclusive on A Current Affair with Lindy Chamberlain failed to have an impact last night. Today Tonight‘s exclusive with Kerri-Anne Kennerley proved more alluring to viewers, except in Melbourne. A Current Affair though had more viewers nationally.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.498 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.288 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.274 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.127 million
ABC News (7pm) — 898,000
Ten News (5pm) — 790,000
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 682,000
Foreign Correspondent (ABC) (8pm) — 609,000
The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 578,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 432,000
Ten News (Ten) (10.40pm) — 242,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 193,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 192,000
The Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 110,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 73,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 41,000

In the morning: Another solid audience for Nine’s Mornings.

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 360,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 341,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 197,000
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 131,000
The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 55,000
News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 45,000 (+26,000)*
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 31,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won narrowly with 27.8% from Nine (3) on 27.6%, Ten (3) was on 24.3%, the ABC (4) was on 15.0% and SBS (2) was on 5.4%. Nine leads the week with 30.4% from Seven on 29.6% and Ten on 20.1%. Main Channels: Seven won with 22.7%, from Nine on 21.9%, Ten was on 18.7%, ABC 1 was on 10.9% and SBS ONE, 4.3%. Nine leads the week with 24.7% from Seven on 23.2% and Ten on 15.0%.

Metro Digital: GO won with a share of 3.2%, from Eleven on 3.1%. ABC and 7mate were on 2.8% each, Gem and ONE were on 2.5% each; 7TWO, 2.4%, SBS TWO, 1.0%, News 24, 0.7% and ABC 3, 0.6%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 21.6%. 7mate leads the week with 3.6% from GO on 2.5% and 7TWO on 2.8%.

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won narrowly with 23.1% from Nine (3) on 22.9%, Ten (3) was on 20.1%, Pay TV (200 plus channels) was on 14.8%, the ABC (4) was on 12.4% and SBS (2) was on 4.5%. The 15 FTA channels share of viewing last night was 85.2%. The five main channels share was 67.2%, the 10 digital channels share was 18.0%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox Sports 3 (3.06%)
TV1 (2.38%)
Fox 8 (2.34%)
A&E (2.08%)
Lifestyle (2.08%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

World Cup qualifier: Australia v Japan (Fox Sports 3) — 290,000
World Cup qualifier: Australia v Japan (post game) (Fox Sports 3) — 109,000
Family Guy (Fox 8) — 98,000
Storage Hunters (A&E) — 90,000
Game of Thrones (showcase) — 90,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 29.2%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 26.8%. SC Ten (3) was on 23.2%, the ABC (4) was on 15.7% and SBS (2) was on 5.0%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 22.6% from WIN/NBN on 20.0%. Gem won the digitals with 3.9%, from Eleven on 3.8% and 7TWO on 3.4%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 25.2%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 31.3% from WIN/NBN on 29.8%, but that will change after the second Origin game tonight on WIN/NBN.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

Seven News — 653,000
Packed to the Rafters — 612,000
Nine News — 578,000
The Block — 545,000
A Current Affair — 506,000

Major Metro Markets: Nine won overall and the main channels in Sydney and Melbourne. Seven won overall and the main channels in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (the usual big margins in the last two markets). In the digitals, Eleven won Melbourne and Brisbane, GO won Sydney and Perth. 7mate won Adelaide. Nine leads Seven and Ten in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven leads in Adelaide and Perth. The State of Origin tonight will see Nine scoot further ahead in Sydney and Brisbane and win the week.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports