The Glenn Dyer breakdown: An interesting night. Nine’s Free-To-Air audience share dipped to 37.4% last night, the lowest since the Games started. Seven’s share was the highest at 28.5%. That was the highest share by a non-Games broadcasting network during a Games since the present OzTAM system started 11 years ago.

Support for the Games on Nine was solid in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. But not so in Adelaide and Perth.

In fact Nine lost Perth last night and came close to losing Adelaide. Seven won Perth and went close in Adelaide. Nine still had a clean sweep in the main channels. That was the first time Nine has lost a market since the Games started, so no clean sweep overall. While Seven’s main channel did better, the digital channels also improved and 7TWO and 7mate had solid nights, especially in Adelaide and Perth. The digital channels also saw higher shares in regional markets. Foxtel’s share jumped back past 20% for the period 6pm to midnight.

The Circle finished up on Ten this morning at 11.30am. It deserved better and certainly should have survived instead of the ego-protected Breakfast.

Games update: Nine’s national audience last night averaged 2.106 million nationally and 1.455 million in metro markets. It averaged 662,000 in regional markets. That’s down on previous nights and previous Games, but Thursday night is always one of the worst nights of the week for viewing. Averages for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights of next week will give us a better idea of how audiences are staying with the Games coverage. A run of gold medal will lift viewing levels.

Tonight: AFL on Seven (main channel and 7mate) and Foxtel. Better Homes and Gardens on Seven’s main channel in northern markets. Games on Nine, NRL on Nine’s Gem and then back to what’s also been shown on the main channel. Games on Foxtel. The Living Room on Ten at 8pm might be worth a look for non-sporting folk. Likewise ABC 1 where Silent Witness drones on.

Saturday: Games on Nine and Foxtel. NRL on Foxtel, AFL on Seven and Foxtel. Movies on Seven in northern markets (main channel). Ten has movies and repeats. ABC 1 has repeats of New Tricks and Gruen Sweat. SBS  has a new RocKwiz at 8.30pm.

Sunday: Games on Nine and Foxtel. NRL on Nine and Foxtel. AFL on Seven and Foxtel. Two episodes of Once Upon a Time on Seven from 7.30pm, after Sunday Night at 6.30pm. Ten has the MasterChef All Stars. ABC 1 has the final episode in the weak Birdsong. Don’t forget the morning chats if you want a political fix.

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

  1. The Olympic Games (early evening) (Nine) — 2.107 million
  2. The Olympic Games (evening) (Nine) — 2.106 million
  3. Nine News — 1.843 million
  4. Seven News — 1.771 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.302 million
  6. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.257 million
  7. Criminal Minds (Seven) — 1.202 million
  8. ABC News (7pm) — 1.118 million
  9. MasterChef All Stars (Ten) — 1.044 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.030 million

The Metro Winners:

  1. The Olympic Games (early evening) (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.461 million
  2. The Olympic Games (evening) (Nine (6.30pm) — 1.430 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.283 million
  4. Seven News (6pm) — 1.204 million
  5. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.019 million

The Losers: No one really.

Metro News & CA: A Current Affair was again pre-empted in Adelaide and Perth and in most regional markets. Nine News win Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide by 1000 viewers. Seven won Brisbane and Perth.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.283 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.204 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.019 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 879,000
  5. ABC News (7pm)  — 798,000
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 727,000
  7. The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 612,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 514,000
  9. The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 434,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 137,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) –133,000
  12. Ten News (10.30pm) — 105,000
  13. The Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 77,000
  14. SBS News (10.30pm) — 54,000
  15. The Drum (News 24) (10pm) — 39,000

In the morning: Nine’s Today and Mornings are pre-empted during the games. Ten’s Breakfast fell, again.

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 330,000
  2. The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 182,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 58,000 (+19,000)*
  4. The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 52,000
  5. Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 39,000

Metro FTA: Nine (3) won with a share of 37.4%, from Seven (3) on 28.5%, Ten (3) was on 17.6%, the ABC (4) was on 11.9% and SBS (2) ended on 4.7%. Nine leads the week with 40.9% from Seven on 23.95 and Ten with 17.1%. Main Channels: Nine won with a share of 34.3%, from Seven on 20.1%, Ten was on 10.6%, ABC 1 was on 7.7% and SBS ONE, 3.9%. Nine leads the week with 37.3% from Seven on 17.6% and Ten on 11.6%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 4.6% from 7mate on 3.8%, Eleven was on 3.5%, ONE was on 3.4%, GO and ABC 2 were on 2.6% each, News 24 and ABC 3 were on 0.8% each, SBS TWO was on 0.7% and Gem ended up with 0.5%. The 10 Pay TV channels had an FTA share last night of 23.3%. 7TWO leads the week with 3.6% from GO on 3.0% and ONE and Eleven on 2.8% each.

Metro including Pay TV: Nine (3) won with a share of 29.1%, from Seven (3) on 22.1%, Ten (3) was on 13.6%, the ABC (4) was on 9.3% and SBS (2) ended on 3.6%. The 15 FTA channels had a viewing share of 79.9% last night, with the five main channel shares totalling 61.8% and the 10 digital channels share totalling 18.1%. Pay TV saw its share rise to 20.1% (200 plus channels), the second highest since the games started.

According to data from the FTA industry, the impact of the games coverage on Foxtel audiences can be seen from a comparison between the pre and Games averages for the “Other Subscription TV channels” where the eight Games channels are located for ratings purposes. Up to the Games started, those other channels were averaging around 19,800 viewers in the 6pm to midnight slot. For the Games so far that has jumped to 487,000. That tells us the eighty Games channels have boosted Pay TV audiences overall by around 467,000 people a night the prime time.

The top five pay TV channels were: No broken out figures from Foxtel last night.

  1. Other Subscription Channels (includes the eight Games channels) (24.2%)
  2. Fox 8 (2.2%)
  3. TV1 (1.6%)
  4. A&E (1.4%)
  5. Lifestyle (1.3%)

Regional: Nine’s share was also the lowest since the games  started and Seven’s the highest, but that was boosted by strong performances by its two digital channels. WIN/NBN (3) won with a share of  35.9% from Prime/7Qld on 32.6%. SC Ten (3) was third with 14.7%, the ABC (4) was on 11.9% and SBS (2) ended with 4.8%. WIN/NBN won the main channels for more easily with a share of 32.6%, from Prime/7Qld on 19.8. 7mate won the digitals with 6.9%, from 7TWO on 6.0%. The 10 digital channels had a total FTA share last night of a high 29.1%. WIN/NBN leads the week with 41.1%, from Prime/7Qld on 26.3%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. The Olympic Games (early evening) (Nine) — 678,000
  2. The Olympic Games (evening) (Nine) — 647,000
  3. Seven News — 577,000
  4. Nine News — 560,000
  5. Home and Away — 428,000

Major Metro Markets: Nine won overall everywhere bar Perth. Nine had a close won in Adelaide overall. It had a clean sweep on the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Eleven won Brisbane, 7mate won Perth. Nine leads the week everywhere.

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

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports