The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A close night with Seven and Nine almost tying … but Nine did better in the demos. That was the only notable thing about a boring night of viewing. The top three programs in metro markets were news broadcasts, nothing more need be said, viewers had worked out the rest of the night quite quickly.

That saw the digital channels with high shares in metro and regional markets … more than 30% of FTA viewing in metro markets was on the regional channels, while the share in the regions was 36.8%, close to the highest every seen. Add in the pay TV national share of about 16% and about 50% (or a bit more) of the audience was not watching the main channels in the regional markets for the first time since the digital channels started several years ago. That’s a measure of how weak the offerings were on the main channels.

Nine News and A Current Affair had another sold night with Seven News and Today Tonight again weaker than normal. Seven’s Sunrise lost of Nine’s Today for a third morning in four.

Big Brother averaged 863,000 from 7-8pm in metro markets and 1.176 million nationally. The Confidential thingy at 8pm averaged 830,000 metro viewers and 1.094 million nationally.

Home and Away at 6-7pm on Seven had 824,000 metro viewers and 1.255 million nationally. BB remains on the nose in regional areas and metro markets outside Sydney and Melbourne.

Nine’s Footy Shows had 690,000 metro and 911,000 nationally. The AFL show in Melbourne averaged 293,000, fairly weak for the second last weekend of the year. The NRL show in Sydney averaged 167,0000 and 90,000 in Brisbane, which were nothing to boast about. Ten’s footy shows at 8.30pm averaged 459,000 metro viewers and 568,000 nationally with the AFL version averaging 191,000. The NRL one in Sydney had 123,000 viewers and just 41,000 in Brisbane, which are also nothing to boast about.

Rake on ABC 1 averaged 780,000 metro viewers and 1.076 million nationally.

Tonight: Sport with the first AFL preliminary final, Swans against the Woods and the first NRL final, Manly against the Storm in Melbourne (It’s live in Melbourne as well on Nine’s main channel. Bonus!). The AFL on Seven (main and digital) and pay TV, the NRL on Nine (main and digital). The ABC has Scott and Bailey at 8.30 and then a repeat of Waking The Dead straight after (The early eps of this are on 7TWO on Monday nights). Ten has The Living Room and then two movies, which are repeats. Seven has Better Homes and Gardens at 7.30 in NRL markets.

Saturday: The second AFL preliminary ( Hawthorn versus Adelaide) and the NRL, Canterbury versus Souths (Seven and Foxtel for the former, Nine for the latter. Live in Melbourne on Nine’s main channel). Dr Who on ABC 1 and the final ep of this series of RocKwiz on SBS ONE. The Twenty20 World Cup is on Foxtel and Nine from midnight with Australia playing the Windies. Inspector Morse on 7TWO about 8.45pm. Ten has movies.

Sunday: The morning chats. 60 Minutes and House Husbands on Nine (ignore Big Brother). Sunday Night on Seven, and then Border Security. Another look at Australia on ABC 1 (gee we’re a big strange country George, No way Charlie, yes says Jen, we’re bloody unique!). The recent sighting of the rare Dinosaurus Bernadius around Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney airport confirms our oddness. Ten has not much at all, repeats mostly of The Simpsons, Modern Family and Graham Norton. ABC 1 also has Call The Midwife and a Miss Marple repeat.

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

  1. Nine News — 1.634 million.
  2. Seven News –1.540 million.
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.440 million,
  4. 7pm ABC 1 News — 1.419 million.
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.255 million.
  6. Big Brother (Nine) — 1.176 million.
  7. Criminal Minds (Seven) — 1.140 million.
  8. 7.30 (ABC 1) — 1.175 million.
  9. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.122 million.
  10. Big Brother Confidential (Nine) — 1.094 million.

The metro winners:

  1. Nine 6pm News –1.118 million.
  2. Seven 6pm News — 1.045 million.
  3. 7pm ABC 1 News — 1.036 million.

The losers: Seven News and TT in Sydney and Melbourne (where Nine News won by a massive 171,000, a hiding).

Metro news and current affairs: Seven News and TT whipped in Sydney and Melbourne by Nine News and ACA.

  1. Nine 6pm News –1.118 million.
  2. Seven 6pm News — 1.045 million.
  3. 7pm ABC 1 News — 1.036 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 941,000.
  5. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 913,000.
  6. 7.30 (ABC 1, 7.30pm) — 779,000.
  7. Ten News At Five (Ten, 5pm) — 618,000.
  8. The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 573,000.
  9. The Project (Ten, 6pm) — 406,000.
  10. World News Australia (SBS ONE, 6.30pm) — 173,000.
  11. Lateline (ABC 1, 10.30pm) — 118,000.
  12. Ten Late News (Ten, 10.30pm) — 105,000.
  13. The Business (ABC 1, 11.05pm) — 87,000.
  14. World News Late (SBS ONE, 10.30pm) — 45,000.
  15. The Drum (News 24, 10pm rpt) — 45,000.*

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning: Today had its third win over Sunrise this week yesterday morning. More life for Ten’s Breakfast, and for News Breakfast as well.

  1. Today (Nine, 7am) — 348,000.
  2. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 329,000.
  3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 139,000.
  4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 114,000.
  5. News Breakfast (ABC 1, 7am) — 52,000 + 30,000 on News 24.*
  6. Breakfast (Ten, 7am) — 44,000.

Metro FTA: Seven (three channels) averaged 30.2%, as did Nine (three channels). The ABC (four) had a share of 18.1%, with Ten (three) on 17.0% and SBS (two) on 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 32.6% from Nine on 28.2%, the ABC is on 18.4% and Ten is on 15.9%.

Main channels: Nine won with a share of 21.4%, with Seven close on 21.3%, ABC 1 was on 13.4%, Ten was on 10.4% and SBS ONE, 4.0%. Seven leads the week with 2.4% from Nine on 21.5% ABC 1 on 14.0% and Ten on 10.4%.

Metro digital: GO won with a share of 6.3%, (thanks to the move 2012), from 7TWO on 5.4%, Eleven on 4.5%, 7mate on 3.5%, ABC 2 on 2.9%, Gem on 2.5%, ONE on 2.1%, ABC 3 on 0.9%, News 24 was on 0.8% and SBS TWO was on 0.5%. That’s an FTA viewing share last night of a very high 30.4%. 7TWO still leads the week with 4.3% from GO on 3.9% and 7mate on 3.8%.

Metro including pay TV: Nine (three channels ended with a share of 24.7%, just in front of Seven (three) with 24.6%. The ABC (four) had a share of 14.8%, with Ten (three) on 13.9% and SBS (two) on 3.7%. The 15 FTA channels had a viewing share last night of 83.9%, the lowest so far of the week. That was made up of 24.1% for the 10 digital channels and 59.8% for the five main channels. Pay TV had a share of 16.1% (the week’s high so far) from the 200-plus channels on Foxtel.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) averaged 34.1%, WIN/NBN (three channels) was on 30.2%; The ABC (four) had a share of 16.8%, with SC Ten (three) on 13.9% and SBS (two) on 5.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 20.7% from WIN/NBN on 18.8%, with ABC 1 on 11.9% and SC Ten on a very low 6.9%. GO won the digitals with 8.4%, from 7TWO on 7.1% and 7mate on 6.4%.  The 10 digital channels had an FTA share of an ultra high 36.8%. Prime/7Qld lead the week with 36.9%, from WIN/NBN on 26.9%, the ABC on 12.2% and SC Ten on 8.6%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. Nine News — 517,000.
  2. ACA — 499,000.
  3. Seven News — 497,000.
  4. Home and Away — 431,000.
  5. Criminal Minds — 352,000.

Major metro markets: Mixed night. Nine was strong in Sydney and Melbourne, Seven strong in the rest. Ten did a bit better because of another good night for its digital channels while the main channel remains a black hole. Nine won overall and the main channels in Sydney and Melbourne. Seven was second and the ABC and ABC 1 third in Sydney, while in Melbourne Ten slipped into third overall, but ABC 1 was third in the main channels (as it was in the four other metro markets. Seven won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth overall and the main channels. Ten was third overall in Perth, but the ABC was third in Brisbane and Adelaide. GO had a near clean sweep with the movie 2012. It won the digitals everywhere bar Adelaide where 7TWO got up. Seven leads the week  in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Nine still leads in Melbourne.

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

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports.