The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Seven’s night, but viewers hardly clamoured to watch what was being offered them. Not one program had a million or more viewers in the five metro markets. The most watched news program was the two hours of Beauty and the Geek Australia on Seven from 7.30pm. It averaged 977,000 metro viewers, down more than 300,000 viewers.

Seven’s win was more emphatic in regional markets for yet another night. Nine News was also solid and had a much better night in metro markets than Seven News. A Current Affair was the most watched program nationally and beat Today Tonight by around 400,000 viewers nationally.

Redfern Now had 654,000 metro viewers (and nationally) for ABC1 at 8.30pm and finished in front of CSI on Nine (638,000 metro viewers and nationally) and Ten’s repeat of Law and Order SVU ( 472,000 metro viewers and nationally).

Tonight: New Tricks on ABC1 at 8.30pm, Better Homes and Gardens on Seven at 7.30pm (and the movies), repeats and movies on Nine, and Ten has The Living Room at 7.30pm.

Saturday: If you are desperate, a repeat of Doc Martin at 7.30pm then a “fresh” Kingdom at 8.30pm (which is pretty soft). Seven, Nine and Ten have movies or repeats or soft programs like animal stuff on Ten from 6.30pm. There’s an Inspector Morse repeat on 7TWO at 8.45pm. Australia plays England in rugby union from around 1.15am Sunday on Ten.

Sunday: The morning chats, Landline. Sunday Night on Seven at 6.30pm, Border Security and Bones. Nine has the second and final episode of Hamish and Andy’s Caravan of Courage. This week they are in Australia. Then 60 Minutes. Ten has a fresh Modern Family (the highlight of the night) and Homeland.

Ten Boneyard Update: Well, Network Ten’s claim earlier in the week to have finished the bloodletting wasn’t quite accurate. The network confirmed last night that talented sports presenter and reporter, Rob Canning, will leave after 12 years with the network. Obviously he is too expensive. It’s a shame talent isn’t a consideration, but Ten is heading down the cheap-as-chips route of news reporters and newsroom operations. As the late Sir Peter Abeles once said (he may have, he may have not), “Pay peanuts, get monkeys”. Watch Ten next year to see if that is true.

Change of Heart: Melissa George’s British spy series Hunted may have a new lease of life, despite the BBC “boning” the show on Wednesday. Reports from the US say Hunted’s US co-producer, HBO says the program will continue. It has been airing in the US on HBO. That’s good news for George and for the TV production house involved, Kudos, which is part of Shine, which in turn owned by News Corporation.

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

  1. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.497 million.
  2. Seven News — 1.482 million.
  3. Beauty and the Geek Australia (Seven) — 1.478 million.
  4. Nine News — 1.404 million.
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.358 million.
  6. ABC1 News (7pm) — 1.336 million.
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.219 million.
  8. Catalyst (ABC1) — 1.121 million.
  9. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.055 million.
  10. Redfern Now (ABC1) — 970,000.

The Metro Winners: No programs had a million or more metro viewers last night in what was a weak night of viewing all round.

The Losers: Viewers, generally.Metro News & CA: A solid night for Nine News with wins in Sydney, Melbourne (by a massive 141,000) and Brisbane. Seven news won Adelaide and Perth. ACA was also solid with wins in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. TT won the rest. ACA‘s win in Melbourne was by a huge 181,000, almost double TT‘s Melbourne audience of just 194,000. ACA‘s Melbourne audience of 375,000 was the biggest for any program in any market last night. They certainly like fairy tales in Melbourne. The 7pm ABC 1 News again had more viewers (247,000) than Nine News, 246,000 and Seven News, 231,000.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 986,000.
  2. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 968,000.
  3. Seven News (6pm) — 966,000.
  4. ABC1 News (7pm) — 922,000.
  5. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 830,000.
  6. 7.30 (ABC1, 7.30pm) — 781,000.
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 529,000.
  8. The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 468,000.
  9. The Project (Ten, 6pm) — 351,000.
  10. Ten Late News (Ten, 10.30pm) — 226,000.
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 147,000.
  12. Lateline (ABC1, 10.25pm) — 146,000.
  13. The Business (ABC1, 11pm, repeat) — 119,000.
  14. SBS Late News (10.30pm) — 107,000.
  15. The Drum (News 24, 10pm, repeat) — 48,000.

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 406,000.
  2. Today (Nine, 7am) — 345,000.
  3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 161,000.
  4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 108,000.
  5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — 54,000 + 27,000 on News 24.
  6. Breakfast (Ten, 7am) — 46,000.

Metro FTA: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 29.8% from Nine (three) on 26.3%, Ten (three) was on 19.0%, the ABC (four) was on 18.6% and SBS (two) ended on 6.3%. Seven leads the week with 31.2% from Nine on 26.9%, Ten on 18.5% and the ABC on 18.0%. Main Channels: Seven won with 22.6% from Nine on 19.2%, ABC1 on 14.1%, Ten was on 12.9% and SBS ONE was on 5.4%. Seven leads the week with 24.0% from Nine on 19.2%, ABC 1 on 13.9% and Ten on 13.3%.

Metro Digital: Winner was 7mate with a share of 4.5%, from GO on 4.2%, Eleven was on 4.0%, Gem was on 2.9%, 7TWO and ABC2 were on 2.6%, ONE was on 2.1%, News 24 was on 1.0%, ABC 3, 0.9% and SBS TWO, 0.8%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 25.6%. GO still leads the week with 4.4%, from 7TWO on 3.7%, 7mate on 3.5%, Gem on 3.3% and Eleven with 3.0%.

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 24.3% from Nine (three) on 21.5%, Ten (three) was on 15.5%, the ABC (four) was on 15.2% and SBS (two) ended on 5.1%. The 15 FTA channels had a viewing share last night of 83.9%, with the 10 digital channels on 21.1% and the five main channels share on 62.8%. The 200 plus channels on Foxtel had another reasonable night and gave Pay TV a viewing share of 16.1%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. LifeStyle — 3.1%.
  2. Fox8 — 2.5%.
  3. TV1 — 2.2%.
  4. A&E — 2.0%.
  5. Showtime Premiere, Fox Sports 3, UKTV — 1.5%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Grand Designs Australia (LifeStyle) — 158,000.
  2. Pawn Stars (A&E) — 77,000.
  3. Futurama (Fox8) — 60,000.
  4. Storage Wars (A&E) — 57,000.
  5. Criminal Minds (FX) — 56,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 32.9% from WIN/NBN (three) on 28.3%, the ABC (four) was on 18.0%, SC Ten (three) was on 16.1%, and SBS (two) ended on 4.7%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 22.3%, from WIN/NBN on 20.2%, ABC1 on 13.0% and SC Ten on 9.4%. Meanwhile, 7Mate won the digitals with 7.4% from GO on 4.6% and Eleven on 4.2%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of a high 30.8%. Prime/7Qld lead the week with 34.3%, from WIN/NBN on 28.1%, the ABC on 17.1% and SC Ten on 16.1%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. ACA — 530,000.
  2. Seven News — 517,000.
  3. Beauty and the Geek Australia — 502,000.
  4. 7.30 — 463,000,
  5. Home and Away — 419,000.

Major Metro Markets: No clean sweep for Seven. It won Sydney, lost Melbourne to Nine, won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (overall and main channels). In Sydney the ABC/ABC1 was third again for yet another night. Ten was third in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. In Perth the ABC was third overall, but ABC1 was second in the main channels (again). In the digitals GO won Sydney and Adelaide. Meanwhile, 7mate won Melbourne and Perth and Eleven won Brisbane. Seven leads the week everywhere from Nine and Ten, bar in Melbourne where Nine still leads from Seven and Ten and in Sydney with its Nine second and the ABC third as viewers in Ten’s home market remain unimpressed with the network.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data