Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: viewers switch off bean counters' summer fare

Just over 40% of the audience again watched the digitals or pay TV instead of the weak offerings on the main free-to-air channels.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A night when repeats did the trick for Nine, Ten did better with a few “encores” of its own and Seven’s fresh programming just fell short.

Quiet, Christmas awaits, and then New Year and then January and the deep sleep of summer. Last night was a very odd night for viewing with strange results in many markets. It was more a sign that viewers were not really happy with what they saw on the box and went searching for fun and entertainment and couldn’t find it. Just over 40% of the audience again watched the digitals or pay TV instead of the weak offerings on the main channels.

In fact what we are getting is a bean counters’ summer break: low cost TV schedules in the form of repeats, flops and the dregs of programming deals Seven, Nine and Ten have with offshore suppliers. All to keep costs low and save money as ad rates show no sign of rising. Ten in particular must be really hurting. Sounds like Zombie TV to me …

Seven at least tried with fresh episodes of Better Homes and Gardens at 7pm (767,000 metro and 1.066 million nationally), Once Upon A Time at 7.30pm (734,000 metro and 1.209 million nationally) and Grey’s Anatomy at 8.30pm (604,000 metro and 932,000 nationally). But Nine won the night with repeats.

The Big Bang Theory repeat on Nine at 8.30pm averaged 905,000 metro and 1.249 million nationally. Hamish and Andy’s Euro Gap year repeat at 7.30-8.30pm averaged 670,000 metro and 809,000 nationally (it wasn’t liked in regional markets) and seems to have done the trick last night, helped by Big Bang at 8.30pm. Plus, 2 Broke Girls at 9pm averaged 736,000 metro and 928,000 nationally and added to Nine’s win.

Ten’s repeats of Jamie’s 15/30-Minute Meals at 7.30 to 8.30pm averaged 630,000 metro and 873,000 nationally for the 15-Minute Meals and 720,000 for the 30-Minute Meals repeat at 8pm (and 999,000 nationally). Ten’s NCIS repeat at 8.30pm averaged 632,00 metro and 958,000 nationally.

Tonight: Better Homes and Gardens on Seven and the missing episode of Dynamo the Magician appears at 7.30pm and then Grimm at 8.30pm on Seven’s main channel. Nine repeats Howzat at 8.30pm. It’s been repeated before on one of Nine’s digital channels and on Nine’s main channel in “encore” showings. Ten starts a new series at 7.30pm called The Wedding Band (is that where the older graduates from Glee high school ended up?). The highlight though is the final episode of A Moody Christmas on ABC1 at 8.30pm. Ten is repeating The Project at 11.35pm (it’s after the Late News). The Australian Open Golf starts on Seven at Noon, Thursday if anyone is interested in little white balls being whacked by men ruining a good walk …

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

Seven News — 1.652 million.
Nine News — 1.527 million.
ABC1 News (7pm) — 1.291 million.
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.274 million.
The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.249 million.
Once Upon A Time (Seven) — 1.209 million.
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.196 million. *
7.30 (ABC1) — 1.159 million.
Better Homes and Gardens (Seven) — 1.066 million.
The Grumpy Guide to … (ABC1) — 1.105 million.

*TT figures approx due to coding problems in some markets..

The Metro Winners:

Seven News (6pm) — 1.106 million.
Nine News (6pm) — 1.052 million.

The Losers: Anybody who watched TV last night (and tonight, except for ABC1 at 8.30pm and perhaps Seven at 7pm.)Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven News won Adelaide and Perth by enough to give it a national win — 118,000 v the 81,000 winning margin in Melbourne for Nine News.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.106 million.
Nine News (6pm) — 1.052 million.
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 906,000.
ABC1 News (7pm) — 871,000.
A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 839,000.
7.30 (ABC1, 7.30pm) — 744,000.
Ten News (5pm) — 691,000.
The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 596,000.
ABC Late News (ABC1, 10.30pm) — 262,000.
SBS News (6.30pm) — 161,000.
SBS Late News (10.45pm) — 90,000.
The Drum (News 24, 10pm, repeat) — 52,000.

In the morning: Quiet.

Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 378,000.
Today (Nine, 7am) — 342,000.
The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 174,000.
Mornings Summer (Nine, 9am) — 93,000.
News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — 45,000 + 31,000 on News 24.

Metro FTA: Nine (three channels) won with a share of 25.5% from Seven (three) on 23.8%, Ten (three) was on 22.5% and the ABC (four) was on 20.9%, with SBS (two) on 7.3%. Nine leads the week with 28.2% from Seven on 28.4%, Ten is third with 20.6%, the ABC fourth on 18.9% and SBS is on 5.3%. Main Channels: Nine won narrowly with 18.3% from Seven on 18.1%, Ten was on 15.9%, ABC1 was on 14.1% and SBS ONE was on 5.4%. Nine leads the week with 20.7%, Seven is on 19.3%, Ten is on 13.6% and ABC1 is on 13.4%.

Metro Digital: ABC2 scored a rare win with a share of 4.2% from Gem on 3.9%, Eleven on 3.4%, GO on 3.3%, along with 7TWO. ONE was on 3.2%, 7TWO ended with 2.4%, SBS TWO was on 1.9%, News 24, 1.4% and ABC3 ended with 1.2%. The 10 digital channels total FTA share last night was 28.2%. High. Plus, 7mate still leads the week with 3.9% from GO on 3.8% and Gem and 7TWO with 3.7%.

Metro including Pay TV: Nine (three channels) won with a share of 20.4% from Seven (three) on 19.0%, Ten (three) was on 18.0% and the ABC (four) was on 16.7%, with SBS (two) on 5.8%. The 15 FTA channels viewing share last night was 82.4%. The 10 digital channels had a share of 23.2%, the five main channels share was 59.2%, a bit higher than Monday night. The 2100 plus channels on Foxtel gave Pay TV a share last night of 17.6%, down from Monday night’s 18.6%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

TV 1 — 3.0%.
Fox 8 — 2.9%.
A&E — 2.5%.
Discovery — 2.2%.
LifeStyle — 2.0%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

The Walking Dead (FX) — 88,000.
Hardcore Pawn (A&E) — 82,000.
Kung Fu Panda (Nickelodeon) — 80,000.
Coronation St. (UKTV) — 71,000.
Storage Wars (A&E) — 69,000.

Regional: WIN/NBN (three channels) and Prime/7Qld (three) shared the night with a share of 27.0% each. SC Ten (three) was on 20.9% and the ABC (four) was on 19.5%, with SBS (two) on 5.5%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with a share of 20.5% from WIN/NBN on 18.5%, SC Ten was on 13.7% and ABC1 ended on 12.6%. ONE won the digitals with 4.0% from GO on 3.9% and 7mate on 3.8%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of a very high 30.9%. Prime/7Qld lead the week with 30.6% from WIN/NBN on 29.6% SC Ten on 17.8% and the ABC on 17.5%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

Seven News — 546,000.
Once Upon A Time — 475,000.
Nine News — 474,000.
ACA — 434,000.
7.30 — 379,000.

Major Metro Markets: A mixed night. In Sydney, Nine won overall and the main channels, with the ABC second overall and ABC1 third in the main channels. Seven was third overall and second in the main channels. In Melbourne it was Nine from Ten and Seven (overall and the main channels). In Brisbane it was Nine from Seven and Ten (in both). In Adelaide it was Seven in both, with Ten second and the ABC third overall, and Nine and Ten sharing second in the main channels. In Perth it was Seven from Nine and Ten in both as well. In the digitals, ABC2 surprised with wins nationally and in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Eleven won Adelaide and ONE won Perth. Nine still leads Seven and the ABC in Sydney and Nine leads Seven and Ten in Melbourne. In Brisbane it’s Nine and Seven tied for first from Ten. In Adelaide and Perth, its Seven from Nine and Ten.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data