Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: new TT weak at best

Today Tonight is still tabloid, but not as low-rent as it was last year, so far.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Last night was the first proper, competitive night of 2013 ratings. Seven won nationally, but Nine took the edge of what should have been a big winning margin by clever programming.

Melbourne in fact is becoming an unwanted headache for Seven. Nine won Melbourne last night easily, despite Seven having My Kitchen Rules and Revenge in its line-up. The weak performances of the 6pm News and the revamped Today Tonight at 6.30pm set a losing tone for the network in Melbourne for the night.

My Kitchen Rules was still solid. It averaged 1.8 million metro viewers (down around 400,000 from the great figures of last week) and 2.634 million nationally (down around 600,000 from the peak last week). Revenge was dragged along in its wake and averaged just over 1.3 million in metro markets and 1.9 million nationally. The Block All Stars averaged 1.137 million in metro markets and more than 1.6 million nationally. The Big Bang Theory‘s two episodes averaged 1.275 million and 1.184 million (and more than 1.7 and 1.44 million nationally).

The relaunch of Today Tonight was weak to say the best, especially in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The new look version of the program with Helen Kapalos fronting it was slightly more serious than its predecessor, but why have Derryn Hinch go through an out-of-date, highly publicised court case in his new regular segment? Today Tonight is still tabloid, but not as low-rent as it was last year, so far. A Current Affair on Nine (which wasn’t all that solid) won the night in metro markets with 1.135 million to Today Tonight‘s 1.030 million. For all the promotion of the new look Today Tonight, viewers just didn’t bite on night one.

For Ten, the good news of Sunday night was squelched last bright with My Kitchen Rules back in the fray. That saw MasterChef: The Professionals audience collapse by nearly half to average just 567,000 in metro markets and just 758,000 nationally. Can of Worms returned with a live episode last night at 8.30pm on Ten. They need not have bothered with just 351,000 watching in metro markets and 505,000 nationally. That is what you call an abject failure. In terms of All People (which isn’t Ten’s game), the network went from a solid lead over the ABC and ABC1 on Sunday night, to well behind last night. But with NCIS in the line-up tonight, you’d think Ten would lift again.

Meanwhile, 7.30’s promotion of its exclusive interview with Steve Dank, the sports scientist at the centre of the claimed doping scandal, boosted the program’s audience (after being promoted heavily across ABC TV and radio over the weekend and yesterday). An impressive 903,0000 people watched (with a big rise, 50%, in the size of its 16 to 54 audience from last week) in metro markets and more than 1.3 million nationally.

Tonight: My Kitchen Rules and then Packed To The Rafters on Seven. Double episodes of The Big Bang Theory on Nine, as well as The Block All Stars. Ten has a fresh NCIS and MasterChef: The Professionals. ABC1 has Foreign Correspondent at 8pm and then a New Tricks repeat. Insight and Dateline return to SBS ONE at 8.30pm and 9.30pm.

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

My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 2.634 million.
Revenge (Seven) — 1.905 million.
Seven News — — 1.815 million.
Nine News — 1.776 million.
The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.768 million.
The Block All Stars (Nine) — 1.654 million.
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.475 million.
The Big Bang Theory (Nine, repeat) — 1.443 million.
ABC1 News — 1.411 million.
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.334 million.

The Metro Winners:

My Kitchen Rules (Seven, 7.30pm) — 1.800 million.
Revenge (Seven, 8.45pm) — 1.306 million.
The Big Bang Theory (Nine, 8.40pm) — 1.275 million.
Nine News (6pm) — 1.234 million.
Seven News (6pm)– 1.194 million.
The Block All Stars (Nine, 7pm) — 1.137 million.
A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 1.135 million.
The Big Bang Theory (Nine, 9.30pm, repeat) — 1.184 million.
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.030 million.

The Losers: Ten — its line-up just doesn’t have the ratings firepower on nights like last night to even assert itself in its key demos. At best it was placed, at worst it was almost ignored (see Can of Worms).Metro News & CA: Four Corners buy-in on US poverty was well worth it. A terrifying story and one we should all consider when talking about “entitlement spending” and safety nets. We are very lucky in this country. The Media Watch story on the hacker fixing the silly News Ltd website polls was highly amusing. Couldn’t News Ltd work it out?

Nine News (6pm) — 1.234 million.
Seven News (6pm) — 1.194 million.
A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 1.135 million.
Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.030 million.
ABC1 News (7pm) — 980,000.
7.30 (ABC1, 7.30pm) — 903,000.
Australian Story (ABC1, 8pm) — 827,000.
Four Corners (ABC1, 8.30pm) — 742,000.
Media Watch (ABC1, 9.20pm) 715,000.
Ten News (Ten, 5pm) — 698,000.
Q&A (ABC1, 9.35pm) — 652,000 + 78,000 on News 24. *
The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 527,000.
Lateline (ABC1, 10.35pm) — 312,000.
SBS ONE News (6.30pm) — 170,000.
Ten Late News (Ten 10.30pm) — 162,000.
The Business (ABC1, 11.10pm, repeat) — 113,000 + 26,000 on News 24.*
SBS ONE Late News (10.30pm) — 47,000.
The Drum (News 24, 6pm) — 46,000.

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven, 7am) –364,000.
Today (Nine, 7am) — 332,000.
The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 169,000.
Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 119,000.
News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — 42,000 + 31,000 on News 24.*

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 32.2% from Nine (three) on 29.8%, the ABC (four) was on 19.9%, Ten (three) was back on 14.2% and SBS (three) ended with 3.9%. Seven leads the week with 33.1% from Nine on 29.3%, the ABC on 17.1% and Ten on 16.7%. Main Channels: Seven won with 25.75 from Nine on 23.6%, ABC1 was on 15.15, Ten was on just 9.3% and SBS ONE ended with 2.9%. Seven leads the week with 26.3% from Nine on 23.3%, ABC 1 is on 13.3% and Ten is on 12.3%.

Metro Digital: Another low viewing night. GO won with 3.8% from 7TWO on 3.6%, ABC1 was on 3.1%, Eleven and 7mate were on 2.8% each; Gem was on 2.4%, ONE ended with 2.0%, News 24 was on 1.1%, SBS TWO was on 0.9%, ABC 3 was on 0.7% and NITV ended with just 0.1%. The 11 channels had an FTA viewing share last night of a low 23.3%. 7TWO leads the week from GO and 7mate on 3.2% each.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 27.3% from Nine (three) on 25.3%, the ABC (four) was on 16.9%, Ten (three) was back on 12.% and SBS (three) ended with 3.3%. The 16 FTA channels had a viewing share in prime time last night of 86.9%, made up of 19.9% for the digital channels and 67.0% for the five main channels. Pay TV’s share eased to 13.1% for the 200 plus channels on Foxtel.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox8 — 3.2%.
UKTV — 2.3%.
Fox Sports 1 — 2.3%.
TV1 — 2.1%.
LifeStyle — 1.9%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

The Grammys (Fox8) — 69,000.
Family Guy (Fox8) — 66,000.
Coronation St. (UKTV) — 65,000.
The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 64,000.
Eastenders (UKTV) — 55,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 34.1% from WIN/NBN (three) on 30.4%, the ABC (four) was on 19.5%, SC Ten (three) was back on a weak 11.9% and SBS (three) ended with 34.1%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 25.5%, from WIN/NBN on 23.0%, with ABC1 third with 15.0%, from SC Ten on a low 7.0%. The digitals were won by 7TWO with 5.2% from GO on 4.2%. The 11 digital channels had an FTA share last night of a low 26.3%. Prime/7Qld now leads the week with 33.2%, from WIN/NBN on 32.6%, the ABC is on 16.5% and SC Ten is on 13.9%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

My Kitchen Rules — 833,000.
Seven News — 622,000.
Revenge — 603,000.
Nine News — 539,000.
The Block All Stars — 517,000.

Major Metro Markets: No clean sweep for Seven last night. It won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth overall and in the main channels. In Melbourne and Brisbane Nine won overall and the main channels. The ABC/ABC1 was third in all markets as Ten slid backwards from Sunday’s solid start. GO won the digitals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. 7TWO won Adelaide and Perth. Seven leads Nine and the ABC in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and Perth. Ten is still third in Brisbane.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data