The Brownlow Medal telecast did it for Seven thanks to big wins in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (and a close one in Sydney) and a solid win in regional markets. Ten was badly squeezed again and was a distant fourth (with very low main channel shares in Melbourne and Adelaide of 6.8% and 6.5% respectively, which were among the lowest the network has recorded in recent years). The ABC did OK with its usual news and current affairs line up. And that was the night. The live Brownlow broadcast pre-empted Today Tonight and Home and Away in some markets such as Perth, Adelaide and some regional markets.

I’m sorry, but it was like watching paint dry, then peel. It was boring, the average football club awards night would be more interesting because their unpredictability. But it’s a big deal for those AFL tragics with nothing better to do on the Monday night of Grand Final Week than watch hours of badly dressed penguins and their consorts attempt to improve the look of the Crown casino ballroom. The last round win by Gary Ablett showed there is justice in sport.

Viewers vote with their remotes: A week ago Q&A had a solid night with 1.214 million national viewers, including 807,000 in metro markets (all on ABC1 and News24) with a solid panel including harebrained billionaire, Clive Palmer. Last night it was veteran environmental activist, David Suzuki, and no one else, and the audience crashed by around 400,000 people  nationally  (and to 537,000 in metro markets). Viewers mostly want a range of views and not a solo effort. They watched Bill Gates on his own because he was interesting and a legend. But David Suzuki isn’t in the same class, so far as the Q&A audience was concerned.

Offshore Ratings updates: Monday (Sunday night in the US) Emmy’s had the biggest audience on CBS – around 18 million in eight years — since 2005 (when it didn’t compete against Sunday Night Football on NBC which averaged just over 19 million viewers). The Emmy audience was up a massive 4.4 million on 2012’s figures, which is quite a rise.  Downton Abbey’s fourth series kicked off in Britain on Sunday night on ITV with 9.5 million viewers for the 90 minute episode on early figures. That was up from the 8.6 million for the first episode of series two and three and the 7.7 million for the first-ever episode.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (37.1%)
  2. Nine (26.1%)
  3. ABC (18.8%)
  4. Ten (13.8%)
  5. SBS (4.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (29.2%)
  2. Nine (19.1%)
  3. ABC1 (13.7%)
  4. Ten (8.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.3?%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.3%)
  2. GO (3.6%)
  3. 7mate, Eleven (3.5%)
  4. Gem (3.4%)
  5. ABC2 (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News – 1.965 million
  2. Nine News — 1.783 million
  3. Brownlow Medal (Seven, 1.215 million, 7mate, 145,000) — 1.360 million
  4. ABC  News — 1.346 million
  5. Big Brother (Nine) — 1.281 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.263 million
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.258 million
  8. Australian Story (ABC 1) — 1.250 million
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.218 million
  10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.056 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.315 million
  2. Nine News — 1.214 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.036 million

Losers: Ten, squeezed again. A League of Their Own, Wanted and Blue Bloods — all hurt by the Brownlow Medal, but the impact further damaged three already weak programs.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.315 million
  2. Nine News — 1.214 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.036 million
  4. ABC  News — 914,000
  5. Today Tonight (Seven) — 855,000
  6. Australian Story (ABC1) — 833,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 815,000
  8. Ten  News — 632,000
  9. The Project (Ten) — 582,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC1) — 579,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 357,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 281,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1, 63,000 + 39,000 on News24) — 102,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy (4.2%)
  2. Fox 8 (3.0%)
  3. LifeStyle (2.9%)
  4. TV1  (2.2%)
  5. Foxtel Movies  (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: The Brownlow  (Fox Footy) – 200,000
  2. AFL: 360  (Fox Footy) – 136,000
  3. AFL: Brownlow Red Carpet (Fox Footy) – 107,000
  4. Storage Wars (A&E) – 63,000
  5. Restoration Man (LifeStyle) – 60,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.