Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: a suitably dire start to ratings off-season

Simply a night to forget last night, the first of the first of what will be many between now and early February 2014. But there will be some good nights of TV — the end of Keating on ABC1 tomorrow night is a case in point. Nine won a narrow victory in metro markets — Seven had a much larger victory in the regions, and the ABC reversed its metro loss to Ten in the regions for third spot.

And a very, very simple lesson for Tony Abbott and his handlers — putting him on The Bolt Report yesterday (and wasn’t it an easy-going interview) was silly. Only 114,000 people watched at 10am in the five metro markets and just 53,000 watched the afternoon replay at 4pm, which is an appallingly low figure. ABC ‘s Insiders — which Abbott has been avoiding — had 270,000 metro viewers and over 400,000 nationally. If it’s getting your message across, it’s going on Insiders. If it’s a chat to a mate over coffee in a small corner cafe, it was Bolt, helped by the megaphones of the News Corp mates. The interview looked like a long free kick for the PM, which viewers don’t want to watch, as they showed yesterday (Accurate national figures for Bolt are not available due to a ratings coding error at Ten).

Barrie Cassidy finished up as host of Offsiders yesterday — he will be missed. He could be occasionally used as a couch member next year because he still has a lot to offer, especially about Collingwood. Cassidy’s Insiders finished the year firmly in front as the premier Sunday political chat show. Inside Business finished for good — shame on the ABC for not keeping it going. The final heart-breaking round of the Australian Open Golf averaged 493,000 in metro markets on Seven and 800,000 nationally. The combined live (early AM) and repeat audience (afternoon) on 7mate for the Rugby League World Cup Final won by Australia averaged 355,000. The national audience was 663,000. The ARIAs on Nine’s Go last night averaged 337,000 metro viewers and 483,000 nationally.

Network channel share:

Nine (32.5%)
Seven (30.6%)
Ten (16.9%)
ABC (15.2%)
SBS (5.8%)

Network main channels:

Nine (21.8%)
Seven (21.7%)
Ten (11.6%)
ABC 1 (10.5%)
SBS ONE (4.7%)

Top 5 digital channels:

GO (7.3%)
7TWO (4.6%)
7mate (4.4%)
ABC2 (3.1%)
Eleven (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.715 million
Seven News — 1.632 million
Border Security (Seven) — 1. 587 million
Nine News – 1.296 million
Coastwatch (Seven) — 1.285 million
ABC News — 1.270 million
Wild Planet (Seven) — 1.223 million
The Mentalist (Nine) — 1.134 million
Summer with The Australian Women’s Weekly (Nine) — 1.116 million
Bones (Seven) — 1.097 million

Top metro programs:

60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.196 million
Seven News — 1.097 million
Border Security (Seven) — 1.034 million

Losers: Everyone who watched TV. Sigh.Metro news and current affairs:

60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.196 million
Seven News — 1.097 million
Nine News — 917,000
ABC News — 883,000
Ten Eyewitness News — 416,000
SBS World News — 165,000

Metro morning TV:

Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 352,000
Today (Nine) – 284,000
Insiders (ABC1 163,000 + 107,000 News24) — 270,000
Financial Review Sunday (Nine) — 193,000
Inside Business (ABC1) — 141,000
Offsiders (ABC1) – 108,000
The Bolt Report (Ten) — 114,000
Meet The Press (Ten) — 78,000

Top five pay TV channels:

Fox Sports 1 (3.3%)
Foxtel Movies (3.0%)
TV1 (2.6%)
Fox 8 (2.4%)
LifeStyle (2.2%)

Top five pay TV programs:

Tack Reacher (Foxtel Movies) – 143,000
Celebrity Xmas Come Dine With me Australia (LifeStyle) – 97,000
A League: Melbourne Heart v Adelaide (Fox Sports 1) – 92,000
Modern Family (Fox 8), EPL: Tottenham v Man U (Fox Sports 1) — 83,000
The Crazy Ones (Fox 8) – 69,000

*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.