Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: Seven wins on a quiet night

House Rules started last night on Seven  to a very muted first reception from viewers in metro markets. The program started slowly in its first season last year, but after its mid season revamp, it finished 2013 with a bang. Last night it could only manage 1.874 million national/ 1.183 million metro / 691,000 regional viewers. That’s reasonable, but not the knockout many at Seven were promoting. Seven said in its ratings report this morning that House Rules’ audience last night was up 47% in viewers on its debut episode in 2013. Still, it was enough for Seven to win the night in All People, aided by a OK result for the news hour, Home and Away at 7pm and at 8.30pm. Seven actually did a lot better in regional markets, especially with House Rules which was easily the most watched program in those markets.  Ten was weaker in those markets compared with its effort in metro markets. It still finished fourth behind the ABC.

Nine depended on a new ep of The Big Bang Theory and two repeats. The three programs were enough for Nine to win the main demos. Nine won Sydney and Melbourne, but Seven won Brisbane (by a surprisingly large margin) and had solid wins in Adelaide and Perth. Nine starts The Voice next week which it expects to again do well. But it faded in season two in 2013 and series three will be its big test. Will Kylie make up for the absence of Delta? Selling Houses Australia remains the most watched program each week on pay TV at the moment, outside of the NRL and AFL. It had 183,000 viewers on the LifeStyle channel last night. The property boom continues.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (32.9%)
2. Nine (29.9%)
3. ABC (17.4%)
4. Ten (15.5%)
5. SBS (4.3%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (23.5%)
2. Nine (21.8%)
3. ABC1 (12.0%)
4. Ten (10.2%)
5. SBS ONE (3.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (4.8%)
2. 7mate (4.6%)
3. Gem (4.1)
4. GO (4.0%)
5. ABC2 (3.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. House Rules (Seven) — 1.874 million
2. Seven News — 1.771 million
3. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.725 million
4. Nine News — 1.632 million
5. The Big Bang Theory  repeat 1 (Nine) –1.573 million
6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.541 million
7. The Big Bang Theory repeat 2 (Nine) — 1.430 million
8. The Blacklist (Seven) — 1.375 million
9. ABC News  – 1.291 million
10. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.200 million

Top metro programs:

1. Seven News — 1.216 million
2. House Rules (Seven) — 1.183 million
3. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.180 million
4. Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.121 million
5. The Big Bang Theory repeat 1 (Nine) — 1.069 million
6. Nine News — 1.062 million

Losers: Ten could have done better. It’s a shame Puberty Blues (728,000 national/ 529,000 metro / 199,000 regional viewers) is being held back by Ten’s poor reputation among viewers.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 1.216 million
2. Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.121 million
3. Nine News — 1.062 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 958,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 919,000
6. ABC News  – 896,000
7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 826,000
8. Ten Eyewitness News — 577,000
9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 511,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 320,000

Morning TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 359,000
2. Today (Nine) – 296,000
3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 165,000
4. Mornings (Nine) — 116,000
5. News Breakfast (ABC 1  62,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 105,000
6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 40,000
7. Wake Up (Ten) — 39,000

Top five pay TV channels:

1. LifeStyle  (3.1%)
2. Fox 8  (2.9%)
3. TVHITS! (2.5%)
4. Crime & Investigation (1.8%)
5. Fox Classics, Sky News (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) – 147,000
2. Futurama (Fox 8) – 80,000
3. The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 77,000
4. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 76,000
5. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 73,000

*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.