Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: sport rules over all

Ah, we love a winner, especially when they bat first, get a couple of lives and go on to whack the Poms, sorry, England, around Lords, making Old Father Time a bit older and rustier and condemning Alastair Cook’s mob to a night out behind The Nursery End, and not the Long Room and its members with the “Egg and Bacon Ties”.  (Aren’t you sick of the guided tour of Lords? If you have been watching or listening or reading test cricket for as long as I have — over 50 years — then you’ve heard it all before).

But the batting of the Australians helped Nine to a big night in the metros, but curiously not in the regionals where Seven was a narrow winner. Nine broadcast  the test on Gem and many people in regional Australia (and in fact quite a few in the metros) couldn’t watch the game on pay TV because Nine and Foxtel are fighting over who will pay to broadcast Gem in HD. The fact that the test cricket is exclusive to Nine isn’t making the desperate wannabe monopolists at Foxtel any happier or any more co-operative.

The combination of the test cricket on Gem and a solid night for Masterchef Australia and the following Masterclass pushed Ten’s main channel into top spot, relegating Seven to third and Nine to second  in the metros. In the regions Seven won the night overall and the main channels with Nine second and Ten, third.

In the morning the two day metro reign at the top of breakfast TV for Today didn’t last and it returned to its normal position of being well behind Sunrise, 329,000 to 283,000. But they were heady, boastful days for a while for Nine. The test cricket is on Gem again tonight, then on Nine’s main channel tomorrow night (there’s soccer on Gem tomorrow night) and back on Gem on Sunday night. Seven starts this season of Dancing With The Stars on Sunday night — up against The Voice and Masterchef Australia — a big ask for the fading dancehall queen, but’s she’s trouper and will have a good lash.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (33.5%)
2. Seven (23.3%)
3. Ten (22.9%)
4. ABC (14.6%)
5. SBS (5.7%)

Network main channels:

1. Ten (18.2%)
2. Nine (15.6%)
3. Seven (14.6%)
4. ABC1 (10.2?%)
5. SBS ONE (4.8%)

Top digital channels: 

1. Gem (14.2%)
2. 7TWO (5.1%)
3. GO, 7mate (3.6%)
4. ABC 2 (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.543 million
2. Nine News — 1.488million
3. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.284 million
4. ABC News – 1.264 million
5. Seven News  – 1.248
6. H0me and Away (Seven) — 1.192 million
7. Ashes: Second Test, Day 1 (Gem) — 1.104 million
8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.093 million
9. Nine News 6.30 — 1.040 million
10. Inside Story (Nine) — 995,000

Top metro programs:

1. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.186 million
2. Nine News — 1.072 million
3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.040 million

 Losers: No one really. The cricket distorted the night, as big sport always does.Metro news and current affairs:

1. Nine News — 1.072 million
2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.040 million
3. Seven News  – 956,000
4. A Current Affair (Nine) – 929,000
5. Seven News/ Today Tonight  – 892,000
6. ABC News — 862,000
7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 679,000
8. Inside Story (Nine) — 631,000
9. Ten Eyewitness News — 625,000
10. 7.30 (ABC) — 607,000

Morning TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 329,000
2. Today (Nine) – 283,000
3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 143,000
4. News Breakfast (ABC 94,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 136,000
5. Mornings (Nine) — 119,000
6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 58,000

Top pay TV channels:

1. LifeStyle  (2.3%)
2. Fox Sports 4 (2.2%)
3. Fox8  (2.1%)
4. Foxtel Movies Premiere  (1.9%)
5. UKTV (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

1. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 69,000
2. Golf: The British Open Round 1 (Fox Sports 1) – 69,000
3. Wayward Pines (FX) – 63,000
4. Banished  (BBC First) – 61,000
5. Matty Johns Big Weekend (Fox Sports 1) – 60,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. 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.