Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: a disappointing night

Except for Australian Story and a few moments on Q&A, it was a disappointing night of TV for a Monday, which is usually a quality night for viewing. Viewers didn’t quite see it my way — they thought it was more even, with 8 programs having a million or more metro viewers for the night, which is higher than normal for Mondays.  The Australian Story report certainly created a buzz in the watching audience and a hive of comment. It was a real honey of a story (There, is that enough bee puns?).

But whatever, viewers responded in a way that was remarkably positive (and the story demanded that reaction, because it shows that to succeed you don’t need  to be a big or small swinging you know what, a leaner or lifter or whatever. Gentle, ordinary people with a passion can succeed. It should be a message to the rest of business, but they will ignore it anyway as it doesn’t fit their MBA course notes or examples, or the rigid thinking that permeates much of business these days about success. It should also be a lesson for the new PM and his demands for an agile economy and belief in start ups and all things techie — it’s often not like that in the real world PM. It takes all types and The Flow Hive is a genuine technological breakthrough in an old fashioned, perhaps hidebound rural industry that was funded in spectacularly a new “techie millennial” way.

It was the most watched non-news program last night in metro markets with 1.027 million people tuning in. Australian Bee Story was the second most watched program nationally with 1.507 million viewers, after Seven’s The X Factor which was saved from a weak night by a solid 555,000 in the regions. Nine’s The Block stood out with a strong Monday outing and 1.373 million viewers across the country and another strong performance in the demos. For Ten, it was another Monday night in fourth spot. Overall Seven won the metros and the regions overall and the main channels. Nine did well in the 16 to 49 demos, Seven did well in the 25 to 54s. The Block topped the night in most demos.

In the morning Today started the week with a metro win over Sunrise, 343,000 to 333,000, but nationally it was Seven’s morning flagship ahead of Nine’s flagship.

And a total of 331,000 hardy souls were up at 3am Monday to watch Australia beat Argentina in the Rugby World Cup and go forward to the final against the TFATT’s — Them From Across The Tasman (AKA The All Blacks) — there were 187,000 on Nine’s digital channel, Gem, and 144,000 on Fox Sports.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (30.1%)
2. Nine (26.1%)
3. ABC (20.5%)
4. Ten (17.8%)
5. SBS (5.6%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (20.0%)
2. Nine (19.0%)
3. ABC (16.3%)
4.  Ten (12.6%)
5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (5.5%)
2. 7mate (4.5%)
3. GO (3.6%)
4. Gem (3.5%)
5. Eleven (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. The X Factor (Seven) — 1.558 million
2. Australian Story (ABC) — 1.507 million
3. Nine News — 1.484 million
4. The Block (Nine) — 1.372 million
5. 7.30 (ABC) — 1.345 million
6. ABC News — 1.338 million
7. Seven News — 1.332 million
8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.305 million
9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.181 million
10. Nine News 6.30 — 1.073 million

Top metro programs:

1. Nine News — 1.095 million
2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.073 million
3. Seven News — 1.028 million
4. Australian Story (ABC) — 1.027 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 1.021 million
6. The Block (Nine) — 1.016 million
7. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.014 million
8. The X Factor (Seven) — 1.003 million

Losers: No one really. Well, anyone who watched Homeland on Ten. Even with Mandy Patinkin (Criminal Minds, Chicago Hope), being brought in to save the program from itself, only 300,000 viewers strayed with it across the country, including 220,000 in the metros. American TV drama at its worst.Metro news and current affairs:

1. Nine News — 1.095 million
2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.073 million
3. Seven News — 1.028 million
4. Australian Story (ABC) — 1.027 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 1.021 million
6. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.014 million
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 935,000
8. ABC News – 916,000
9. Four Corners (ABC) –726,000
10. Media Watch (ABC) —  633,000

Morning TV:

1. Today (Nine) – 343,000
2. Sunrise (Seven) – 333,000
3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 176,000
4. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  101,000 + 38,000 on News 24) — 139,000
5. Mornings (Nine) — 130,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 77,000

Top five pay TV channels:

1. Fox Sports 2 (3.3%)
2. Fox 8  (2.5%)
3. TVHITS  (2.1%)
4. LifeStyle  (1.9%)
5. Nick Jr (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

1. RWC: Australia v Argentina (Fox Sports 2) – 144,000
2. The Walking Dead (FX) — 81,000
3. The Simpsons (Fox8) —  65,000
4. F1: US GP (Fox Sports 5) — 64,000
5. A Place To Call Home  (SoHo) – 55,000

*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.