Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings: a quiet night

Nine’s night, Seven’s night — it was very close in the metros and Nine again did well in the major demographics. No share figures were available for the regionals because of the Melbourne Cup holiday down south, but judging on the early data on audiences, Seven was a big winner in the regions with The X Factor topping the night with 555,000 viewers, followed by Home and Away with 507,000. The Block by contrast, could only manage 385,000, which was solid, but short of what a top rating program should really be pulling across the regions.

On Q&A, Dr Paul Erlich again showed why he has been wrong on many things in his life (population growth, the fate of Britain, and scarcity of resources (most notably). His effort last night’s effort on Q&A showed us why — argumentative, a stunning belief that everything he says is right (like many academics, especially those from the US, Noam Chomsky is another) and an inability to join in a general discussion and debate ideas without resorting to being overly didactic. But that enhanced last night’s Q&A, as did host Tony Jones who neatly monstered the ALP’s Tony Burke on the question of further funding of Gonski education spending. Q&A attracted 780,000 national viewers, including 545,000 metro and 235,000 regional viewers and won its time slot.

800 Words wraps up its short but successful first season for Seven tonight. It’s back next year.

Is this a new trend? Yet another win on Monday in breakfast yesterday in the metros by Nine’s Today, 312,000 to 286,000. Now will Sunrise move back into the lead for the rest of the week — especially with Seven having the rights to the Melbourne Cup broadcast, as we saw with Sunrise this morning?

Network channel share:

Seven (28.6%)
Nine (26.8%)
ABC (19.5%)
Ten (19.0%)
SBS (5.9%)

Network main channels:

Nine (19.5%)
Seven (19.2%)
ABC (15.8%)
Ten (13.3%)
SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels:

7TWO (5.2%)
7mate (4.3%)
GO (3.8%)
Gem (3.5%)
ONE (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

The X Factor (Seven) — 1.560 million
The Block (Nine) — 1.347 million
Nine News — 1.3465 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.284 million
Seven News — 1.286 million
Australian Story (ABC) — 1.219 million
7.30 (ABC) — 1.196 million
ABC News — 1.186 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.157 million
Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.40 million

Top metro programs:

Seven News — 1.018 million
The X Factor (Seven) — 1.005 million

Losers: Not the most uplifting of nights — some daunting content on the ABC. The metro shares tell us it was quite a close night, so no real losers except Homeland on Ten, again: another loss, down to just 265,000 national viewers – 206,000 in the nationals and 59,000 in the regions. Seeing the preceding program, have You Been Paying Attention had 910,000 viewers (and is a big recent improver for Ten), it was a real collapse in the size of Ten’s audience.Metro news and current affairs:

Seven News — 1.018 million
Seven News/Today Tonight — 997,000
Nine News (6.30pm) —983,000
A Current Affair (Nine) – 962,000
Nine News — 936,000
Australian Story (ABC) –807,000
7.30 (ABC) — 783,000
ABC News – 765,000
Four Corners (ABC) — 696,000
Media Watch (ABC) — 627,000

Morning TV:

Today (Nine) – 312,000
Sunrise (Seven) – 286,000
News Breakfast (ABC 1, 117,000 + 44,000 on News 24) –161,000
The Morning Show (Seven) — 151,000
Mornings (Nine) — 135,000
Studio 10 (Ten) — 66,000

Top five pay TV channels:

Fox 8 (2.80%)
LifeStyle (1.9%)
TVHITS (1.9%)
UKTV, Fox Classics (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

The Simpsons (Fox8) – 78,000
The Walking Dead (FX) – 69,000
The Simpsons (Fox8) – 65,000
F1: Mexican GP (Fox Sports 5) — 64,000
A League: Melb. v Wellington (Fox Sports 4) — 57,000

*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.