TV Ratings: Survivor limps to the finish line

Ten ended Australian Survivor last night. It had a reasonable performance in the five city metros, but in the regions it was acceptable at best, and truth be known, the night was one for a low-key hurrah. Ten finished third in the metros in total people, but second in the more important main channels. But in the regions it was a noticeable third in both as Seven again won the night.

The winner’s announcement on Survivor (a matter of a few minutes) managed 1.452 million viewers nationally:1.082 million in the metros where it was the second most-watched program, and 370,000 in the regions where it was sixth. The lead-up averaged 1.174 million viewers nationally (859,000 in the metros and 316,000 in the regions). Ten will be happy there was a solid turn on for the winner’s announcement compared to the lead up: 278,000 people or nearly 24%. But it will also wonder why those extra viewers weren’t with the program in the lead-up.

But while Ten will be happy with Survivor, the big test comes tonight and tomorrow night with the final episodes of this year’s The Bachelorette. 2016 has not been a brilliant year and Friday morning Ten execs will be crossing everything just after 9am as the ratings come through. Last year’s winner’s announcement topped 1.9 million nationally. That will be a big task for this year’s effort. The lead up (‘will I, won’t I, him, no him’) last year averaged more than 1.6 million. For Ten, The Bachelorette is more of an established franchise than Survivor and is therefore more important.

But apart from last night’s OK figures, Survivor was a program which failed to hold the attention of the casual Ten viewer over the season and on Monday nights was consistently outshone by the cheaper and more friendly Are You Paying Attention?. Advertisers are and will ask point out to Ten that the cheaper Are You Paying Attention? is far more cost effective than the more expensive Survivor. On this year’s performance, Ten could justify another season of Survivor, but it is now about to spend more millions on the new series of I’m A Celebrity”. So with ad revenues weak, and no expectations of a rebound in 2017 (and that big Commonwealth Bank debt to grapple with), Ten is placed in a difficult place so far as Survivor 2017. It is still very much a program of the 1990s and it shows.

Elsewhere last night, nothing noticeable except Nine’s 6pm News continues to underperform. Seven did depend more on its big margins in Adelaide and Perth last night, but nationally it was a one horse race as Seven News won clearly.

In breakfast – the neck and neck battle continues. Sunrise had more viewers than Today (310,000 to 288,000), but nationally Sunrise was an easy winner. For Nine and its limited world view (the three East Coast metros really, and oh, we have Adelaide and Perth), Today is the winner with more weeks won than Sunrise. But nationally, Sunrise has won more weeks and has attracted more people. And it is a national TV market these days, especially if those audience reach rules are changed (Nine doesn’t want that to happen because it knows it will not do well compared with Seven. In fact Nine would be beaten most nights and weeks (outside of one offs like the State of Origin and NRL Grand Finals) because it is now with the much weaker Southern Cross in regional markets.

And good old Inspector Morse was pensioned off from 7TWO last night. The repeated repeat of a repeat of a repeat and more repeat episode didn’t make it to air as per the print guides and instead the Bruce Willis movie, Red, was dropped in. It was also a repeat of a repeat of a repeat. Red managed 339,000 national viewers last night. Seven would have only made the last minute change because it wanted to stop the weakness that has developed in 7TWO’s ratings in recent months. 7TWO was the most watched digital channel last night as a result.

Network channel share:

Seven (28.0%)
Nine (26.8%)
Ten (22.4%)
ABC (15.4%)
SBS (7.3%)

Network main channels:

Nine (18.6%)
Ten (17.0%)
Seven (16.9%)
ABC (10.4%)
SBS ONE (5.5%)

Top 5 digital channels:

7TWO (4.6%)
7mate (4.3%)
Gem (3.6%)
ABC 2, ONE (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

Seven News — 1.634 million
Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.467 million
Australian Survivor – Winner Announced (Ten) — 1.452 million
Nine News — 1.373 million
The Block (Nine) — 1.289 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.273 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.190 million
Australian Survivor – Grand Finale (Ten) — 1.174 million
ABC News — 1.129 million
Border Security (Seven) — 997,000

Top metro programs:

Seven News — 1.083 million
Australian Survivor – Winner Announced (Ten) — 1.082 million
Nine News — 1.035 million

Losers: No one really. Well yes, Cold Feet. Seven ran two episodes last night, it wants to get rid of it, Nostalgia don’t rate (or British nostalgia from the 90s)

Metro news and current affairs:

Seven News — 1.083 million
Nine News — 1.035 million
Seven News/Today Tonight — 962,000
Nine News 6.30 —959,000
A Current Affair (Nine) – 848,000
7pm ABC News – 782,000
7.30 (ABC) — 608,000
The Project 7pm (Ten) — 587,000
Ten Eyewitness News — 475,000
The Project 6.30pm (Ten) —392,000

Morning TV:

Sunrise (Seven) – 310,000
Today (Nine) – 288,000
News Breakfast (ABC, 102,000 + 49,000 on News 24) — 151,000
The Morning Show (Seven) — 131,000
Today Extra (Nine) — 122,000
Studio 10 (Ten) — 67,000

Top five pay TV channels:

Fox 8 (3.4%)
TVHITS (2.6%)
Sky News (2.1%)
Nick Jr (2.0%)
LifeStyle (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

FFA Cup (Fox Sports 4) — 85,000
The Great Australian Bake-Off (LifeStyle Food) — 73,000
Australia’s Next Top Model (Fox8) — 71,000
The Simpsons (Fox8) – 64,000
NCIS (TVHITS) — 61,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent.