TV Ratings: Network TV Turnoff

Seven’s night in metro and regional markets with hundreds of thousands of viewers voting with their fingers and refusing to engage. And you can’t blame them. The ABC and the commercial networks offered nothing of real interest. If you look at the national top 10, some of those figures are OK (good even) for the metros, not all the country.

SBS ended First Contact and the audience was the lowest for the three episodes. The final episode had a total of 597,000 (656,000, 645,000 for the two previous episodes) viewers on SBS’s main channel (546,000) and NITV (51,000). The reunion show which followed had 435,000 on SBS (398,000) and NITV (37,000). No more please. David Oldfield had disappeared and now he’s back in the limelight thanks to this effort. We already knew his views and did not need any reminding. Why doesn’t SBS reverse the idea, and with hidden cameras, chart life for Aboriginies, Asians, Muslims and others in the urban areas of the country, including big regional towns. In some states it can’t be done, but it can in some (Queensland for example).

The five most watched metro programs were: Seven News with 871,000, Seven News/Today Tonight with 868,000, Nine News 6.30 was 3rd with 728,000, Nine News was fourth with 721,000 and ACA was fifth with 663,000. Nine News won Sydney and Melbourne, Seven won Brisbane narrowly and had its usual big wins in Adelaide and Perth to easily win the night n the metros, the regions and nationally.

In the regions, the most watched shows were Seven News with 489,000; Home and Away with 463,000; Seven News/Today Tonight with 416,000; with the 5.30pm bit of The Chase Australia fourth with 361,000 and ACA 5th with 312,000.

And you know how weak the night was? Well, The Project at 7pm with 416,000 viewers in the metros was beaten by Ten News from 5 to 6pm with 427,000. The 7pm bit of The Project has consistently had far more viewers than Ten’s News. And the 6.30pm bit of The Project with 323,000 viewers was ‘beaten’ by Seven’s Sunrise from 7am to 9am with 324,000. That tells us how few people tuned in last night.

This weekend: the first ODI against New Zealand on Sunday will at least give us one cricket international to watch for a while. There’s rugby union on Saturday night from Twickers as the Wannabees play moaning Eddie’s Poms (a good side). Tonight is just diabolical. Even worse than last night. They don’t want us to watch TV, just Netflix or Stan (preferably read) our way to sleep.
Now this is a big deal in the world of streaming on US TV. From this Sunday December 4, all NFL broadcasts on CBS will be streamed on CBS All Access. It will cover all regular, pre-season and post-season coverage. CBS already has a million subscribers for the service and wants 8 million by 2020. All Access costs $US5.99 a month for commercials, $9.99 ad free.

The move is sure to be followed by NBC and Fox which are the other big rights holders (ESPN is the cable holder for its Monday night games). But it only will be offered in those markets in the US where CBS is broadcasting NFL games: currently the top 150 markets of more than 200. And because of an agreement phone group Verizon has on mobile NFL streaming with the NFL, there will be no streaming to iPhones or Android handsets. But it will be available on tablets via the CBS App for iOS, Android and Windows 10, on connected device platforms, including Xbox One and Xbox 360, Roku Players, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and PS4, and online at CBS.com in more than 150 US markets.

This deal is important because between CBS and Verizon (and presumably with NBC and Fox), the biggest live sports coverage in the US will be mostly streamed by free to air TV, not streaming rivals such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu etc. DirecTV Now, the cheap as chips cable streaming service launched by AT&T this week doesn’t include CBS at all. This NFL streaming deal will guarantee it is added to the various packages from 60 to 120 channels. Netflix and Amazon have been making mutterings about going for live sport for their streaming offerings. By doing a deal with CBS the NFL wants its broadcast partners (CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN (Disney/Hearst)) on board on all services current and prospective.

Network channel share:

Seven (28.2%)
Nine (25.4%)
Ten (20.3%)
ABC (16.7%)
SBS (9.5%)

Network main channels:

Seven (17.0%)
Nine (16.5%)
Ten (13.5%)
ABC (11.1%)
SBS ONE (7.0%)

Top 5 digital channels:

7TWO,7mate (4.3%)
Eleven (4.0%)
ONE (3.9%)
ABC 2 (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

Seven News — 1.360 million
Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.285 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.101 million
Nine News — 986,000
A Current Affair (Nine) — 975,000
ABC News — 950,000
The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 834,000
7.30 (ABC) —757,000
Nine News 6.30 — 735,000
Would I Lie To You (ABC) — 671,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers

Losers: Viewers – those who stayed last night. Plenty vanished. A very boring night.

Metro news and current affairs:

Seven News — 891,000
Seven News/Today Tonight — 869,000
Nine News (6.30pm) — 778,000
Nine News — 721,000
A Current Affair (Nine) – 663,000
ABC News – 646,000
7.30 (ABC) — 489,000
Ten Eyewitness News — 427,000
The Project 7pm (Ten) —416,000
The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 323,000

Morning TV:

Sunrise (Seven) – 324,000
Today (Nine) —287,000
News Breakfast (ABC, 90,000 +35,000 on ABC News) — 125,000
Today Extra (Nine) — 122,000
The Morning Show (Seven) — 112,000
Studio 10 (Ten) — 81,000

Top five pay TV channels:

Fox 8 (2.7%)
TVHITS (2.4%)
LifeStyle (2.3%)
Sky News (1.9%)
UKTV, Nick Jr (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

Arrow (Fox8) – 93,000
Harley and the Davidsons (Discovery) — 73,000
The Simpsons (Fox8) – 68,000
NCIS (TVHITS) — 52,000
Paw Patrol (Nick Jr) — 50,000

*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 of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.