Spicks and Specks reunion out-plays the cricket

It was no contest last night — not the farce in Perth, mercifully buried away on Foxtel (you could hear the sighs of relief from Nine all over the East Coast), but the choice of what to watch.

The reunion special of Spicks and Specks on the ABC won hands down and helped the ABC into a clear third spot on the night in total people and the main channels. Top nationally with 1.36 million, top in the metros with 905,000 (with Seven News), top in the regions with 464,000. Seven’s laboured All Together Now could only manage 964,000 from 7pm and was easily towelled by Spicks and Specks. Nine’s Family Food Fight ran from 7pm to 8.30 and was such a slow moving feast that only 563,000 people could keep up. In the morning, Insiders again dominated with 520,000, which was enough to make it the 10th most watched program on TV. 

The Australia-South Africa match attracted an average of 205,000 across both innings — 277,000 for the Australian innings and 133,000 for the South Africans in the late afternoon and evening. Foxtel will be happy with that — the big drop off when Australia is losing is typical (it happened with Nine’s coverage). The next test is Friday night’s second game. Being a Friday, the audience has to be higher than last night because there is no competition on free to air TV.  

In the regions, the Spicks and Specks Reunion ruled with 464,000, followed by Seven’s 6pm News with 445,000, then the 7pm ABC News with 398,000, All Together Now with 304,000 and Sunday Night with 272,000.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (31.1%)
2. Nine (27.3%)
3. ABC (16.4%)
4. Ten (9.0%)
5. SBS (7.6%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (19.6%)
2. Nine (17.1%)
3. ABC (16.4%)
4. Ten (9.0%)
5. SBS ONE (4.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7Mate (5.1%)
2. 7TWO (4.2%)
3. GO (3.8%)
4. Gem(3.4%)
5. 9Life (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Spicks and Specks Reunion (ABC) — 1.369million 
2. Seven News — 1.350 million
3. 7pm ABC News — 1.139 million
4. Nine/NBN News — 1.079 million
5. All Together Now (Seven) — 964,000
6. Sunday Night (Seven) — 825,000
7. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 605,000
8. Family Food Fight (Nine) — 563,000
9. Pine Gap (ABC) — 550,000
10. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 520,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or viewers  – National list more relevant.

Losers: Anyone who watched the ODI between Australia and South Africa, anyone who missed the Spicks and Specks Reunion.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 905,000
2. Nine News— 816,000
3. 7pm ABC News – 741,000
4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 553,000
5. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 436,000
6. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 339,000
7. Ten News First — 231,000
8. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 184,000
9. SBS World News — 122,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 520,000
2. Landline (ABC) — 395,000
3. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 369,000
4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 268,000
5. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 177,000
6. Offsiders (ABC) — 154,000
7. Mornings (Nine) — 122,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Cricket: First ODI, Australia v South Africa  (Fox Cricket) —277,000
2. Cricket: First ODI, Australia v South Africa The Big Break (Fox Cricket) —185,000
3. Supercars Auckland (Fox Sports) — 182,000
4. Cricket: First ODI, Australia v South Africa  (Fox Cricket) —133,000
5. Supercars Auckland(Fox Sports) — 118,000