The Winners: You know that its reasonably good night on TV when there’s one or two programs with audiences larger than the 6pm news broadcasts and current affairs programs on Seven and Nine. And so it was with three programs in that position.

  1. Gruen Nation (ABC) ( 9pm) — 1.571 million
  2. Spicks and Specks (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.460 million
  3. World’s Strictest Parents (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.426 million
  4. Seven News (6pm) — 1.373 million
  5. Yes We Canberra (ABC) (9.45pm) — 1.335 million
  6. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.330 million
  7. Nine News (6pm) — 1.301 million
  8. The Farmer Wants a Wife (Nine) (8.30pm ) — 1.218 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.179 million
  10. Hot Property (Nine) (8pm) — 1.135 million
  11. ABC News (7pm) — 1.091 million
  12. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.081 million
  13. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.077 million
  14. Two and a Half Men — (Nine) (7pm) (repeat) — 1.049 million
  15. City Homicide (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.009 million.

The Losers: Viewers of networks other than the ABC from 8.30pm to 10.20pm. If they had watched they would have been entertained about the election, enjoyed a laugh or two, learned something interesting and gone to bed knowing there’s more to life than what happens between now and August 21. Lie to Me on Ten at 8.30pm, 801,000. Not really enough.

News & CA: Nine News and ACA won Sydney and Melbourne, lost the rest to Seven News and Today Tonight.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.373 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.330 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.301 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.179 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.091 million
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 921,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 921,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 910,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.20pm) — 617,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 347,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 230,000
  12. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.55pm) — 219,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 72,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 400,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 305,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with 28.5%, from Seven on 26.3%, the ABC with 23.8%, Ten on 17.1% and SBS with 4.3%. The ABC did pretty well in the demos. Seven leads the week with 29.4%, from Nine with 27.6%.
  • Main Channel: Nine also won here with a share of 24.3%, from Seven with 24.0%, ABC 1 was on 21.1%, Ten was on 16.5% and SBS ONE finished with 3.8%. Seven leads the week with 26.3% from Nine on 23.3%.
  • Digital: GO won with 4.2%, from 7TWO with 2.2%, ABC 2, 1.7%, ONE and ABC 3 both on 0.6% each, SBS TWO on 0.5% and News 24 on 0.4%. That’s a total share for the seven FTA digitals of 10.2%. GO leads the week with 4.3%, from 7TWO on 3.1%. Adelaide again had the highest share for the digital channels of 12.3%.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 23.7%, from Seven on 21.8%, the ABC with 19.8%, Pay TV and its 100-plus channels was on 14.8%, Ten finished with 14.2% and SBS was on 3.6%. The 12 FTA channels had a total share of 85.2%, made up of 8.4% for the seven digitals and 76.8% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: a win for WIN/NBN with 31.5%, from Prime/7Qld on 27.8%, the ABC was on 18.8%, SC Ten was on 17.6%, and SBS was on 4.3%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld, GO won the digitals from 7TWO. ABC News 24 had a 0.5% share. WIN/NBN leads the week with a share of 29.6% from Prime/7Qld with 28.8%.

Major Markets: Nine won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In Melbourne and Brisbane, Seven and the ABC finished second and third. In Sydney it was the ABC second and Seven third. In Adelaide and Perth it was Seven from Nine and the ABC in both the overall and the main channels. GO won the digitals in every metro market from 7TWO and ABC 2. Seven leads Sydney, Adelaide and Perth from Nine and Ten. Nine leads Melbourne and Brisbane from Seven and Ten.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The ABC was the winner last night in that it provided viewers with humour, insight and entertainment: Spicks and Specks was outrageous, Gruen Nation funny and The Chaser’s Yes We Canberra was more of the same. Meanwhile on the commercial networks they had some tired old favourites flogging their wares.

The success of Gruen Nation is not only good for the ABC, but it’s also a triumph for Andrew Denton and his production team at Zapruder’s Other Films. It also reminds me that with Denton no longer willing to do interviews, we have a huge hole in TV.

As much as they might aspire to the role, Kerry O’Brien and Tony Jones, are not in Denton’s class and no one on commercial TV comes close to O’Brien or Jones.

TONIGHT: The Matty Johns Show on Seven in Sydney and Brisbane. The 7pm Project and Bondi Vet on Ten. Perhaps Getaway on Nine. Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle on the ABC at 8.30pm, followed by a Q&A debate afterwards.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports