The Winners: When the 6pm to 7pm News and Current Affairs programs are at the top of the most watched list, it was a pretty dull night. Seven did well because The X Factor and Criminal Minds won the 7.30pm to 9.30pm time slots quite clearly.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.481 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.4 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.340 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.252 million
  5. The X Factor (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.234 million
  6. Criminal Minds (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.215 million
  7. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.163 million
  8. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm) (repeat) — 1.122 million
  9. ABC News (7pm) — 1.102 million

The Losers: Seven’s Covert Affairs at 9.30pm, 695,000. It’s getting to be very covert in so far as viewers are concerned. Fancy getting beaten by Q&A last night…

News & CA: Today Tonight did the now obligatory “spoiler” story about Ten’s Junior MasterChef. Seven has to try and tarnish the program in viewers eyes to reduce that success. Even though much of what Seven said was valid, it was diminished by the partisan anti-Ten (and anti-success) story approach. Will TT every report in a similar fashion about The X Factor?

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.481 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.4 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.340 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.252 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.102 million
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 959,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 891,000
  8. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 886,000
  9. Ten News (Ten) (5pm) — 848,000
  10. Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 767,000
  11. Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 727,000
  12. Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 710,000
  13. Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 382,000
  14. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 264,000
  15. SBS News (6.30pm) — 201,000
  16. Lateline Business (ABC, 11.10 – 11.35 pm) –171,000
  17. SBS News (9.30pm) — 124,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 384,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 307,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won with a share of 29.6% from Nine with 26.5%, the ABC with 18.8%, Ten on 18.6% and SBS on 6.5%. Nine leads the week with 27.1% from Seven on 26.5% and Ten on 22.6%.
  • Main Channel: Seven also won here with a share of 25.0% from Nine on 22.3%, Ten on 17.6%, ABC 1 on 16.1% and SBS ONE with 5.8. Seven leads the week with 23.1% from Nine on 22.9% and Ten with 20.4%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 4.6%, from GO on 4.2%, ABC 2 with 1.0%, ONE with 1.0%, SBS TWO with 0.7% and ABC 3 and News 24 both with 0.4% each. That’s a total of 13.1% for the FTA digital channels. GO leads the week with 4.3%, from 7TWO on 3.3% and ONE on 2.2%. The best markets were Adelaide with 16.8%, Perth with 15.5% and Melbourne with 13.5% in total for the seven channels.
  • Pay TV: Seven won with a share of 24.5%, from Nine with 22.0%, the ABC on 15.6%, Ten with 15.4%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels on 14.6% and SBS with 5.3%. The 12 FTA channels had a total share of 85.4%, made up of 10.8% for the digital channels and 74.6% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won for Nine with a share of 29.1%, from Prime/7Qld on 26.8%, SC Ten with 17.4%, the ABC on 16.9% and SBS on 7.2%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld and SC Ten. GO won the digitals with 4.3%, from 7TWO on 3.8% and ABC 2 on 1.4%. WIN/NBN lead the week with a share of 29.2% from Prime/7Qld on 24.7%.

Major Markets: Ten was weak across the country, with the ABC stronger in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

  • Sydney: Seven won from Nine and the ABC both overall and in the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC 2. Nine still leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Melbourne: In Melbourne it was Seven from Nine and Ten both overall and the main channels. 7TWO and GO tied for top spot in the digitals, with ABC 2 second. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Brisbane: Seven won the overall from Nine and the ABC, but in the main channels it was Seven from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ABC 2. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Adelaide: Like Brisbane, Seven won overall from Nine and the ABC, but it was Seven from Nine and Ten in the main channels. But 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC 2. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
  • Perth: Seven won overall and the main channels from Nine and Ten. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC 2, Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The Mike Ware story on Australian Story was depressing and agonising. Sorry, but it was. His story makes all those reports about Australian troops etc serving in Afghanistan and in Iraq looked like what they are, PR missions. Ten did OK in 16 to 39s, winning the night, but that was slim pickings compared to the successful of Junior MasterChef the night before. Another tough week for Ten.

TONIGHT: Packed to the Rafters on Seven. Top Gear on Nine, Foreign Correspondent on the ABC, The 7pm Project and Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation on Ten. Insight on SBS.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports