The Winner: Everyone lurves a hitchin’, not everyone loves a gritty crime drama set in Melbourne. No cop show can beat the reality of Underbelly season one, as Cops L.A.C on Nine and Rush on Ten seem to be finding out. Last night was another example of that rating rule of thumb, that viewers must have liked the night because there were two shows more popular than the most watched 6pm news.

  1. The Farmer Wants a Wife (Nine) (8.30pm — 1.450 million
  2. The Gruen Transfer (ABC) (9pm) — 1.407 million
  3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.356 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.337 million
  5. Spicks and Specks (ABC, 8.30 – 9 pm) –1.322 million
  6. Nine News (6pm) — 1.205 million
  7. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm) — 1.190 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.172 million
  9. Hot Property (Nine) (8pm) –1.151 million
  10. Four Weddings (Seven) (7.30pm) –1.100 million
  11. ABC News (7pm) — 1.059 million
  12. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm, repeat) — 1.033 million

The Losers: City Homicide; 824,000. Not enough. Law and Order CI repeat at 9.30pm on Ten, just 570,000. Filler. Ten’s Lie to Me at 8.30pm, 754,000, fading to a 9.30pm slot next year at this rate.

News & C: Sunrise spurted and Today retreated and suddenly the gap widened back over 120,000 yesterday morning. Why? And why did Sydney news ratings fall last night? Nine’s $10,000 cash offer isn’t working, nor is Seven’s returned Chris Bath. The 7pm ABC News averaged 319,000 in Sydney, Nine News, 315,000, Seven News, 312,000. Was it the balmy evening? Seven News won everywhere bar Sydney, Today Tonight had a clean sweep.

  1. Seven News (6pm)– 1.356 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.337 million
  3. Nine News (6pm)– 1.205 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.172 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.059 million
  6. The 7.30 Report (ABC, 7.30pm) — 972,000
  7. The 7 PM Project (Ten) (7pm) — 892,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 752,000
  9. Ten late News/Sports Tonight (10.30pm) –309,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 258,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 183,000
  12. SBS late News (9.30pm) –111,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 107,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 423,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 300,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine won with a share of 31.4%, from Seven on 25.6%, the ABC with 20.7%, Ten on 18.4% and SBS on 4.0%. Nine now leads the week with 28.1% from Seven on 27.1% and Ten on 21.5%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won with a share of 28.0%, from Seven on 23.3%, ABC 1 on 17.9%, Ten with 16.8%, and SBS on 3.2%. Nine leads the week narrowly with 24.2% from Seven on 24.1% and Ten on 19.8%.
  • Digital: GO won with a share of 3.4% from 7TWO on 2.3%, ABC2 with 1.7%, ONE on 1.5%, SBS TWO with 0.7% and ABC3 and News 24 on 0.5% each. The best market was Perth where the seven channels totalled 14.5%, with Adelaide on 13.7%. Nationally the seven channels totalled 10.6% last night. GO leads the week on 3.9% from 7TWO on 3.0% and ONE with 1.7%.
  • Pay TV: A win for Nine with 26.0%, from Seven on 21.2%, the ABC on 17.1%, Ten with 15.2%, the 100 plus channels of Pay TV on 14.9% and SBS with 3.3%. The 12 FTA channels totalled 85.1%, made up of 8.8% for the digital channels and 76.3% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN won with a share of 34.5% (they really love a rural lurve story like Farmer Wants a Wife in the bush). Prime/7Qld was next with 23.5%, the ABC was on 17.9%, SC Ten was on 17.4% and SBS was on 4.4%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from Prime/7Qld. GO won the digitals with 3.8%, from ABC2 on 1.7%, 7TWO on 1.6% and ONE on 1.4%. WIN/NBN lead the week with a share of 29.7%, from Prime/7Qld on 25.7%.

Major Markets: a clean sweep for Nine and the ABC did very well and squeezed out Ten in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

  • Sydney: It was Nine, Seven and the ABC in both the overall and the main channels. GO won the digitals from ABC 2 and 7TWO. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Melbourne: Nine from Seven and the ABC overall, but in the main channels, it was Nine from Seven and the ABC. GO won the digitals from 7 TWO and ABC2. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Brisbane: It was a more standard night here with Nine winning from Seven and Ten in both the overall and the main channels. GO won from ONE, with 7TWO and ABC2 tied for third. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
  • Adelaide: It was Nine from Seven and the ABC overall and in the main channels. GO won from 7TWO and ONE in the digitals, Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
  • Perth: A win here also for Nine, from Seven and the ABC overall and in the main channels. GO won the digitals from 7TWO 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 ABC again played spoiler, but the love match on The Farmer Wants a Wife won the night, although The Gruen Transfer was again very strong in the demos, especially among male viewers. Females liked The Farmer Wants a Wife wedding story. Now that Nine leads the week, it will win the week with the NRL finals on Friday and Saturday nights, they will offset Seven’s AFL final on Friday night.

Ten was squeezed into 4th by the ABC. It’s a long way from the joys of last Sunday night and Junior MasterChef. Ten’s most watched program last night was the fresh episode of The Simpsons at 7.30pm with 943,000. It’s moving to Eleven in 2011.

TONIGHT: Rush on Ten vs. Cops L.A.C on Nine at 8.30pm. A race to the bottom. Surely Cops L.A.C will start improving, soon? Nine’s Getaway has the second part of boring your way round the UK. Last week’s first part sagged, will this improve? Seven has The Matty Johns Show at 7.30pm in Sydney and Brisbane. Seven has Game Day in AFL markets. And not much else. SBS has foodie repeats plus the new Heston’s Feasts. The 7PM Project on Ten.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports