News and Current Affairs shine bright on a poor TV night

The fact that the audiences peaked between 6pm and 7pm tells us about how the audience felt about the rest of the night, especially on Ten

The Winners: Ten was badly squeezed last night. Not one program with a million or more viewers. The ABC’s back to back news and current affairs programs was a bit daunting, but did well. Seven won all the slots from 6pm to 9.30pm.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.473 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.370 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.246 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.205 million
The X Factor (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.126 million
The Event (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.083 million
Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.078 million
Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.077 million
Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 1.061 million
Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm) (repeat) — 1.005 million
Undercover Boss (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1 million.

The Losers: Nine’s Hot in Cleveland is definitely cold in September, 791,000 viewers at 8pm. Fourth after Seven, ABC and Ten in that order.

News & CA: Nine News won Sydney as did A Current Affair. Seven News won the rest and nationally. The ABC programs from Australian Story at 8pm to Media Watch at 9.35pm, all were solid and rated well. The 7.30 Report‘s audience was a bit higher than normal. Perhaps it was people tuning in for the start of Kerry’s last hostings. It was his first since announcing his retirement from the program on Friday afternoon.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.473 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.370 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.246 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.205 million
Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 1.061 million
ABC News (7pm) — 977,000
The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 924,000
The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 901,000
Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm ) — 874,000
Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 859,000
Ten News (5pm) — 823,000
Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 678,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 323,000
Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 214,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 178,000
Lateline Business (ABC) (11.10pm) (replay) –175,000
SBS News (9.30pm) — 110,000

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 373,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 315,000

The Stats:

FTA: Seven won with a share of 28.8%, from Nine on 26.9%, the ABC with 19.9%, Ten on 18.2% and SBS with 6.3%. Seven leads the week with 28.3% from Nine on 25.8%, Ten on 20.9% and the ABC with 19.7%.
Main Channel: Seven won with a 24.7% share, from Nine on 21.7%, Ten on 16.9%, ABC 1 on 16.7%, and SBS ONE on 5.4%. Seven leads the week with 24.3%, from Nine on 20.3%, Ten with 17.9% and ABC 1 on 17.4%.
Digital: Seven’s new 7Mate last night out rated the more established 7TWO, Nine’s Gem didn’t do quite as well against GO, but seems to have carved out a solid share already, like 7Mate. But the audiences for both seem to be coming from the established digital channels and from the main channels, not so much from Pay TV. Last night the nine digital channels had a total national share of 14.7%. GO won with 3.2%, from ABC 2 on 2.2%, 7Mate on 2.1%, 7TWO and Gem on 2.0%. Ten’s ONE was on 1.3%, SBS TWO, 0.9%, ABC 3 on 0.6% and News 24, 0.4%. The best markets for digital last night were Brisbane with 15.8% in total and Melbourne with 15.7%, Gem didn’t get on the ratings in Adelaide, which was odd, given that it did well elsewhere. The digitals are having the least impact in the Sydney market which is where Pay TV is the strongest. Digitals have started making inroads into Melbourne and Brisbane above what they were doing six weeks to two months ago.
Pay TV: Seven won with 23.8%, from Nine on 22.2%, the ABC, 16.4%, Ten on 15.0%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels 14.6% and SBS, 5.2%. That left the 14 FTA channels with 85.4% made up of 12.0% for the nine digitals and 73.4% for the five main channels.

Major Markets: The ABC did well, especially in Sydney. Ten didn’t, the digital channels are now even more competitive.

Sydney: Seven won overall and in the main channels from Nine and the ABC. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ABC 2. Seven leads the week from Nine and the ABC.
Melbourne: It was reversed here with Nine winning both the overall and main channels from, Seven and Ten. GO won the digitals from Gem and 7Mate. Nine leads the week from Seven and Ten.
Brisbane: Seven won overall from Nine and the ABC. But in the main channels it was Seven from Nine and Ten. GO won the digitals from 7Mate and Gem tied for second. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
Adelaide: It was Seven from Nine and the ABC overall, but Seven from Nine and Ten in the main channels. GO won the digitals from 7TWO and ABC 2. Seven leads the week from Nine and the ABC.
Perth: It was Seven from Nine and the ABC overall, but Seven from Nine and Ten in the digitals. ABC 2 won the digitals from 7TWO and GO and Gem tied for third. 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: Not much happened. It was an average night on TV. The fact that the audiences peaked between 6pm and 7pm tells us about how the audience felt about the rest of the night, especially on Ten

TONIGHT: Packed to the Rafters at 8.30pm for Seven, but the big move tonight is the first appearance of the Nine Network’s local version of Top Gear at 7.30pm. Good luck, it’s a local effort, and no doubt the fate of SBS’s two series local version is high in everyone’s mind. That started OK, but faded and faded. Nine has cleverly called this the Ashes, with the BBC Top Gears taking on the locals in an attempt to show the audience the Nine version has their blessing. For that reason tonight’s episode should do OK.

Ten has The 7PM Project and Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation at 7.30pm, which I reckon will give Top Gear a real run, if not tonight, then in the next few weeks when the locals are on their own. The ABC has Foreign Correspondent at 8pm. Nine also has Survivor Nicaragua. SBS has Insight at 7.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports