The Winners: Again, nothing more needs to be said about a night except that was a wasteland. Seven programs in Melbourne had more than 300,000 viewers against only one in Sydney. Why do they find TV interesting down south at this time of year?

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.292 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.099 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.032 million

The Losers: It’s hard to know where to start.

News & CA: Seven News won nationally and in every market. Today Tonight lost Melbourne to ACA, won everywhere else. The 7.30 Report had more viewers in Sydney than ACA, 256,000 vs. 249,000. Sunrise beat Today by 100,000 viewers exactly, but lost Sydney and Melbourne to Today.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.292 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.099 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.032 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 987,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 950,000
  6. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 912,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 808,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 747,000
  9. ABC Late News (ABC) (10.25pm) — 228,000
  10. SBS News (9.30pm) — 172,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 164,000
  12. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (11.30pm) — 141,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 414,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 314,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 31.5% from Nine (3) with 25.5%, Ten (2) was on 18.6%, the ABC (4), 18.1% and SBS, (2), was on 6.3%. Seven leads the week with 31.6% from Nine on 27.6% and Ten on 17.0% with the ABC also on 17.0%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 22.1% from Nine on 18.8%, Ten with 17.9%, ABC 1, 15.2% and SBS ONE, 5.3%. Seven leads the week with 22.7% from Nine on 19.0% and Ten with 16.1%.
  • Digital: 7TWO finished with a share of 6.7% from Gem on 4.0%, and 7Mate and GO on 2.7% each, ABC 2 with 1.6%, SBS TWO, 1.1%, ONE on 0.7% and ABC 3 and News 24 on 0.6% each. The digital channels had FTA shares ranging from the low of 16.7% in Sydney to a high of 24.8% in Adelaide and more than 20% in the other three metro markets. 7TWO leads the week with 5.5% from GO on 4.8% and Gem with 3.8%.
  • Pay TV: Seven won with a share of 25.3% for its three channels, from Nine on 20.5% (3), Pay TV with 17.1% (100 plus channels), Ten on 14.9% (2), the ABC (4), with 14.5% and SBS with 5.1% (2). That left the 14 FTA channels to share 82.9% made up of 16.6% for the nine digital channels and 66.3% for the five main channels. Foxtel’s share was again highest in Sydney where it finished second behind Seven with a share of 20.7%. The low was in Adelaide with 13.3% (which was however quite solid for that market).
  • Regional: Prime/7Qld won with a share of 33.6% from WIN/NBN on 27.3%, the ABC and SC Ten tied on 16.8% each, and SBS on 5.5%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels from WIN/NBN, 7TWO won the digitals with 5.1% from GO on 4.2% and 7Mate on 3.5%. The nine digital channels had a total FTA share last night of 20.8%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 32.8% from WIN/NBN on 28.5%.

Major Markets: Seven won overall and the main channels in each of the five metro markets with the exception of Melbourne where Nine won the main channels. In Perth the ABC finished third overall and second in the main channels with Nine in 4th and Ten 3rd. 7TWO won the digital channels in every market. Apart from Melbourne, where Nine now leads the week, Seven leads in all the other markets. The ABC is third in Sydney and Perth.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The highlight for me was the New England Patriots vs. Chicago Bears NFL game played in driving snow in Chicago and live on ONE yesterday morning. TV went downhill from then (but the game was replayed last night in prime time). And will probably pop up again later in the week. The Patriots are the Super Bowl favourites. In prime time last night? Nothing.

TONIGHT: What Makes a Genius on SBS at 7.30pm. The repeat of Kevin McCloud’s Grand Tour of Europe on the ABC at 9.35pm. The 7pm Project on Ten, and if you are interested in what all the Oprah fuss has been about and want more, Ten has an interview with her at 7.30pm, followed by an episode of her program. I’d take the SBS offering at 7.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports