The Winners: Seven’s night, as expected. The finale of Beauty and The Geek Australia did the job.

The Slap finale on ABC at 8.30pm, 831,000. Harrowing final episode to the best drama this year on TV.

  1. Beauty and The Geek Australia (winner announced) (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.253 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.121 million
  3. Beauty and The Geek Australia (Seven) (7.30pm) == 1.075 million

The Losers: No one really. A quiet night. There were turkeys, but let’s save them for Christmas.

News & CA: Nine News won Sydney, lost the rest to Seven News. A Current Affair won Sydney and Melbourne, TT won the rest.

Chris Uhlmann’s Tony Abbott interview on 7.30 last night was as solid as anything Kerry O’Brien did at the program when it was 7.30.

In the morning Seven’s Sunrise is having its best week for a couple of months.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.121 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 992,000
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 943,000
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 896,000
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 812,000
  6. 7.30 (7.30pm) — 715,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 546,000
  8. The Project (6.30pm) — 535,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 232,000
  10. SBS News (6.30pm) — 171,000
  11. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 137,000 + on news 24 at 8.30 pm
  12. SBS New (9.30pm) — 123,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 404,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 351,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with 31.3% from Nine (3) on 25.9%, from the ABC (4) on 19.9% from Ten (3) on 18.4% and SBS (2), 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 31.4% from Nine on 26.2% and Ten on 18.4%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 22.5% from Nine on 18.8%, ABC 1 on 14.4%, Ten was on 12.6% and SBS ONE was on 3.7%. Seven leads the week with 23.4% from Nine on 20.0% and Ten on 14.3%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won with 5.1% GO was second with 3.7%, 7mate was second with 3.6%, with Eleven on 3.5%, as was ABC 2, Gem was on 3.4%, ABC 3 was on 1.1%, News 24 was on 0.9% and SBS TWO was on 0.7%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share of 28.8%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.6%, with Eleven and 7mate on 3.5%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with 25.7%% from Nine (3) on 2.3%, from the ABC (4) on 16.4% from Pay TV (200 plus channels) on 15.2%, Ten (3) on 15.1% and SBS (2), 3.7%. The 15 FTA channels had a share of 84.8%, with the 10 digital channels on 21.9% and the five main channels were on 62.9%.

The five top Pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 (2.71%)
  2. Lifestyle (2.69%)
  3. Sky News (2.43%)
  4. TV1 (2.11%)
  5. Crime & Investigation (1.99%)

The five top Pay TV programs were:

  1. Grand Designs (Lifestyle) — 114,000
  2. AFL: National Draft (Fox Sports 1) — 114,000
  3. Tough Nuts: Australia’s Hardened Criminals (Crime & Investigation) — 69,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 66,000
  5. Coronation Street (UKTV) — 65,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3) won with a share of 32.6% with WIN/NBN (3) on 27.5%, with SC Ten (3) was on 19.6%, the ABC (4) was on 16.7% and SBS (2) was on 3.6%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 22.4%, from WIN/NBN on 20.2%. The 10 digital channels were won by 7TWO on 6.9%, with GO on 4.0% and Eleven on 3.7%. The 10 digital channels had a total FTA share of 29.8%. Prime/7Qld won with 35.5% from WIN/NBN on 26.6%.

The five most watched programs in regional areas were:

  1. Seven News — 541,000
  2. Home and Away — 522,000
  3. A Current Affair — 492,000
  4. Beauty and The Geek Australia (winner announced) — 477,000
  5. Beauty and The Geek Australia — 477,000

Major Markets: A clean sweep by Nine overall and the main channels. Nine was second in both in every market. The ABC (and ABC 1) was third everywhere bar Melbourne and Brisbane where Ten was third overall. Seven and Nine shared the overall win in Melbourne. GO won Sydney in the digitals, 7TWO won the rest. Seven leads Nine and ten in all five metro markets.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: That the AFL Draft on Fox Sports 1 could attract a solid audience (for Pay TV) of 114,000, tells us all we want to know about last night. There are some people who will watch anything, no matter the time of day or year, or what’s on the box.

So Beauty and The Geek Australia, which is a highly contrived program, even by reality show standards, did well.

The Slap on the ABC did well last night in metro markets, but not in regional areas and as a result the ABC finished 4th on the night in the regions behind SC Ten, reversing the way the rankings were in the metro markets. Was The Slap too confronting for regional viewers? The Slap finished in 8th spot in the metro rankings, but didn’t make the top 10 in the regions. Because of that it dropped to 12th in the combined rankings.

The five top national programs last night were:

  1. Beauty and The Geek Australia (winner announced) — 1.730 million
  2. Seven News — 1.661 million
  3. Beauty and The Geek Australia — 1.551 million
  4. Home and Away — 1.461 million
  5. Nine News — 1.393 million

Tonight: Better Homes and Gardens on Seven. Then a movie. Movies on Nine. House on Ten, a repeat of Midsomer Murders on the ABC 1.

Saturday: Doc Martin on the ABC 1 at 7.30pm. RocKwiz on SBS at 9.30pm, movies on Seven, Nine and Ten sum up the last night of official ratings for the commercial networks. Cost. The repeats are cheap. Golf on Ten.

Sunday: First day of summer ratings. The chats in the morning. Golf on Ten. A movie version of Brideshead Revisited on ABC 1 at 8.30pm. Ten starts that remake of the very silly show It’s A Knockout at 7.30pm then another episode of the equally silly, Terra Nova at 8.30pm. Seven is in summer dress with Kiwi programs Dog Patrol and Coastwatch, plus a tired repeat of Bones. Nine has 60 Minutes ticking away.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports