The first win of 2012 ratings goes to Nine

A close night as the Australia versus India ODI cricket match in Adelaide didn't do the magic it did in Perth a week earlie.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A close night as the Australia versus India ODI cricket match in Adelaide didn’t do the magic it did in Perth a week earlier in giving Nine a dominant win on the night.

The final figures were complicated for the ODI by Nine deciding during the first session that the game would go live to Adelaide for the second session which saw India bat very well and beat Australia. All up it looks as though the second session was watched by around 1.2 million people in metro markets, taking account of the audiences listed for the normal programs in Adelaide last night.

Seven’s Border Security (1.101 million) lifted sharply from a week earlier when it returned for 2012 with 970,000 viewers against the Perth ODI match. That should encourage Seven.

Midsomer Murders had 890,000 viewers last night for the return of fresh episodes.

Nationally, the audience for the ODI last night of 1.719 million, was well under the 2.02 million of a week earlier, and yet some of Ten’s good performing Sunday night programs (Homeland and Young Talent Time) suffered sharp losses in audience.

Last Week: Seven won, thanks to My Kitchen Rules which dominated the week and the most watched programs with the top four spots in metro markets and nationally including regional areas. Seven also won the digital battle as well.

Tonight: News and Current Affairs on ABC 1 from 6pm to 11.30pm. Watch Australian Story for the second part of a fine report. Four Corners has something on Kevin Rudd. More political guff. Nine starts Alcatraz at 8.30pm, but has a black hole at 7pm with yet another repeat of The Big Bang Theory ahead of the latest fresh episode at 7.30pm.

Seven has My Kitchen Rules and then Revenge, which premieres at 8.30pm against Alcatraz.

Ten hasn’t much at all, except a fresh episode of NCIS Los Angeles, which wasn’t one of the hottest movers from 2011.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

Nine News — 2.2 million
Cricket: Australia v India (session 2) (Nine) — 1.719 million
Seven News — 1.692 million
Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.625 million
New Girl (Ten) — 1.588 million
Border Security (Seven) — 1.542 million
Modern Family (Ten) — 1.5 million
The Force (Seven) — 1.49 million
Bones (Seven) — 1.463 million
Cricket: Australia v India (session 1) — 1.411 million

Metro Winners:

Nine News (6pm) — 1.567 million
Seven News (6pm) — 1.188 million
New Girl (Ten) (8pm) — 1.162 million
Sunday Night (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.133 million
Modern Family (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.10 million
Border Security (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.101 million
Cricket: Australia v India (session 2) — 1.089 million (+ around 100,000 in Adelaide)
Bones (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.031 million

The Losers: Because of the cricket’s strength, Nine won the night, but audiences for other programs were a bit under par, such as Ten’s 6.30pm Young Talent Time, which averaged 728,000 and Homeland at 8.30pm, 981,000. Both had been a million or more the previous Sunday night, up against the first ODI cricket game, which had a higher audience.

Young Talent Time in particular shed more than 270,000 viewers (27%) from 1.001 million last Sunday night to 728,000 last night. Ten should be worried. Homeland (981,000 and 1.113 million a week earlier) dipped under a million viewers as well and was beaten by Bones on Seven (1.031 million, 1.125 million last week). That should be another warning bell for Ten.

Only New Girl at 8pm held up and averaged 1.162 million, but that was down on the 1.239 million from the previous Sunday.

Ten still did OK, but it wasn’t up to last week’s level, the perils of starting a couple of weeks early before ratings officially start.

Metro News & CA: Nine News won nationally because of wins in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, thanks especially to the ODI cricket.

Nine News (6pm) — 1.567 million
Seven News (6pm) — 1.188 million
ABC News (7pm) — 876,000
Ten News (5pm) — 530,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 390,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 187,000

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning: Inside Business isn’t really inside business, it’s the Offsiders and Insiders with a business slant, only the talking heads have been changed. Dumbing down by ABC TV News and Current Affairs management in the name of saving money and trying to backfill big black holes.

Weekend Today (Nine) (8am) — 328,000
Weekend Sunrise (Seven) (8am) — 311,000
Landline (ABC) (Noon) — 210,000
Insiders (ABC) (9am) — 161,000 (+33,000 on News 24 simulcast)
Inside Business (ABC) (10am) — 130,000
Offsiders (ABC) (10.30am) — 128,000
The Bolt Report (Ten) (10am) — 127,000
Meet The Press (Ten) (10.30am) — 92,000

FTA: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 28.9% from Seven (3) on 28.4%, Ten (3) was on 22.8%, the ABC (4) was on 15.8% and SBS (2) ended on 4.1%. Main Channels: Nine won with a share of 22.9%, from Seven on 22.4%, Ten was on 17.6%, ABC 1 was on 13.3% and SBS ONE was on 3.3%.

Digital: GO won with a share of 3.2% from Eleven and 7mate on 3.1% each. 7TWO was on 2.9%, Gem was on 2.8%, ONE was on 2.1%, ABC 2 was on 1.3%, SBS TWO was on 0.8%, News 24 was on 0.7% and ABC 3 was on 0.5%. The 10 digital channels had a total FTA share last night of 20.5%.

Pay TV: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 24.6% from Seven (3) on 24.2%, Ten (3) was on 19.4%, the ABC (4) was on 3.4%, Pay TV (200 plus channels) was on 12.7% and SBS (2) ended on 3.5%. The 15 FTA channels had an 87.3% TV viewing share last night. The 10 digital channels had 17.6% share, the five main channels, 69.7%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox 8 (2.72%)
TV 1 (1.98%)
Fox Sports 1 (1.92%)
Lifestyle (1.72%)
Disney Jr (1.71%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

Modern Family (Fox 8) (6.30pm) — 120,200
Modern Family (Fox 8) (7pm) — 118,300
The Simpsons (Fox 8) (11.05am) — 75,9400
The Simpsons (Fox 8) (10.40am) — 73,300
The Lion King 3 (Disney Jr.) (6pm) — 61,800

Regional: WIN/NBN (3 channels) won with a share of 33.8% from Prime/7Qld (3) on 26.8%, SC Ten (3) on 20.4%, the ABC (4) was on 15.7% and SBS (2) ended on 3.3%. The main channels were won by WIN/NBN on 26.0% from Prime/7Qld on 20.2%. GO won the digitals with 4.6% from 7mate on 3.6% and Gem on 3.3%. The 10 digital channels had and FTA viewing share last night of 22.3%.

Top five regional programs:

Nine News — 654,000
Cricket: Australia v India (session 2) — 641,000
Seven News — 507,000
Sunday Night — 501,000
Cricket: Australia v India (session 1) — 475,000

Major Markets: Because of Daylight Saving, the ODI cricket wasn’t a universal success for Nine last night. Nine had big win in Sydney and Melbourne with the cricket and that translated into wins overall and the main channels and nationally. But Seven won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. In Perth, Ten pushed a weak Nine into third spot because the ODI ended very early, around 7.30pm local. GO won Perth, Eleven won Adelaide and shared Brisbane with GO. 7TWO won Sydney and 7mate won Melbourne.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports