Seven wins but Sydney tunes into Nine's NRL opener

My Kitchen Rules did the job for Seven, although the opening NRL game of the year won Sydney.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: My Kitchen Rules did the job for Seven, although the opening NRL game of the year won Sydney. But not Brisbane, because there wasn’t a Queensland team involved. The game attracted 710,000 viewers in Sydney (474,000 and the most watched program on the night) and 236,000 in Brisbane ( The 4th most watched program). The NRL Footy Show averaged a solid 362,000 from 9.30pm, but without a live game as a lead-in over the rest of the season, it will sink. The program was a stinker, as usual.

The NRL game on Nine in Sydney and Brisbane made a dent in Pay TV’s share, which is normally strong on a Thursday night. Pay TV’s share dipped to 14.1% from 15.1% on Wednesday night and was down on 15.6% last Thursday night.

But Seven (main channels and digital channels) had more viewers than they did a week ago, against the NRL launch, even though Nine won Sydney.

Tonight: NRL and ODI cricket (Australia v Sri Lanka at the MCG) on Nine’s main channel and Gem (NRL in Brisbane and Sydney on the main channel). Better Homes and Gardens on Seven. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries on ABC 1 at 8.30pm (924,000 last week, a solid debut). Ten has Glee after The Biggest Loser.

Saturday: New Tricks and the a returning Spooks afterwards at 8.30pm on ABC 1. Movies on Nine and Seven: old repeats. (Crocodile Dundee 2 on Nine for heaven’s sake!) Ten has a repeat of Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals and then The Graham Norton Show. NRL on Foxtel.

Sunday: Morning chats, all the wash up from this week’s farce in Canberra. NRL on Nine at Noon, then the first ODI final involving Australia and who knows. NRL on Foxtel. Seven has Bones and Sunday Night. Ten has New Girl, Homeland and Modern Family. SBS has an interesting documentary which looks at nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima debacle in Japan.

The national top 10 (metro & regional combined):

My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 2.377 million
Seven News — 1.774 million
Nine News — 1.658 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.497 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.423 million
ABC News — 1.421 million
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.357 million
NRL: St George v Newcastle (Nine) — 1.275 million
Grey’s Anatomy (Seven) — 1.234 million
The Biggest Loser (Ten) — 1.134 million

Metro Winners: Despite the NRL on Nine in Sydney and Brisbane, MKR had 45,000 more viewers last night than a week ago.

My Kitchen Rules (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.683 million
Seven News (6pm)– 1.217 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.097 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.094 million
ABC News (6pm) — 1.040 million

The Losers: Ten’s Modern Family repeat at 8 pm, 481,000. How to ruin a good idea.

The Straits, ABC 1, 8.30pm, 431,000.

Metro News & CA:

Seven News (6pm)– 1.217 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.097 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.094 million
ABC News (6pm) — 1.040 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 938,000
Ten News (5pm) — 756,000
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 676,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 501,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 180,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.15pm) — 170,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 148,000
The Business (ABC) (10.50pm) — 95,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 65,000

In the morning: Ten’s The Circle has added 20,000 or so viewers since those bad taste remarks about VC winner Ben Roberts-Smith earlier this week. Ten’s Breakfast dropped 19,000 viewers from Wednesday and 15,000 from the opening a week ago. Why so many people on the couch?

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 363,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 348,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 159,000
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 111,000
The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 77,000
ABC News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 45,000 (+20,000)*
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 36,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 34.4% from Nine (3) on 28.1%, Ten (3) was on 17.9%, ABC (4) was on 14.2% and SBS (2) ended on 5.5%. Seven leads the week with 34.3% from Nine on 25.9% and Ten on 19.4%. Main Channels: Seven won with 25.3% from Nine on 21.9%, Ten was on 11.4%, ABC 1, 9.8% and SBS ONE was on 5.0%. Seven leads the week with 26.4% from Nine on 19.3% and Ten with 14.0%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 5.0% from 7mate and Eleven on 4.1%, GO was on 3.5%, ABC 2 was on 2.6%, as was Gem. ONE was on 2.4%, News 24 was on 1.1%, ABC 3, 0.7% and SBS TWO ended with 0.5%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 26.6%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.3% from 7mate and GO on 3.6%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.6% from Nine (3) on 23.3%, Ten (3) was on 14.9%, Pay TV (200 plus channels) was on 14.1%, the ABC (4) was on 11.8% and SBS (2) ended on 4.6%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share last night of viewing of 85.9%. The 10 digitals share was 22.0% and the five main channels, 63.9%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox 8 (2.49%)
Lifestyle (2.09%)
TV 1 (1.94%)
Sky News (1.86%)
Crime & Investigation (1.83%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

Regional: As suspected, the NRL boosted WIN/NBN to a rare win last night. But My Kitchen Rules on Prime/7Qld was still more popular with viewers. WIN/NBN (3) finished with a share of 34.5%. Prime/7Qld (3) ended with 33.4%, SC Ten (3) was on 14.8%, the ABC (4) ended on 13.1% and SBS (4) was on 4.1%. The main channels were won by WIN/NBN with 28.5% (thanks to the NRL in NSW and Qld), with Prime/.7Qld on 21.1%. 7TWO won the digital channels with 6.2% from 7mate on 6.2% and GO and Eleven on 3.5% each. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 34.1% from WIN/NBN on 28.6%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

My Kitchen Rules — 694,000
NRL: St George v Newcastle — 565,000
Nine News — 564,000
A Current Affair — 559,000
Seven News — 557,000

Major Markets: With the first NRL game of the season, Nine won Sydney overall and the main channels, as expected. But it lost Brisbane to Seven in both. Seven won overall and the main channels everywhere else. (Ten was second in the main channels in Adelaide). 7TWO won everywhere bar Brisbane where Eleven had a solid victory. Seven leads the week everywhere.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports