Seven wins a quiet, boring night of TV

A quiet, boring night with only three programs -- the news programs of Seven, ABC 1 and Nine -- having over a million metro viewers.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A quiet, boring night with only three programs — the news programs of Seven, ABC 1 and Nine — having over a million metro viewers. That tells us how dull the rest of the night was.

Big Brother averaged 976,000 metro viewers and 1.33 million national and the half hour of Big Brother: Confidential at 8pm averaged 904,00 and 1.18 million nationally.

As usual there was a performance missing from the top 10 lists: the combined national total for Better Homes and Gardens in AFL markets and the weak Mighty Ships in NRL markets was more than 1.36 million people nationally, which would have placed it Number 5. The two programs had 939,000 metro viewers, which would have been 5th as well.

Seven won All People, Nine scooped up the demos. The 10 digital channels in regional markets had one of the highest ever total FTA shares last night — 36.0%. The share in metro markets was a high 30%, but it has been a lot higher.

Tonight: AFL finals start on Seven (main channel and digital channels) and on Foxtel. This is a big test for both Seven and Fox Sports because for the first time the finals will be co-broadcast. NRL start on Nine (main channel and digital). Seven has Better Homes and Gardens in NRL states. The ABC has another Scott & Bailey episode. Ten has The Living Room and an OK George Clooney movie, Up In The Air. Paralympics on ABC 1 and ABC 2 tonight, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday: AFL finals continue on Seven and Foxtel. NRL on Nine. A fresh RocKwiz on SBS 1. A new Doctor Who at 7.30pm, followed by Sinbad. The Inspector Morse repeat on ABC 2 at 8.45pm. The cycling race La Vuelta a Espana 2012 on SBS One, late, from 11.30pm.

Sunday: Morning chats. Landline at Noon on ABC 1, AFL finals on Seven and Foxtel. NRL on Nine. Seven has Sunday Night, Border Security and returns the weak Airways at 8pm. Nine has 60 Minutes after Big Brother and then House Husbands. Ten has nothing (NCIS is you are desperate is fresh). The ABC has Call The Midwife and then Miss Marple.

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

Seven News — 1.745 million
Nine News — 1.582 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.546 million
ABC News — 1.414 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.340 million
Big Brother (Nine) — 1.329 million
Criminal Minds (Seven) — 1.222 million
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.197 million
Big Brother: Confidential — 1.186 million
7.30 (ABC 1) — 1.087 million

The Metro Winners:

Seven News (6pm) — 1.206 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.061 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.060 million

The Losers: Viewers were the losers. Especially with Sydney enjoying an early summer’s night or three so far this week.

Metro News & CA: Seven News again won Sydney, but lost Melbourne by 70,000 viewers. But it won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth where the margin was a massive 141,000 people. A Current Affair beat Today Tonight nationally. Today Tonight won Sydney and Perth, A Current Affair won Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.206 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.061 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.060 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 979,000
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 974,000
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 745,000
Ten News (5pm) — 708,000
The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 532,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 441,000
Ten News (Ten) (10.30pm) — 167,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 164,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 149,000
The Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 94,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 61,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 46,000

In the morning: Seven’s The Morning Show was unusually weak yesterday and fell noticeably. Ten’s Breakfast fell and for the second morning in a row, News Breakfast on News 24 had more viewers than on ABC 1.

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 358,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 305,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 128,000
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 123,000
News Breakfast (ABC) (7am) — 38,000 (+40,000)*
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 34,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 30.4% from Nine (3) on 27.3%, the ABC (4) was on 20.4%, Ten (3) ended on 17.3% and SBS (2) was on 4.6%. Seven leads the week with 31.7% from Nine on 25.7%, the ABC on 21.2% and Ten on 16.1%. Main Channels: Seven won with a share of 21.7% with Nine on 20.8%, ABC 1 was on 13.0%, Ten, 10.6% and SBS ONE, 2.8%. Seven leads the week with 23.5%, from Nine on 19.6%, ABC 1, 14.3% and Ten on 10.4%.

Metro Digital: ABC 2 won with its Paralympics coverage which gave it a share of 5.5% last night, from 7TWO on 4.6%, Eleven on 4.2%, 7mate, 4.1%, GO, 3.7%, Gem, 2.8%, ONE was on 2.5%, ABC 3, 1.0% and News 24 and SBS TWO ended on 0.8% each. The 10 digital channels had a very high FTA viewing share of 30.0% last night. ABC 2 leads the week with 5.3%, from 7TWO on 4.3% and 7mate on 3.9%.

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 25.4% from Nine (3) on 22.9%, the ABC (4) was on 17.1%, Ten (3) ended on 14.5% and SBS (2) was on 3.8%. The 15 FTA channels share last night was 85.7%, with the 10 digitals share a very high 24.0% and the five main channels share, 60.3%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox 8 (2.7%)
TV 1 & LifeStyle (2.2%)
A&E (1.9%)
Fox Sports 3 (1.6%)
UKTV (1.5%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

AFL: AFL 360 (Fox Footy) — 91.000
The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 82,000
AFL: AFL League Teams (Fox Footy) — 81,000
Family Guy (Fox 8) — 70,000
Coronation Street (UKTV) — 61,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 33.2%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 26.9%, the ABC (4) ended on 19.5%, SC Ten (3) was on 15.1% and SBS (2) ended on 5.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 20.9%, from WIN/NBN on 19.3%, ABC 1 on 11.4% and SC Ten on 8.0%. 7TWO won the digitals with 6.4%, from 7mate on 5.9% and ABC 2, 5.6%. The 10 digital channels share last night was ultra high 36.0%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 34.0%, from WIN/NBN on 25.8%, the ABC is on 20.8% and SC Ten is on 14.8%. Watch for the NRL finals tonight and tomorrow night to lift the share of WIN/NBN. Will it be enough to bridge the 8 point gap after last night?

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

A Current Affair — 568,000
Seven News — 540,000
Nine News — 522,000
Home and Away — 451,000
WIN News — 403,000

Major Metro Markets: An interesting night. Seven won everywhere (main channels and overall), bar Melbourne where the AFL Footy Show, News and Big Brother were popular. The ABC and ABC 1 were third everywhere bar Perth. There the ABC and Nine tied for second overall and ABC 1 was second in the main channels. In the digitals, ABC 2 and its Paralympics coverage won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but Adelaide and Perth weren’t as interested in that for yet another night. 7TWO won Adelaide, 7 mate won Perth. Seven leads Nine and the ABC everywhere bar Perth, where its Seven from the ABC and Nine. With the NRL double header on tomorrow night, Nine could sneak up in Sydney and Melbourne (The first NRL final tonight will also do well). The AFL finals tonight and tomorrow night on Seven will push Seven further ahead in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

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

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports