Aussies tune into ABC's wall of news

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Seven’s night. There was a fabulous Four Corners at 8.30pm that was simply breathtaking and very sad. Nine was second, the ABC third and Ten was a distant fourth, again.

Nine won the demos thanks to Big Brother and Underbelly: Badness which offset another solid performance by The X Factor for Seven. Big Brother wasn’t liked in Adelaide and Perth again and failed to make the top 10 in regional markets. It really is a two city wonder (Sydney and Melbourne). Underbelly: Badness also doesn’t set the world on fire in Adelaide and Perth or in regional markets.

Four Corners had a brilliant episode last night on youth suicide, one of their best reports this year: 902,000 metro and 1.301 million national viewers. Should have had more to witness some very courageous parents talk about the suicide of their teenage children. Tragic, moving and very brave people. Media Watch was spot on with a major case of plagiarism. It had 787,000 metro and 1.099 million national viewers.

The ABC had a justifiable boast this morning about its Paralympics coverage. It said that on average 1.6 million Australians tuned into the games in the five metro markets (why not include the solid regional performance as well?). That metro performance was up from the 1.3 million daily average for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Tonight: The X Factor and Winners & Losers on Seven. Poh’s Kitchen Lends a Hand on ABC 1 at 8pm. Nine has Big Brother. Ten has I Will Survive. Dateline and Insight on SBS ONE tonight as well.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined): The ABC had four programs in the national 10 last night. Seven had three, as did Nine.

The X Factor (Seven) — 2.035 million
Seven News — 1.894 million
Nine News — 1.792 million
ABC News — 1.647 million
Australian Story (ABC 1) — 1.521 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.491 million
Underbelly: Badness (Nine) — 1.387 million
Big Brother (Nine) — 1.326 million
7.30 (ABC 1) — 1.313 million
Four Corners (ABC 1) — 1.301 million

The Metro Winners:

The X Factor (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.384 million
Seven News (6pm) — 1.283 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.242 million
ABC News — 1.197 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.105 million
Underbelly: Badness (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.033 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.027 million
Big Brother (Nine) (8pm) — 1.024 million
Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 1.020 million

The Losers: Ten. The Shire at 9.45pm drifted out of our lives watched by only 237,000 metro and national viewers. No sadness there. Don’t Tell the Bride on Ten at 7.30pm, 515,000. Can of Worms at 8.30pm, 544,000. It is not the moderately interesting program it was last year.

Metro News & CA: Nine News win Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven won Adelaide and Perth (by a huge 142,000). A Current Affair won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and nationally.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.283 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.242 million
ABC News — 1.197 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.105 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.027 million
Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 1.020 million
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 917,000
Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 902,000
Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 787,000
Ten News (5pm) — 758,000
Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 696,000 (+95,000)*
The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 589,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 420,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 308,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 158,000
Ten News (10.15pm) — 135,000
The Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 121,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 59,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 35,000

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning: Sunrise fell back to just beat Today. Ten’s Breakfast didn’t have its now usual strong Monday (that’s relative to the rest of its now weak week).

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 321,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 310,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 158,000
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 110,000
News Breakfast (ABC) (7am) — 46,000 (+42,000)*
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 33,000

*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 21.8%, Ten (3) ended on 15.9% and SBS (2) was on 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 31.3% from Nine on 27.9%, the ABC is on 20.6% and Ten is on 15.9%. Main Channels: Seven won with 21.8% from Nine on 20.3%, ABC 1 was on 17.3%, Ten was on 10.4% and SBS ONE, 4.0%. Seven leads the week with 23.1% from Nine ion 21.6%, ABC 1, 15.8% and Ten on 10.5%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won with 5.8% from GO on 3.9%, Gem was on 3.1%, 7mate, 2.9%, ONE, 2.8%, Eleven and ABC 2, 2.7%, News 24, 1.0%, ABC 3, 0.8% and SBS TWO, 0.6%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 26.3%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.1%, with 7mate on the same figure, GO on 3.7% and ABC 2 on 3.2%.

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 25.3%, from Nine (3) on 22.8%, the ABC (4) was on 18.2%, Ten (3) ended on 13.3% and SBS (2) was on 3.8%. The 15 FTA channels had a viewing share last night of 85.4%, with the five main channels share, 63.4% and the 120 digital channels share totalling 22.4%. Pay TV had a total share for the 200 plus channels on Foxtel of 14.6%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox 8 (3.1%)
TV1 (2.1%)
Fox Footy (2.0%)
LifeStyle (1.8%)
UKTV (1.6%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 118,000
AFL: AFL 360 (Fox Footy) — 113,000
Tony Robinson’s Time Walks (History Channel) — 106,000
The Simpsons (Fox 8 ) — 101,000
AFL: Open Mike (Fox Footy) — 98,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 34.4%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 26.4%, the ABC (4) was on 20.5%, SC Ten (3) was 4th with 13.7% and SBS (2) was on 4.9%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 23.0%, from WIN/NBN on 18.3%, ABC 1 was on 15.6% and SC Ten ended on 8.0%. The digitals were won by 7TWO with 8.2%, FO was on 4.9% and 7mate and Gem ended with 3.2% each. The 10 digital channels had an FTA viewing share last night of 29.9%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 34.0% from WIN/NBN on 28.5%, the ABC on 19.8% and SC Ten on 13.4%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

The X Factor — 651,000
Seven News — 612,000
Nine News — 550,000
Home and Away — 521,000
Australian Story — 501,000

Major Metro Markets: Seven won (overall and the main channels) Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Nine won both in Melbourne where Seven and ABC 1 tied for second in the main channels. The ABC and ABC 1 were third in Sydney and Brisbane. in Adelaide and Perth, ABC 1 was second in the main channels and Nine was third as Big Brother failed to appeal to local viewers (again). 7TWO win the digitals in all five markets. Seven leads the week in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Nine leads in Melbourne.

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

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports