The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Nine won thanks to another million-plus metro audience and nationally for the test cricket from Perth. That’s three days in a row the evening session has topped the million mark from 6.30 to 9pm for Nine (and more than 1.5 million people nationally).

Thanks to the cricket, Nine was the dominant broadcaster on the first night of summer ratings, although Seven’s Sunday Night proved there was also a market for high quality current affairs. Plus, 60 Minutes was solid but the big audience for the test cricket as its lead-in helped.

Though Ten finished third overall and in the main channels in the metro markets, the network was again noticeably weaker in Sydney and was beaten into third spot (overall and the main channels) once again by ABC/ABC1 (who also ended up third in Perth). If Ten can’t turn around Sydney viewers, it faces a rough start to 2013.

Even though the third test isn’t going well for Australia, the million plus audiences and the weak programming in summer ratings means the great summer ennui has been quick to settle over the living rooms of Australia and won’t change much between now and the end of January, unless we get a Nullabor Nymph or floods, fires or some of the other staples of summer news broadcasts (shark attacks, stingers, spider, snake bites). After the floods and cyclones of the last couple of years, enough is enough.

Tonight: Summer ratings, with Ten bringing back The Simpsons at 6pm, pushing The Project from 6.30 to 7.30pm and ending Breakfast. That will be the case when official 2013 ratings start early next year. Nine has more cricket (it could end today, but pretty please it won’t). Seven has Better Homes and Gardens nightly at 7pm. Nine hasn’t much after the Test. ABC1 has 7.30, which is probably the highlight of its night tonight.

Last Week: Seven won, despite big audiences for the Friday and Saturday final sessions for the third cricket test in Perth that saw more than a million people watching from 6.30 to 9pm in metro markets. That helped Nine narrow the gap, but not by enough. Seven still won (and also won the regionals as well) in the final week of official ratings for 2012. Seven and Nine both claimed they were top of the pile, Seven was in All people, Nine in 25 to 54s.

Ten didn’t do well, as we know, and faces a tough year in 2013. Solid news readers such as Bill Woods and Ron Wilson ended their stints at Ten on Friday and showed more class in the way they remained on air after they were sacked, than Ten management did in sacking them. From media reports over the weekend, Helen Kapalos is bound for Seven to host Today Tonight (a poisoned chalice if ever there was one) in the place of Matt White who “stepped’ down on Friday night at the end of four years.

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

  1. Nine News — 1.855 million.
  2. Seven News — 1.676 million.
  3. Test Cricket: Session Three (Nine) — 1.666 million.
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.657 million.
  5. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.601 million.
  6. Border Patrol (Seven) — 1.441 million.
  7. Test Cricket: Session Two (Nine) — 1.207 million.
  8. Coastwatch (Seven) — 1.137 million.
  9. The Mentalist (Nine) — 1.074 million.
  10. Michael Palin’s Brazil (ABC1) — 1.060 million.

The Metro Winners:

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.317 million.
  2. 60 Minutes (Nine, 9pm) — 1.196 million.
  3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.172 million.
  4. Session Three of the Test Cricket (Nine, 6.30pm) — 1.141 million.
  5. Sunday Night (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.108 million.

The Losers: No one really, its summer ratings and by definition there are no winners or losers according to the network spin. but we know otherwise: the ratings data will still be crunched and bashed to track performance during the next two months. Nine will boast about its cricket audiences and the audience for the Carols by Candlelight on December 24, and Seven will boast about its Australian Open Tennis ratings next January. And Ten will come back early with a new line up and new claims to have great shows … hold on, that new line up starts tonight.Metro News & CA: The cricket made the news figures meaningless.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.317 million.
  2. 60 Minutes (Nine, 9pm) — 1.196 million.
  3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.172 million.
  4. Sunday Night (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.108 million.
  5. ABC1 News  (7pm)– 674,000.
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 449,000.
  7. SBS News (6.30pm) — 138,000.

In the morning: The Bolt Report went out of 2012, with a near record (for it) figure, Insiders on ABC1 ended 2012 with a bit of a whimper, as did Inside Business, which continues to drag down Offsiders.

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven, 8am) — 366,000.
  2. Weekend Today (Nine, 8am) — 284,000.
  3. The Bolt Report (Ten, 10am) — 180,000.
  4. Insiders (ABC1, 9am) — 149,000 + on 56,000 News 24.
  5. The Bolt Report (Ten, 4.30pm) — 117,000.
  6. Inside Business (ABC1, 10am) — 110,000.
  7. Offsiders (ABC1, 10.30am) — 107,000.
  8. Meet The Press (Ten. 10.30am) — 95,000.

Metro FTA: Nine (three channels) won with a share of 32.2% from Seven (three) on 28.1%, Ten (three) was on 19.0%, the ABC (four) ended on 16.3% and SBS (two) was on 4.3%. Main Channels: Nine won with 24.9% from Seven on 19.2%, Ten on 12.5%, ABC1, 11.9% and SBS ONE, 3.9%

Metro Digital: 7mate won with 4.8% from 7TWO on 4.2%, Gem on 3.8%, GO on 3.5%, ONE was on 3.4%, Eleven was on 3.1%, ABC2, 2.4%, News 24, 1.1%, ABC3, 0.9% and SBS TWO, 0.4%. The 10 digital channels had a total share last night of 27.6%.

Metro including Pay TV: Nine (three channels) won with a share of 26.2% from Seven (three) on 22.9%, Ten (three) was on 15.4%, the ABC (four) ended on 13.3% and SBS (two) was on 3.5%. The 15 FTA channels had a viewing share last night of 83.6%. The 5 digital channels share was 61.1% after the 22.5% share for the 10 digital channels. Pay TV had a share of 16.4% (a high start to the week) from the 200 plus channels on Foxtel.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. TV 1, Showtime Premiere, Fox 8 — 2.4%.
  2. Fox Sports 1 — 2.1%
  3. LifeStyle — 2.01%
  4. MOVIE ONE — 1.6%.
  5. A&E, 111 Hits — 1.5%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Modern Family (Fox8) — 109,000.
  2. Last Man Standing (Fox8) — 96,000.
  3. Mission Impossible (Showtime Premiere) — 93,000.
  4. A League: Sydney v. Melb. Heart (FS1) — 87,000.
  5. Rove LA (Fox 8) — 65,000.

Regional: WIN/NBN (three channels) won with a share of 33.6% from Prime/7Qld (three) on 30.4%, SC Ten (three) was on 16.5%, the ABC (four) ended on 15.5% and SBS (two) was on 4.0%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 23.4% from Prime/7Qld on 19.7%, ABC1 on 11.3% and SC Ten on 10.6%. The digitals were won by 7Mate with 6.7%, from GO and Gem on 5.2% each. The 10 digital channels had a high FTA share last night of 31.5%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. Nine News — 569,000.
  2. Sunday Night — 548,000.
  3. Test Cricket: Session Three — 528,000.
  4. Seven News — 508,000.
  5. Border Patrol — 483,000.

Major Metro Markets: Nine won Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide (overall and the main channels). Seven won both in Perth with the cricket ending at 5.30pm local. The ABC and ABC1 again beat Ten in Sydney. The ABC/ABC1 also ended up third in Perth (overall and the main channels) and ended third in the main channels in Adelaide. Ten was third overall in that market and third overall and the main channels in Melbourne and Brisbane. Meanwhile, 7mate won Perth, Sydney and Brisbane. Gem won Adelaide, 7TWO won Melbourne.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data