Is Roger Federer an honorary Australian? Judging by the way viewers remained glued to their sets last night, Roge is the new Lleyton Hewitt with the night’s trilling battle with Andy Murray dominating viewing, as it should have. Tennis hummed after the equally gripping late afternoon battle between Rafal Nadal and Grigor Dimitrov (who could be an honorary Australian later this decade) and before that the timely win by Agnieszka Radwanska over sneaky grunter, Victoria Azarenka. All were classic encounters — Radwanska had lost repeatedly to Azarenka (the two time champion), including a controversial loss in Dubai in 2012 (shades of 2013 and Sloane Stephens at the Open. Dimitrov is considered the next big thing in men’s tennis and Murray was returning after a back operation and battled his way almost back into the match in a heroic display. If you like sport for the spectacle and the talent, it was the best day’s play so far. And you know what was great? Aussie TV viewers watched a bunch of top class foreign players and cheered and supported them. Far better than the at times jingoist stuff we see when Australians play. Today it’s the women’s semis and I hope, (for the romance of sport) that either Eugenie Bouchard win Li Na (they play each other). In the men’s semi’s it’s Tomas Berdych, against Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer and Nadal (both honorary Australians) will play Friday night (up against the ODI cricket on Nine).

So Seven was at last the big winner, and nothing else got near the coverage last night. The 7-10.30 pm coverage had 1.890 million national / 1.279 million metro/ 611,000 regional viewers. The post-10.30pm coverage had 1.081 million national/ 767,000 metro/ 314,000 regional viewers.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (38.3%)
  2. Nine (24.6%)
  3. Ten (16.7%)
  4. ABC (15.6%)
  5. SBS (4.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (30.7%)
  2. Nine (17.1%)
  3. Ten (9.8%)
  4. ABC1 (9.5%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (4.3%)
  2. 7TWO (4.2%)
  3. Eleven (3.9%)
  4. ABC2 (3.8%)
  5. 7mate (3.5%)

Top national programs:

  1. Australian Open (Seven) — 1.890 million
  2. Seven News — 1.728 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.503 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.165 million
  5. RBT repeat (Nine) – 11.38 million
  6. ABC News, Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.116 million
  7. Australian Open Late (Seven) — 1.081 million
  8. Nine News at 6.30pm — 1.033 million
  9. CSI (Nine) — 923,000
  10. Hot Seat (Nine) — 912,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Australian Open (Seven) — 1.279 million
  2. Seven News — 1.169 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.066 million
  4. Nine News at 6.30pm  – 1.033 million

Losers:  Again, anyone who doesn’t like sport, especially tennis. Not a brat or a tanty in sight last night, or yesterday afternoon.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.169 million
  2. Nine News  — 1.066 million
  3. Nine News at 6.30pm – 1.033 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) — 970,000
  5. Today Tonight (Seven) – 913,000
  6. ABC News — 803,000
  7. Ten Eyewitness News — 615,000
  8. 7.30 Summer  – 536,000
  9. ABC Late Edition — 140,000
  10. SBS World News — 128,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 327,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 296,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1, 60,000 + 42,000 on News24) — 102,000
  4. Studio 10 (Ten) — 43,000
  5. Wake Up (Ten) — 28,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8 – (3.6%)
  2. TVHITS – (2.2%)
  3. Disney (2.0%)
  4. LifeStyle – (1.9%)
  5. A&E, Cartoon Net  – (1.8%)

Top pay TV programs:

  1. The Simpsons (Fox 8 ) – 61,000
  2. Pawn Stars (A&E), Family Guy (Fox 8) – 57,000
  3. Pawn Stars (A&E) – 55,000
  4. WWE Raw (Fox 8) – 53,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 56,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.