Ahh, the smell of linament and the roar of greasepaint as the NRL football roared back to TV screens for 2014, leaving Nine ahead easily in metro, regional and national markets thanks to the first game of the NRL season in Sydney and Brisbane and associated regional markets. The Block kicked in, as did Nine News and the tattered Footy Shows. And as a necessary antidote to all this footballism, watch Sunday Night on Seven and another story from Peter Fitzsimmons on the damage head knocks are doing to players and have been doing for years. It should be required viewing for every player in every code at every level. It will certainly be far more important than the Corby drivel aired a week ago and reported by Mike Willesee.

Seven took a not unexpected beating last night (The AFL starts next Thursday). Ten was again rotten. Its main channel share figure nationally and in metro and regional markets couldn’t get to 10% for yet another night.  The NRL had 756,000 metro viewers in Sydney and Brisbane.  There was a further 62,000 viewers on Gem in AFL metro markets. Add in the regional markets for WIN and Gem and the total national audience for the NRL was over 1.33 million people. And, if anyone is interested, 132,000 people watched the final hour of the 3rd cricket test (on Fox Sports 3) which Australia won with those two Ryan Harris wickets with 27 balls to go.

In the morning Seven’s Sunrise had a surprisingly big win over Nine’s Today, 348,000 metro viewers to 258,000. Now the 258,000 for Today is close to being a recent low (for ratings periods, not summer or school holidays). Over at Ten, Studio 10 and Wake Up continue to drift through the levels of past ratings failures with 38,000 and 28,000 metro viewers yesterday morning. It wouldn’t surprise if both are killed off very soon to help the network save money and staunch the flow of cash out of the coming. The Project is also looking like it needs a big revamp, especially at 6.30pm — the 272,000  from 6.30 to 7pm was almost a waste of ratings time. Likewise with The Biggest Loser (554,000 national/ 392,000 metro/ 162,000 regional viewers).

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (35.2%)
  2. Seven (26.4%)
  3. ABC 1 (19.6%)
  4. Ten (14.0%)
  5. SBS (4.8%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (28.5%)
  2. Seven (17.9%)
  3. ABC1 (13.9%)
  4. Ten (8.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.9%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.6%)
  2. GO (4.0%)
  3. 7TWO (3.9%)
  4. Eleven (3.2%)
  5. ABC2 (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.499 million
  2. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.361 million
  3. ABC News — 1.254 million
  4. Seven News — 1.239 million
  5. Border Security (Seven) — 1.177 million
  6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.169 million
  7. The Footy Show (Nine) — 1.123 million
  8. The Checkout (ABC1) — 1.112 million
  9. Janet King (ABC1) — 1.100 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.033 million

Losers: Nine’s win was not unexpected with the NRL starting, so Seven’s performance isn’t important. But Ten again lost badly.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.039 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 982,000
  3. Seven News — 938,000
  4. Seven News / Today Tonight — 886,000
  5. A Current Affair — 866,000
  6. ABC News – 859,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 804,000
  8. Ten Eyewitness News — 553,000
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 412,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 272,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 348,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 258,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 180,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC1, 63,000 + 41,000 on News 24) — 104,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 85,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 38,000
  7. Wake Up (Ten) — 28,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (2.7%)
  2. TVHITS!  (2.6%)
  3. Fox Sports 3 (2.3%)
  4. Fox 8  (1.8%)
  5. A&E, Disney Jr. (1.6%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket: 3rd Test, South Africa v Australia Day 5, final hour of final session (Fox Sports 3) — 132,000 
  2. Grand Designs (LifeStyle) — 77,000
  3. Soccer: Australia v Ecuador (Fox Sports 3) — 63,000
  4. Location Location Location Australia (LifeStyle) – 57,000
  5. The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 54,000

*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.