Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: tennis, tennis and more tennis

Don’t you reckon the folk at the top of struggling (well, as far as the the share price is concerned) Seven West Media wish they could bottle Lleyton Hewitt’s efforts in the Australian Open men’s tennis, so that when ratings dip later in the year across the schedule, the spirit of the lad could be uncorked and injected into flagging programs? Our Lleyton (can you remember when he was a “spoiled brat”, loud and aggressive?) did himself and us proud last night, and helped Seven put on a winning performance. Even in his 19th Open (there are people out there who can’t remember an Australian Open without him) he was like a mature Energiser Bunny last night as he scurried, hustled and eventually prevailed in four sets.

Nine again depended on a trio of Big Bang Theory repeats and Ten used a trio of repeats as well. And it wouldn’t surprise if I told you the ABC used a repeat of QI (what’s new, I hear you shout) and a repeat of a David Attenborough animal special. SBS had a line up of fresh programming, including one about spiders in houses –I have a couple of Huntsman spiders at the moment and am very happy to watch those from time to time.

Lleyton attracted and held 1.218 million national viewers on Seven’s main channel for the night session (7pm until to around 10pm in most markets). A further 168,000 people watched the coverage of other night session games on 7WO. The late session (from around 10 to 10.30pm to midnight and beyond) saw 440,000 watch on Seven and a further 213,000 on 7TWO. So a total of 1.386 million watched the night session games on Seven and 7TWO and a further 653,000 watched the late session matches on Seven and 7TWO — not figures to be ignored. And with seven Australians playing today and tonight in the tennis, there will be more good ratings for Seven, an embarrassment of rating riches really. But with a few of the seven meeting seeded players, there will be casualties.

Will Sunday nights ever be the same? Ten said the morning it is adding a Sunday evening episode to Family Feud’s five nights a week schedule from the start of the ratings season on February 1. Now for more offensive questions about bike riders six evenings a week?

Network channel share:

Seven (30.8%)
Nine (26.5%)
Ten (20.2%)
ABC (15.9%)
SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:

Seven (23.4%)
Nine (19.1%)
Ten (13.2%)
ABC (10.6%)
SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top digital channels:

GO (4.1%)
7TWO (4.0%)
7mate, ONE, Eleven (3.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

Nine News — 1.548 million
Kalgoorlie Cops (Nine) — 1.220 million
Australian Open Tennis Night, Day 2 (Seven) — 1.218 million
Seven News – 1.190 million
RBT (Nine) — 1.151 million
Nine News 6.30 — 1.050 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.035 million
ABC News — 975,000
Hot Seat (Nine) — 879,000
The Big Bang Theory repeat 1 (Nine) — 871,000

Top metro programs:

Nine News — 1.123 million
Nine News 6.30 — 1.051 million

Losers: Tennis haters.Metro news and current affairs:

Nine News — 1.123 million
Nine News 6.30 — 1.051 million
Seven News — 902,000
A Current Affair (Nine) – 863,000
Seven News/ Today Tonight — 825,000
ABC News – 657,000
Ten Eyewitness News — 604,000
7.30 (ABC) — 533,000
The Project 7pm (Ten) — 494,000
The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 400,000

Morning TV:

Sunrise (Seven) – 373,000
Today (Nine) – 268,000
News Breakfast (ABC 79,000 + 45,000 on News 24) — 124,000
Mornings Summer (Nine) — 116,000
Studio 1o (Ten) — 80,000

Top pay TV channels:

Fox 8 (2.8%)
LifeStyle , UKTV (2.1%)
Disney, TVHITS (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

Call The Midwife (BBC First) – 100,000
Family Guy (Fox8) – 69,000
Modern Family (Fox8) – 65,000
Coronation Street (UKTV) – 59,000
Location Location Location (LifeStyle) – 57,000

*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.