Nine's Sundays take a dive

It was another third placed Sunday night for Nine: it has gone from first to third very quickly and remains there.

The Winners: Seven News averaged 1.830 million, with Ten’s MasterChef second with its highest audience so far, 1.671 million. Nine News was next with 1.671 million (great figures in Sydney of 536,000 for the discard, Mark Ferguson). 4th was Ten’s 6.30pm Merlin with 1.500 million and Seven’s Bones was 5th with 1.382 million. Sunday Night averaged 1.371 million at 6.30pm for Seven (and is benefitting from Merlin on Ten). 60 Minutes was 6th with 1.371 million and Seven’s The Force averaged 1.197 million at 8pm. Rove averaged 1.183 million from 8.30pm for Ten and Seven’s Border Security USA averaged 1.170 million at 7 .30pm (and 3rd overall). CSI on Nine at 8.30pm averaged 1.140 million and Castle on Seven at 9.30pm held in there to average 1.066 million for its second week. The 7pm ABC News was the last and 13th program with a million or more viewers with 1.050 million. Around The World in 20 Years on the ABC at 7.30pm, 869,000.

The Losers: CSI New York at 9.30pm, 837,000. Home Made, Nine, at 6.30pm 975,000. For all the hype, a flop.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally, lost Sydney to Nine, won Melbourne with 520,000 viewers and Adelaide and Perth. Its audience in Sydney was a huge 407,000, which is proportionally larger than the audiences in Sydney and Melbourne. Ten News averaged 729,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 185,000. In the morning, Weekend Sunrise, 463,000, Today on Sunday, a solid 281,000, Insiders on the ABC, an equally solid 226,000. Landline at Noon on the ABC, 214,000, Inside Business, 159,000, Offsiders at 10.30pm, 147,000. Both were solid programs. Meet The Press at 8am on Ten, 53,000.

The Stats: Ten won All People and everything else with a share of 29.3% (24.9%) from Seven with 28.1% (27.6%), Nine with 24.9% (25.5%), the ABC with 13.3% (12.7%) and SBS on 4.5% (9.9% and the Eurovision Song final). Seven won Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, Ten won Melbourne and Perth very strongly and won nationally as a result. In regional areas a win to Prime/7Qld with 28.3%, from WIN/NBN with 26.2%, Southern Cross (Ten) with 22.9%), the ABC with 15.5% and SBS on 7.1%. Ten’s programming again doesn’t do it for regional viewers like it does in metro markets. That’s a real taste differential.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The Seven Network won last week from Nine and Ten. Apart from that there wasn’t much to say. An average week in an average year so far of TV. Seven won All People and 25 to 54s, Ten won 16 to 39s and 18 to 49’s. Nine missed out.

Dirt Game finished last night on the ABC at 8.30pm, wrapped up nicely for everyone concerned. Too tidy and too neat. I didn’t know it was a story about mining sugar!

It was another third placed Sunday night for Nine: it has gone from first to third very quickly and remains there. Ten remains the surprise, especially Sunday nights.

Ten’s HD sports channel has 200,000 watching the live broadcast of the Formula 1 car race from Monaco at 9pm (the replay on the analogue channel around 11.15am averaged 137,000. It had more viewers than SBS, which showed Dateline at 8.30pm to 9.30pm which averaged 172,000. The pre race coverage averaged 150,000, which is nothing to be sneezed at.

TONIGHT: Nothing awe inspiring. Four Corners, Media Watch and Spooks on the ABC should keep you entertained. The Australian version of Top Gear is a bit wearing at 7.30pm on SBS. Nine has an hour of Two and a Half Men, Missing Pieces, then Patrol Boat, then Eleventh Hour, which is dead in the US. Ten has MasterChef Australia, Recruits and Good News Week. Supernatural is dying. Seven has How I Met Your Mother which is dying, plus Scrubs (which is battling, but good), Desperate Housewives and then Brothers & Sisters.