The Winners: Seven News was the most watched program with 1.305 million, with Today Tonight second with 1.221 million and A Current Affair third with 1.176 million. The repeat of The Mentalist won the 8.30pm slot for Nine with 1.054 million (and probably the night). The 7pm repeat for Two And A Half Men averaged 1.049 million and Nine News was 6th with 1.038 million. Home And Away averaged 937,000 at 7pm for Seven and Cougar Town averaged 816,000 for Seven at 8.30pm. How I Met Your Mother averaged 773,000 at 9pm for Seven. So You Think You Can Dance Australia on Ten, 636,000. The Italian Food Safari on SBS at 7.30pm, 292,000. Costa’s Garden Odyssey, 213,000 at 8 pm.

The Losers: With the split networks on Seven and Ten, it was hard to work out what was successful and what was a loser. What was interesting was how the average for the new Seven NRL footy show in Sydney of 396,000 was bigger than the audience in Melbourne for the Richmond/Carlton game on Ten, 382,000. But Ten said the game averaged 449,000 “from the bounce to the final siren. It’s just that fewer viewers watched the bits included in the coverage times when there was no balls being kicked.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Brisbane. Today Tonight might have finished with 45,000 more viewers nationally than ACA, but ACA was the real winner after another strong report on the alleged Hey Dad…! abuser. ACA and TT drew Sydney, but ACA won Melbourne and Brisbane. TT won Adelaide and Brisbane. The 7pm ABC News averaged 970,000, The 7.30 Report, 700,000. Lateline, 303,000, Lateline Business, 143,000. Ten News, 780,000, the Late News/Sports Tonight, 231,000. Nine’s Nightline, 194,000. SBS News at 6.30pm 149,000, 148,000 for the late edition. 7am Sunrise, 352,000, 7am Today, 306,000.

The Stats:

FTA: Nine won with a 6pm to midnight All People combined overnight share of 29.6% from Seven with 26.9%, Ten with 22.7%, the ABC with 16.4% and SBS with 4.4%. Nine won Melbourne and Brisbane, Seven won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Seven leads the week with a share of 30.5%, from Nine with 28.3%. Seven said it won prime time in 16-39s, 18-49s and 25-54s. The AFL on Ten in Melbourne saw it finish second and Seven third.

Main Channel: Nine won with a 6pm to midnight All people 6pm to midnight share of 25.0% from Seven with 24.2%, Ten with 20.1%, ABC1 with 14.3% and SBS ONE with 3.8%. Nine won Sydney and Brisbane, Seven won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Seven leads the week 27.8% from Nine with 24.9%. The AFL on Ten saw it finish second and Seven third.

Digital: GO had a strong night, winning with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 4.5%, from 7TWO with 2.7%, ONE with 2.6% (the AFL broadcast helped), ABC2 with 1.7% and ABC3 and SBS TWO with 0.5% each. the six digital channels had a total share of 12.5%. GO leads the week with 3.5% from 7TWO with 2.7%. ONE is on 1.6%.

Pay TV: Nine won with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 24.8% from Seven with 22.6%, Ten with 19.1%, Pay TV with 13.9%, the ABC with 13.8% and SBS with 3.7%. The 11 FTA channels had a share of 86.1%, pay TV’s 100 plus channels, 13.9%.

Regional: WIN/NBN won with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 28.7%, from Prime/7Qld with 27.2%, Ten (Southern Cross) with 21.6%, the ABC with 16.8% and SBS, 5.8%. Prime/7Qld won the main channel battle with a share of 25.5% from WIN/NBN with 25.4% (very close). GO won the digital battle with 3.3%, from 7TWO with 1.7%. Prime/7Qld leads the week from WIN/NBN with a share of 28.9% to 28.5%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Nine won the night, but the first episode of Seven’s new NRL football show The Matty Johns Show, blitzed the night and easily beat Nine’s The NRL Footy Show. The Seven show aired for just over an hour from 7.30 and grabbed 647,000 viewers nationally, principally from Sydney (the top show on the night and 396,000 viewers) and Brisbane, 199,000. The Nine program at 9.30pm averaged just 267,000 viewers, its lowest for years, with 167,000 in Sydney and 99,000 in Brisbane (6th overall). Of course, it will be the big test to see if viewers return to Seven’s new programs (including the AFL one called The Bounce).

From next week both will air at 7.30pm around the country on Thursdays, so Seven will have a shot at consolidating the audience figures into one ratings figure, just as Nine has been doing for years with the NRL and AFL programs at 9.30pm.

ACA again did very well on the alleged Hey Dad…! abuser story last night. TT repurposed much of ACA’s output the night before (and stuck their own exclusive tag on it!). TT’s only advance was the interview with top talent booker Liz Mullinar, who actually took the story a long way. TT should have built their yarn around her, cut the repurposing of ACA and made themselves look on top of the yarn. And it wasn’t a good look when TT had their third-string presenter last night for such a vital story (After all Seven broadcast Hey Dad…! in the 1980s and 1990s). ACA with Tracy Grimshaw looking composed and in charge had a much more powerful feel about it last night, TT felt like a catch up, except when the  Mullinar interview was on.

One viewer writes about the comments on the AFL game broadcast last night made in yesterday’s Crikey:

“This story was wrong about Ten last night showing the Carlton vs Richmond match live in Melbourne and many parts of Victoria. The match was on delay in Melbourne and other parts of Victoria. The match was shown live in the ACT, NSW & QLD on Foxtel’s Main Event Channel.

“The same will happen tonight. Seven will show the Geelong vs Essendon game on delay in Melbourne and other parts of Victoria. It will be live in the ACT, NSW & QLD on Foxtel’s Main Event Channel.”

It isn’t the anti-siphoning rules, as the viewer claimed, it is the AFL policy that there will be no live broadcasts in the market of origin unless games are sold out. Last night’s game wasn’t sold out, nor is tonight’s game on Seven. The AFL wants to change that in the new broadcast deal from 2012. So currently, when they are not sold out, its a delayed start to the telecast, as it was in Victoria last night and again tonight. The game was broadcast live last night on Foxtel in non-Victorian markets, such as NSW and Queensland, as it could be. So it’s not the anti-siphoning rules, it was the AFL’s desire (and its clubs) to maximise attendances at games.

TONIGHT: Better Homes and Gardens on Seven, then AFL in the south. NRL in the northern markets on Nine. Ten has a repeat of NCIS.

SATURDAY: Avoid really. NRL and AFL games on Foxtel. Test Cricket on Foxtel from NZ. Blue Murder on the ABC after The Bill. Ten has AFL, Seven and Nine have movies.

SUNDAY: The morning chats, then AFL on Seven and Foxtel, NRL on Nine and Foxtel, Test cricket from NZ; 60 Minutes on Nine, Bones on Seven. Ten has Formula One Saturday and Sunday. The Good Wife though is the highlight at 8.30pm. It’s the start of the two-week Easter non-ratings period. So lots of repeats!

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports