Ten no big Grand Prix winner

The Grand Prix may have dominated Channel Ten for the weekend, but it doesn't mean that anyone was tuning in to it.

The winners: Nine News was tops with 1.322 million people, 60 Minutes was second with 1.276 million and Seven News was third with 1.227 million. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation on Ten averaged 1.193 million at 8pm and Seven’s Border Security averaged 1.170 million at 7.30pm. Bones averaged 1.139 million at 8.30pm in 6th and 7th was Airways on Seven at 8pm with 1.097 million. Nine’s Domestic Blitz at 6.30pm inched back over the million mark to average 1.085 million. Ten’s The Good Wife at 9pm averaged 967,000 and V at 8.30pm for Nine averaged 889,000. The Biggest Loser on Ten at 7pm averaged 854,000. Castle on Seven at 9.30pm averaged 804,000.

The losers: With the Grand Prix on Ten starting about 5pm in eastern states, it made for a disruptive start to the first night of non-official ratings. It helped Ten win the night in the major primetime demos. So no real losers.

News & CA: Nine News won nationally and in Sydney thanks to the Canterbury-Easts NRL game as a lead in. It was a win by 101,000 for Nine in Sydney. The Sydney game didn’t help Nine News in Brisbane. Seven News won Melbourne and Adelaide. Nine News won Perth strongly with Seven broadcasting a late AFL game. The 7pm ABC News averaged 942,000. Ten News had the night off because of the Grand Prix. 6.30pm SBS News, 173,000, Dateline, 229,000. In the morning, Weekend Sunrise, 386,00, Landline at noon on the ABC, 241,000, Weekend Today, 219,000, Insiders on the ABC, 216,000, Offsiders, 142,000 at 10.30am on the ABC, Inside Business, 140,000 at 10am. Meet The Press on Ten, 40,000 at 8am.

The stats:

FTA: Seven won with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 29.7%, from Nine with 28.9%, Ten on 25.2%, the ABC, 11.4% and SBS, 4.9%. Nine won Sydney and Brisbane, Ten won Melbourne (with the Grand Prix), Seven won Adelaide and Perth.

Main Channel: It was a similar look, but different result. Seven won with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 26.9%, from Nine with 23.8%, Ten on 22.1%, ABC1 with 10.3% and SBS1 with 4.5%. Nine won Sydney, Ten won Melbourne, Seven won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Digital: Kept Nine in the hunt. GO! won with a big combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 5.1%, with ONE second with 3.2% (the Grand Prix simulcast) 7TWO on 2.8%, ABC2, 0.8%, SBS TWO, 0.5%, ABC3, 0.3%. The six FTA digital channels had a share of 12.7%. GO! again had a bigger share than SBS’s combined figure of 4.9%.

Pay TV: Seven won with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 23.6%, with Nine on 23.0%, Ten on 20.1%, Pay TV with 17.7%, the ABC with 9.0% and SBS with 3.9%. the 11 FTA channels had a total share of 82.3%, the 100 plus Pay TV channels had the 17.7% reported, which was boosted by AFL and NRL games and replays. Friday through Monday nights in winter are the best time for pay TV because of the preponderance of sport, especially the AFL, NRL and rugby.

Regional: A win to WIN/NBN with a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People share of 29.4% from Prime/7Qld on 28.7%, Southern Cross Ten with 23.3%, the ABC with 12.5% and SBS with 6.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channel battle with 26.6% share, WIN/NBN were on 25.8%, SCTen, 21.2%. The digital battle was won by GO! with 3.5%, from 7TWO and ONE with a 2.1% share each.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Seven won the combined overnight and main channel battles last week and GO! won the digital fight. The 11 FTA channels had an average share of the week or 83.9%, the 100 plus pay TV channels had an average share of 16.1%. In regional areas, WIN/NBN won with the main channel battle a draw with Prime/7Qld. GO! also won the digital race.

Last night, no official ratings and the point of interest was the audience for the Grand Prix on Ten. In a word, poor. 816,000 combined and overnight on the analogue main channel, 367,000 on the sport channel, ONE. 1.183 million people all up. But it’s better than what Ten usually gets at that time on Sundays (5pm to about 6.30pm).

V was another fader for Nine, Air Crash Investigations at 6.30pm, was hardly a winner with 657,000. Numbers for Border Security, Bones and Airways were down as a result (wasting good, fresh episodes with a dodgy lead in). As a result 60 Minutes rated strongly with a fairly ho hum line up and Domestic Blitz at 6.30pm did better.

TONIGHT: Well, Q&A at 9.35 pm with Graham Richardson making another outing. Nine has repeats from Two And A Half Men to CSI Miami at 9.30pm. Ten has The Biggest Loser, Good News Week and Supernatural, all new. Seven has new Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters, and a one-off on plane crash survivors at 7.30pm, Out of the Wreckage: Plane Crash Survivors. SBS has Mythbusters repeat, but a fresh ep of Man vs. Wild. Australian Story on the ABC is fresh, Four Corners is another buy in.