The Winners: Just four programs and the large people on Ten won the night. A night of post-cyclone viewing inertia?

  1. The Biggest Loser: Families (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.326 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.260 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.170 million
  4. Nine News (6 pm) — 1.107 million.

The Losers: Viewers of A Current Affair. Numbers like last night, when your rival is covering the same story, are not good. Desperate Housewives on Seven at 9.30pm. Down to the core audience after all these years, 785,000 and Number 17 with a stone. Viewers of the ABC, generally, except from 7pm to 8pm.

News & CA: Nine also showed a program called Today Special (285,000) and A Nine news Special on the Cyclone (in the late afternoon, I think, which was watched by 268,000). Interestingly Seven’s early Thursday morning news special on the storm was watched by 663,000 across the country. That’s a lot of people still interested after midnight.

Nine News won Sydney and Melbourne, Seven won the rest. Today Tonight won all five markets. In the morning Sunrise had over 200,000 viewers more than Today. Both programs did well, but Sunrise scooted ahead by taking risks, especially with the iPhone vision. Sunrise won all markets, especially Brisbane where it was watched by 185,000 to Today‘s 112,000.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.260 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.170 million
  3. Nine News (6 pm) — 1.107 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 923,000
  5. ABC News Special (ABC) (7pm) — 896,000
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 794,000
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 705,000
  8. Seven News Special (Seven) (early hours of Thursday morning) — 663,000
  9. 6PM With George Negus (Ten) (6pm) — 398,000
  10. Ten Evening News (Ten) (6.30pm) — 362,000
  11. Lateline (ABC) (10.20pm) — 250,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 204,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.55pm) — 165,000
  14. SBS News (9.30pm) — 118,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 732,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 506,000
  3. Sunrise, extended (Seven) (9am) — 376,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.5%, from Nine (3 channels) on 27.1%, Ten (3), was on 23.3%, the ABC, (4), 15.9% and SBS, (2), 5.3%. Seven leads the week on 30.8% from Nine with 28.5% and Ten on 22.4%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 22.9%, from Nine on 20.1%, Ten was on 18.2%, ABC 1, 11.4% and SBS ONE, 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 30.8%, from Nine with 28.5% and Ten on 22.4%.
  • Digital: The 10 digital channels had an FTA share of prime time viewing last night of 21.8%. Eleven won with 4.0%, from 7Mate on 3.8%, GO and Gem were on 3.5% each, ABC 2, 2.1%, 7TWO and News 24 on 1.7% each, ONE was on 1.1%, SBS TWO, 0.8% and ABC 3, 0.6%. The 10 channels had FTA shares ranging from 20.2% in Sydney to 24.2% in Melbourne and 26.3% in Perth. 7TWO with 3.7%, leads GO on 3.4% and Eleven on 3.3%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 23.0% from Nine (3) on 21.9%, from Ten (3) on 18.9%, Pay TV (100 plus channels), was on 16.0%, the ABC, (4) was on 12.8% and SBS (2), finished with 4.3. The 15 FTA channels had an 84.0% share of prime time TV viewing last night, made up of 18.5% for the 10 digitals and 67.5% for the five main channels. Foxtel’s shares ranged from a high of 20.2% in Sydney (where it was second overall) to 10.7% in Adelaide and 15.9% in Melbourne.
  • Regional: Ratings delayed by the impact of the cyclone in North Queensland.

Major Markets: Seven won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth overall and in the main channels. Nine won Melbourne and Brisbane (overall, Seven won the main channels). Ten was second in Sydney in the main channels. Eleven won Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. 7Mate won Perth, GO won Brisbane. Seven in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. (Ten is second in Perth). Nine leads in Melbourne.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6 pm to midnight All People)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The ABC finally got its act together at 7pm and junked The 7.30 Report and put in an hour news special co-hosted by Joe O’Brien in North Queensland and Lateline‘s Ali Moore’s in Sydney. And it worked, raising the question, does the ABC really need The 7.30 Report, or should it and Lateline be combined later in the night?

Admittedly there was a lot to cover last night, the cyclone, and its aftermath, Egypt and the death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan, but the production moved along nicely.

TV3 in new Zealand took the Sunrise feed live yesterday and put it to air instead of their programming.

And perhaps the Nine Network can explain that a day after the cyclone, Today was on one hour delay into Brisbane this morning (daylight saving), when Sunrise was live?

TONIGHT: Oh, dear, Better Homes and Gardens returns. Seven also had movie repeats (it’s Friday night and the AFL pre-season is still a week or so away). Nine has repeats after repeats and a NZ program. Ten at least has a fresh episode of The 7pm Project and another episode of The Biggest Loser: Families. But an encore performance of Blue Bloods from Wednesday night, purleese.

The ABC had an Aussie Rules game involving the national indigenous team and the Richmond Tigers but that was cancelled this morning according to AAP.

Saturday: Danger, danger, TV desert ahead. SBS has the movie of the week, No Country For Old Men AT 10.05pm. Everything else is either a repeat, or appalling or just froth.

Sunday: Ratings proper starts tonight, some say. Well, maybe. Ratings proper really kicked in last week as Seven and Ten took a flying start and Nine and the ABC drifted. If we are interested Nine has another One Day Cricket International from Perth. Ten returns Bondi Rescue and has fresh The Biggest Loser: Families, Hawaii Five-O and NCIS LA.

Seven starts Sunday Night at 6.30pm for 2011, returns Border Security and The Force from 7.30pm to 8.30pm and has a Bones, then Castle. The ABC has a Poirot repeat. The cricket to struggle. In the morning Offsiders, Inside Business and Insiders return for the year, as does Meet The Press on Ten at 8am.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports