The Winners: The 6pm Seven News was the peak in TV viewing last night — then everything was downhill.

Meanwhile, Poh’s Kitchen at 8pm (628,000). A strong audience and no wonder: it was informative, well made and interesting, showing a part of Australia only seen in travel documentaries.

  1. Seven News 6pm — 1.208 million
  2. The Celebrity Apprentice  (Nine) (7pm) — 1.128 million
  3. Gruen Planet (ABC) (9pm) — 1.054 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.030 million
  5. Spicks & Specks (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.023 million
  6. Nine News — 1.022 million

The Losers: Nine, Ten and Seven were weak.

Viewers of The Hamster Wheel at 9.30pm on ABC 1; 766,000 people, and fading.

The One: Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic on Seven at 7.30pm, still dying, 687,000 viewers last night.

Hawaii Five O on Ten at 8.30pm, 555,000. Not very strong.

News & CA: Seven News had a rare win in Sydney, 300,000 to 289,000 for Nine. Seven won the other metro markets. ACA won Sydney narrowly, 306,000 to 297,000. TT won the rest.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.208 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.030 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.022 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 900,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 881,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC) (6.30pm) — 667,000
  7. The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 555,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 539,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 235,000
  10. SBS News (6.30pm) — 157,000
  11. SBS News (9.30pm) — 134,000
  12. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 119,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 372,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 345,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 28.2% from Nine (3) on 26.9%, The ABC (4) was on 20.2%, Ten (3) was on 19.2% and SBS (2) ended on 5.5%. Seven still leads the week with 29.5% to 28.7% for Nine, with Ten on 19.9%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won with a share of 19.3% from Seven on 17.7%, ABC 1 was on 15.5%, Ten was on 12.8% and SBS ONE was on 4.6%. Nine and Seven are now tied for the lead with 21.6% each, with Ten on 13.6% and ABC 1 on 12.9%.
  • Digital: 7TWO and 7mate tied with 5.2% each last night, from Eleven and GO with 4.4% each, Gem and ABC 2 were on 3.2% each, ONE was on 2.0%, ABC 3, 0.9%, SBS TWO was on 0.8% and News 24 was on 0.7%. That’s a very high total share of 30% last night for the 10 FTA digital channels. 7TWO leads the week with 4.2%, from GO on 4.0%, Eleven on 3.8% and 7mate on 3.7%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 23.1%, from Nine (3) on 22.1%, the ABC (4) was on 16.6%, Ten (3) was on 15.7%, pay TV (200-plus channels) was on 15.6% and SBS (2) ended on 4.5%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share last night of 84.4%, with the 10 digital channels on a very high 24.0%, and the five main channels on 59.7%, a rare low (outside of Fridays and Saturdays).

The five most-watched pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 (3.38%)
  2. TV 1 (2.65%)
  3. Lifestyle (2.57%)
  4. Sky News (1.92%)
  5. 111 Hits (1.84%)

The five most-watched pay TV programs were:

  1. Killing Time (TV 1) — 124,000
  2. Relocation Relocation Australia (Lifestyle) — 90,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 90,000
  4. Selling Houses Australia Extreme (Lifestyle) — 84,000
  5. Futurama (Fox 8) — 75,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) had a big win, with a share of 33.2%, boosted by the digitals. WIN/NBN (3) was next with 26.8%, the ABC (4) was 3rd with 17.9%, SC Ten (3) was on 16.9% and SBS (2) ended on 5.2%. The main channels were won by prime/7Qld on 21.1% from WIN/NBN on 18.1%, ABC 1 was on 12.7% and SC Ten was on 10.7%. the 10 digital channels had a near record share of 32.2%. 7TWO won with 6.6% from 7mate on 5.5% and GO on 4.6%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 33.0%, from WIN/NBN on 28.4%.

The top five programs in regional markets were:

  1. Seven News — 561,000
  2. A Current Affair — 479,000
  3. Home and Away — 479,000
  4. The One: Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic (Seven) — 427,000
  5. Nine News — 415,000

Major Markets: Nine won Sydney from Seven and the ABC in the main channels and overall. In Melbourne it was Nine from Seven and Ten overall, but Nine from Seven and ABC 1 in the main channels. In Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, Seven won overall and the main channels. In Brisbane, Ten was third overall, in the main channels ABC 1 beat Ten for third. In Adelaide it was Nine second and the ABC 3rd overall, while in the main channels it was ABC 1 second and Nine third. In Perth it was Nine second and the ABC third overall and in the main channels. 7mate win Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Eleven won Brisbane, 7TWO won Melbourne.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The collective share of the 10 digital channels was greater than the collective shares of the five FTA networks. Including pay TV, the 10 digitals share was a total 24.7%, which is very close to an all-time high outside Friday and Saturday nights.

For the FTA networks it’s good news because it means hundreds of thousands of viewers stayed with them, even though they didn’t like the main channel offerings. Before the digital channels started, they would have gone to pay TV or just turned the set off.

After watching Celebrity Apprentice last night, I know now why mercy killing should be an allowable defence for TV viewers. Talk about appalling TV. It makes Beauty and The Geek and Dinner Date Australia on Seven look like prime TV quality. The only justification is the people are raising money for charity.

The five top programs nationally were:

  1. Seven News — 1.769 million
  2. Gruen Planet — 1.438 million
  3. Nine News — 1.435 million
  4. Home and Away — 1.430 million
  5. Spicks & Specks — 1.415 million

Tonight: The latest episode of The Slap stands out as the highlight for tonight. If solid drama is too confronting, then the frivolity of The Beauty and The Geek Australia on Seven, might appeal, or the predictability of Rush on Ten (all are at 8.30pm). SBS starts a 10-part series called My Sri Lanka with Peter Kuruvita, a leading Sydney chef.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports