The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Games on Nine and pay TV, not much else, except some football. Nine won, pay TV did very well, running second, thanks to its Games coverage and football. The Games coverage on Nine had no adverse impact on SBS last night. If anything their figures were a touch better than normal.

In metro areas, the Games coverage averaged 2.144 million metro viewers in the early evening and 1.919 million in the rest of the evening to 11.30pm. Nationally, the figures were a very tasty (for Nine), 3.137 million and 2.840 million respectively. The early evening averaged 992,000 in regional areas, while the evening averaged 922,000.

The standout non-Games performance last night was from Sunday Night on Seven at 6.30pm: the 1.219 million metro viewers and nationally, was strong and a message to Seven programmers not to pre-empt it in 2013 in favour of the dying Dancing With The Stars.

Ten’s MasterChef Allstars was swamped by the Games on Nine, as expected. Still the 752,000 metro viewers (and 1.017 million nationally) was OK.

Games report: National (Metro and regional) figures

  • Opening ceremony (Saturday morning ): — 2.412 million. In metro markets, the opening ceremony averaged 1.721 million and day one until 11.30pm averaged 1.882 million.
  • Day one (Saturday): early evening (6.30-8.30) — 2.867 million. Day one (Saturday) — evening (8.30-11.30) — 2.584 million.
  • Day two nationally (Sunday):  The national performance was, early evening, 3.137 million, evening, 2.840 million. That’s an average across the evening of just over 2.988 million.

In metro markets 2.031 million people watched the evening from 6.30-11.30, compared with 2.213 million in Athens. That consisted of 2.143 million for the early evening (6.30-8.30) and the evening session, 1.918 million. The Oztam figures show that 316,000 people watched the Games last night on Gem. That’s included in the figures for Nine’s main channel because it is a simulcast. That means 1.715 million people watched the Games on Nine’s main channel last night from 6.30-11.30.

The Athens Games in 2004 are the most comparable recent games (in Europe, similar time zone). On that basis the London Games are down. The Athens opening ceremony on Seven averaged 2.304 million and day one evening, 2.009 million. Day two evening averaged 2.213 million for Athens.

For Beijing, the comparable metro figures were, 2.917 million for the opening ceremony, 2.215 million for day one and 2.093 million for day two. It has to be remembered that the time zone in Beijing was more favourable for Nine, being two hours behind Australia.

It also has to be pointed out that the media markets has changed dramatically: there’s more free-to-air TV channels (the 10 digital channels). Pay TV’s coverage is larger and there’s also social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. That means greater fragmentation for these Games, compared with 2004 (the internet was less developed as well, as was the use of it by established media, such as newspapers, radio and TV networks). The split between Nine’s main channel and Gem last night is a good illustration of that fragmentation.

Tonight: Games on Nine and pay TV. News and current affairs on the ABC. Not much else on Seven, Ten and SBS, well the MasterChef Allstars on Ten and Once Upon a Time on Seven.

Last week: Seven hung on, despite a solid opening day for Nine, and pay TV. Seven won the week in metro markets from Nine and Ten. Nine won the week in Sydney and Brisbane thanks to the Games on Saturday and the NRL matches on Friday night. Seven won Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth thanks to the big lead over the week and Friday night’s AFL games. On Saturday night, the Games coverage saw Nine with a metro share of 56.9%. 7TWO won the metro digitals narrowly from GO. Prime/7Qld won the regionals from WIN/NBN.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

  1. Games — early evening (Nine) — 3.137 million.
  2. Games – -evening (Nine) — 2.840 million.
  3. Nine News — 2.462 million.
  4. Seven News — 1.931 million.
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.864 million.
  6. London Gold (Nine) — 1.328 million.
  7. Once Upon A Time (Seven) — 1.075 million.
  8. Grand Designs Revisited (ABC 1) — 1.020 million.
  9. MasterChef Australia Allstars (Ten) — 1.017 million.
  10. ABC 1 News (7pm) — 1.015 million.

The metro winners:

  1. Games — early evening (Nine, 6.30-8.30) — 2.144 million.
  2. Games — evening (Nine, 8.30-11.30) — 1.919 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.737 million.
  4. Seven News (6pm) — 1.334 million.
  5. Sunday Night (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.219 million.

The Losers: No losers during the Games, although Nine may be the loser with a shortfall estimated at anything from $25 million to $40 million on ad revenues for the Games versus costs.

Metro News & CA: Boosted by the Games and NRL, Nine News won Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven won Perth.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.737 million.
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.334 million.
  3. ABC 1 News (7pm) — 728,000.
  4. Sunday Night (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.219 million.
  5. Ten News (5pm) — 474,000.
  6. The Project (Ten, 6pm) — 363,000.
  7. SBS News (6.30 – 7.30 pm) — 177,000.

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning: Weekend Today was pre-empted for Games coverage on Nine. Michael Rowland filled in for Alan Kohler on the pre-recorded Inside Business and was a bit of a revelation. More of him, please.

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven, 8am) — 291,000.
  2. Landline (ABC 1, Noon) — 194,000.
  3. Insiders (ABC 1, 9am) — 157,000 + 46,000 on News 24.
  4. The Bolt Report (Ten, 10am) — 137,000.
  5. The Bolt Report Repeat (Ten, 4.30pm) — 114,000.
  6. Offsiders (ABC 1, 10.30pm) — 104,000.
  7. Inside Business (ABC 1, 10am) — 99,000.
  8. Meet The Press (Ten, 10.30am) — 64,000.

Metro FTA: Nine (three channels) won with a share of 45.8% from Seven (three) on 21.9%, Ten (three) was on 15.8%, the ABC (four) was on 11.8% and SBS (two) ended with 4.7%. Main channels: Nine won with a share of 41.9% from Seven on 17.2% and Ten on 11.2%. ABC 1 was on 9.3% and SBS ONE ended on 4.3%.

Metro Digital: GO won a low night with a share of 3.2%, from 7TWO with 3.0%. ONE was third with 2.7%, Eleven was on 1.9%, 7mate, 1.7%, ABC 2, 1.3%, ABC 3 and Gem with on 0.7% each, News 24, 0.5% and SBS TWO was on 0.4%. The 10 channels had a low FTA share of 16.6%.

Metro including pay TV: Nine (three channels) won with a share of 35.0% with Seven (three) on 16.7%, Ten (three) was on 12.1%, the ABC (four) was on 9.0% and SBS (two) ended with 3.6%. Pay TV (200-plus channels) finished second overall with a share of 21.3%. The five main channels share was 66.5%, the 10 digital channels share was a low 12.2% and the total FDTA viewing share was 78.7%. based on that, digital viewers went to Nine or Foxtel for the Games.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Other pay TV subscription channels — 29.7%. (These include the eight Games channels, but not broken out).
  2. Fox Footy — 2.6%.
  3. TV1 — 1.9%.
  4. Fox 8 — 1.6%.
  5. Fox Sports 1, 2 — 1.5% each.

Regional: WIN/NBN (three channels) won with a share of 47.2%, from Prime/7Qld on 24.5%, SC Ten (three) was on 12.7%, the ABC (four) ended on 10.7% and SBS (two) was on 5.0%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 42.9%% from Prime/7Qld on 18.7%. 7TWO won the digitals with 3.9% from GO on 3.5% and ONE on 2.6%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. Nine- Games- early evening — 992,000.
  2. Nine- Games – evening — — 922,000.
  3. Nine News — 724,000.
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 647,000.
  5. Seven News — 597,000.

Major metro markets: A clean sweep to Nine, as expected, with wins overall and the main channels in all five metro markets. Seven was second and Ten third. GO won the digitals in Brisbane, ONE won Adelaide and Perth. 7TWO won Sydney and Melbourne.

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