Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: T20 finally gets out

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Thankfully we have been bored one last time by Twenty20 tip and run cricket on free-to-air TV for the summer. I can remember when T20 cricket generated two million or more metro viewers alone and close to three million nationally. Last night’s game averaged 953,000 in metro markets and 1.5 million nationally.

While it kept Nine competitive last night, the T20 game had no impact on My Kitchen Rules which had its highest audience of the week last night — more than two million metro and over three million national viewers. Along with Home and Away, My Kitchen Rules won the night for Seven. My Kitchen Rules added half a million viewers from Monday to last night. The movie after My Kitchen Rules, The Proposal, averaged 892,000 metro and million more than 1.3 million nationally.

After some staff boasted yesterday, Today Tonight lost ground, as did A Current Affair. Both ended up under a million metro viewers.

But Seven News had a miserable night losing Sydney (318,000 to 224,000) and Melbourne by 379,000 to 260,000. The 94,000 loss in Sydney was a big shock because of its size. The 119,000 loss in Melbourne wasn’t as shocking. Again look to what’s happening at 5.30pm for part of the answer. Seven’s Deal Or No Deal averaged 433,000, Nine’s Hot Seat had 553,000 viewers. That 120,000 winning margin helps.

Shock Horror Aunty at 8.30pm averaged 558,000 metro and nearly 800,000 national viewers and was curiously incomplete. More episodes are needed to examine those who complained and the trend of the past decade for these protests to be organised and run by religious and socially conservative groups.

Tonight: My Kitchen Rules again tonight on Seven, followed by Bones everywhere bar Melbourne where there is a drugs and football special from 8.45pm. Ten has American Idol and the return of Law and Order SVU. A new Food Safari returns to SBS ONE at 7.30pm, with other foodie programs to follow. ABC1 sees the Catalyst trip across Australia continue and the perfect antidote to Valentine’s Day on ABC1 at 8.30pm called Making Couples Happy. Watch it and weep. Nine has a new Mentalist at 8.30pm (demoted from Monday and Sunday nights). CSI moves to 9.30pm (a demotion as well) for its return episode

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined): The Block All Stars was pre-empted in Brisbane by the T20 game. A Current Affair was pre-empted in regional Qld, NSW and Victoria by the T20 game, so the audiences of both programs was lower than they would have been.

1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 3.069 million.
2. Nine News — 1.648 million.
3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.626 million.
4. Twenty20 (Nine) — 1.507 million.
5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.386 million.
6. The Proposal (Seven) — 1.386 million.
7. ABC1 News (7pm) — 1.367 million.
8. The Block All Stars (Nine) — 1.215 million
9. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.175 million.
10. 7.30 (ABC1) — 895,000

The Metro Winners:

1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven, 7.30pm) — 2.106 million.
2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.092 million.
3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.047 million.

The Losers: Ten, squeezed, again. And the losses are not pretty. Glee at 7.30pm, just 363,000 metro viewers and not many more nationally. The combination of the T20 cricket on Nine and My Kitchen Rules on Seven, plus Home and Away, crushed Ten, and impacted the ABC, but it managed to end up in front in All People on the night.

Metro News & CA:

1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.092 million.
2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.047 million.
3. ABC1 News (7pm) — 942,000.
4. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 908,000.
5. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 824,000.
6. Ten News (5pm) — 629,000.
7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 594,000.
8. The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 493,000.
9. Lateline (ABC1, 10.25pm) –159,000.
10. Ten Late News (10.30pm) — 158,000.
11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 136,000.
12. The Business (ABC1, 11pm repeat) — 102,000 + 27,000 on News 24
13. SBS Late News (10.30pm) — 80,000.
14. The Drum (News 24, 6pm) — 44,000.

In the morning:

1. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 364,000.
2. Today (Nine, 7am) — 355,000.
3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 170,000.
4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 118,000.
5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7 am) — 57,000 + 33,000 on News 24.

Metro free to air: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 36.6% from Nine (three) on 28.9%, the ABC (four) was on 15.3% Ten (three) was on 14.5%, and SBS was on 4.6%. Seven leads the week on 35.0% from Nine on 28.0%, the ABC is on 16.5% and Ten is on 16.3%. Main Channels: Seven won with 29.7% from Nine on 23.1%, ABC1 on 11.2%, Ten was on 9.5% and SBS ONE was on 4.2%. Seven leads the week with 28.2% from Nine on 22.1%, ABC1 was on 12.4% and Ten was on 11.7%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO was on 3.6%, from 7mate on 3.4%, Gem was on 3.2%, Eleven was on 3.1%, ABC2 and GO ended with 2.5% each, ONE was on 1.9%, News 24 was on 0.8%, ABC3 was on 0.7%, SBS TWO was on 0.4% and NITV was on 0.1%. The 11 digital channels had a low FTA share last night of 22.2%. 7TWO leads the week with 3.6% from GO and 7mate on 3.1% each.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 31.1% from Nine (three) on 24.5%, the ABC (four) was on 12.9% Ten (three) was on 12.3%, and SBS was on 3.9%. The 16 FTA channels had a viewing share last night of 87.0%, the highest of the week so far. The five main channels share was 68.2% and the 11 digital channels share was a low 18.8%. Pay TV’s share of 13.0% was the lowest of the week so far for the 200 plus channels on Foxtel.

The top five pay TV channels were:

1. Fox8 — 3.4%.
2. LifeStyle — 2.9%.
3. UKTV — 2.1%.
4. TV 1 — 2.0%
5. Sky News, A&E — 1.5%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

1. Selling House Australia (LifeStyle) — 161,000.
2. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 72,000.
3. Coronation Street (UKTV) — 70,000.
4. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 70,000.
5. Family Guy (Fox8) — 64,0005.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 38.1%, from WIN/NBN (three) on 33.8%, the ABC (four) was third with 13.9%, then SC Ten (three) on 10.9% and SBS (three) on 3.3%. Prime/7Qld won with a share of 29.7%, from WIN/NBN on 26.1%, ABC1 was on 9.7% and SC Ten was on a very low 6.2%. Meanwhile, 7TWO won the digitals with 4.3%, from Gem on 4.,2% and 7mate on 4.1%. The 11 digital channels had a low FTA share last night for regional markets of 25.05. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 36.2%, from WIN/NBN on 31.0%, the ABC on 13.9% and SC Ten was on 13.4%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

1. My Kitchen Rules — 963,000.
2. Seven News — 580,000.
3. Nine News — 556,000.
4. T20 — 554,000.
5. The Proposal — 494,000.

Major Metro Markets: A clean sweep by Seven (overall and main channels), with Nine close because of the long T20 broadcast (as planned). Nine was second and the ABC third in Melbourne Adelaide and Brisbane while they shared third in Sydney (overall). In the main channels ABC1 was third everywhere except in Perth where it was second and Nine was third. Nine was second elsewhere. In the digitals, 7TWO won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and shared Melbourne with 7mate. Eleven won Brisbane. Seven leads the week from Nine and the ABC in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Seven leads Nine and Ten in Brisbane and Adelaide.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data