Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: Big Brother continues to tank, high hopes for Mr Selfridge

Thanks to the truncated third Ashes Test boosting audiences on Gem, Nine won all people, but Seven got home in the main channels, as it did in regional markets. Nine’s reprogramming by starting with Hamish and Andy at 7pm cost the network a couple of hundred thousand viewers and failed to boost Big Brother which dipped below a million metro viewers (a key level in metro markets) on the week’s second biggest night of viewing.

Seven’s The X Factor was again the most watched program with 2.176 million national/ 1.379 million metro/ 797,000 regional viewers. Running Hamish and Andy against it from 7pm did pull away viewers, but not as many as Nine would have been hoping.The change didn’t help hold Big Brother’s audience over a million viewers in metro markets.

Seven’s Mr Selfridge was bit too much like The Paradise on ABC1 earlier this year. A bit twee for me, but the audience was OK (not brilliant, just OK) with 1.478 million national/ 983,000 metro/ 495,000 regional viewers. Mr Selfridge won the slot, but I thought it would be a bit more pacey and sharper. But it’s the first episode, so let’s see how it looks next week.  Around 700,000 viewers from The X Factor chose not to stay with Mr Selfridge, which will be a bit of a concern at Seven.

But Mr Selfridge beat Big Brother (1.286 million national/ 932,000 metro/ 354,000 regional viewers) which dropped 260,000 core demographic viewers from Hamish and Andy’s Asia Gap Year. At last night’s level, Big Brother’s audience is  around the lower level where advertisers will start to ask Nine what is going on. I’m sure the Test cricket on Gem stayed away from Big Brother.

And finally, why, after three weeks, does Paul Barry still sound like he is shouting at me on Media Watch when Jonathon Holmes spoke to us in quiet, assured tones? Nothing wrong with the content, just the delivery.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (33.5%)
2. Seven (28.8%)
3. ABC (17.6%)
4. Ten (15.8%)
5. SBS (4.4%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (22.7%)
2. Nine (21.5%)
3. ABC 1 (12.8%)
4. Ten (10.4%)
5. SBS ONE (3.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. Gem (9.0%)
2. 7TWO (3.3%)
3. ABC 2, GO (3.0%)
4. 7mate (2.8%)
5. ONE, Eleven (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. The X Factor (Seven) – 2.176 million
2. Seven News — 2.019 million
3. Nine News — 1.959 million
4. Hamish and Andy’s Asia Gap Year (Nine ) – 1.697 million
5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.588 million
6. ABC News — 1.489 million
7. Mr Selfridge (Seven) — 1.478 million
8. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.416 million
9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.323 million
10. Big Brother (Nine) — 1.286 million

Top metro programs:

1. The X Factor (Seven) — 1.379 million
2. Seven News — 1.347 million
3. Nine News — 1.328 million
4. Hamish and Andy’s Asia Gap Year(Nine) — 1.191 million
5. Today Tonight(Seven) — 1.122 million
6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.113 million
7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.052 million
8. ABC News — 1.005 million

Losers: Wanted on Ten at 8.30pm — a very weak 4th with 679,000 national/ 469,000 metro/ 200,000 regional viewers. It seems to have found its bottom — a very low bottom at that.  MasterChef (1.112 million national/ 827,000 metro/ 285,000 regional viewers) had more than 350,000 viewers who chose to be Wanted. Smart people. And it impacted the rest of the night — Ten Late News only had  102,000 national/ 72,000 metro/ 30,000 regional viewers — around 100,000 less than what it sometime gets on a Monday night.Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 1.347 million
2. Nine News  – 1.328 million
3. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.122 million
4. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.113 million
5. ABC News– 1.005 million
6. Australian Story (ABC 1) — 814,000
7. 7.30 (ABC 1) — 737,000
8. Ten News — 736,000
9. Q&A (ABC 1, 563,000, News 24, 97,000 ) — 660,000
10. The Project (Ten) — 589,000

Metro morning TV:

1. Today (Nine) – 383,000
2. Sunrise (Seven) – 358,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC1, 60,000, News 24, 34,000) — 98,000

Top pay TV channels:

1. Fox Sports 2 (4.8%)
2. Fox Sports 1, TV 1 (2.5%)
3. Fox 8 (2.0%)
4. LifeStyle (1.8%)
5. Fox Footy (1.6%) .

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Cricket: 3rd Ashes Test, Session 1 (Fox Sports 2) – 276,000
2. NRL: St George v Canterbury (Fox Sports 1) – 217,000
3. Cricket: 3rd Ashes Test, Session 2 (Fox Sports 2) – 136,000
4. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 112,000
5. Monday Night With Matty Jones (Fox Sports 1) – 108,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.