Glenn Dyer’s TV Ratings

Nine’s night in the metros and regionals as The Voice ended its season on a weakish note. Masterchef Australia hung in for Ten in a solid showing, while Seven ran dead.

No wonder the ABC’s head of TV Richard Finlayson was quoted in The Oz this morning bagging overnight figures and explaining why the ABC put all four episodes up on iView to view from last night. The program is not very inviting and the ABC clearly wants fans from last night to engage with the program as quickly as possible. It is a sure signal the ABC knows the audience will vanish over the next three weeks.

I bet he doesn’t feel like that about the solid Monday nights the ABC has with its News and Current Affairs line ups which generate big audiences on the night. This disparaging of overnight ratings is the same thinking at Fox TV at the moment because American Idol died on the vine and the network couldn’t find a ratings powerhouse to replace it (ratings powerhouses like Idol, or Masterchef or The Voice drag in big audiences to the actual broadcast, not to the replay on streaming services).

The Voice might have won the night for Nine, but the program is well and truly on the way out: it shed 400,000 viewers from 2015, couldn’t crack two million viewers (as it did in 2015 with 2.183 million for the winner’s announcement, against 1.785 million last night) and was beaten nationally as the most watched news by Seven and Nine News.In the metros it topped the night, 260,000 viewers shy of the 2015 figure. (1.287 million last night against 1.552 million in 2015). But it still did the job for Nine. Perhaps it needs refreshing for 2017.

Sunrise won the metro breakfast battle with Today for another week. Sunrise is back in touch with Today and has closed that big gap that opened up earlier in the year.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (33.7%)
2. Seven (27.0%)
3. Ten (18.8%)
4. ABC (13.8%)
5. SBS (7.1%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (25.3%)
2. Seven (17.4%)
3. Ten (14.0%)
4. ABC (9.6%)
5. SBS ONE (5.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7flix (3.9%)
2. GO (3.5%)
3. Gem (3.0%)
4. 7TWO (2.9%)
5. 7mate, ONE (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.871 million
2. Nine News — 1.833 million
3. The Voice Winner Announced (Seven) — 1.785 million
4. The Voice Grand Final (Nine) — 1.612 million
5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.464 million
6. Masterchef Australia (Seven) — 1.298 million
7. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.230 million
8. ABC News — 1.192 million
9. Big Ted’s Adventure – 50 years of Play School (ABC) — 923.000
10. Billy Connolly’s Tracks Across America (Seven) — 813,000

Top metro programs:

• The Voice Winner Announced (Seven) — 1.287 million
• Nine News — 1.252 million
• Seven News — 1.250 million
• The Voice Grand Final (Nine) — 1.153 million

Losers: The ABC with Barracuda, failed to bite with viewers – a bellyflop. The Voice got there in the end for Nine but the format is dying (And will Seven’s The X Factor slide further this year? Seven has given it a top to bottom shake up to refresh it….)
Metro news and current affairs:

1. Nine News — 1.252 million
2. Seven News — 1.250 million
3. Sunday Night (Seven) — 963,000
4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 885,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 965,000
6. ABC News – 769,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 776,000
8. SBS World News — 211,000

Morning TV:

1. Insiders (ABC, 301,000, 97,000 on News 24) — 398,000
2. Weekend Today (Nine) – 301,000
3. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 297,000
4. Landline (ABC) — 252,000
5. Offsiders (ABC) — 186,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. AFL:Carlton v  Adelaide (Fox Footy) – 197,000
2. AFL: Essendon v St Kilda <(Fox Footy) — 175,000
3. AFL: West Coast v North Melbourne (Fox Sports s) — 156,000
4. NRL: Penrith v Cronulla (Fox Sports 1) – 151,000
5. F1: GB Grand Prix (Fox Sports 5) – 125,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.