The ABC’s Insiders will remain on air until December 17 — the day after the Bennelong byelection in Sydney. Insiders is the premier political chat program in the country and the highest rating day-time program on TV. It was to have gone on holiday on December 3 as scheduled after the New England byelection the day before. Now it has been given two more weeks to talk about a poll that will keep Canberra nervous for quite a while, especially if the same-sex marriage bill hasn’t made it through the House of Representatives by then. Insiders had 551,000 national viewers yesterday — 376,000 on the ABC’s main channel and a high 175,000 on News 24. With those figures, and the program’s ranking, it was a sensible decision to keep it going until after the Bennelong poll. Nine, Seven and Ten have abandoned the space to the ABC on Sunday mornings.

Last night, the ratings were tight and the solid win in total people by Seven was due to the Thor movie on 7mate which attracted 275,000 viewers. The main channels result was basically a draw and Nine claimed better demos. That won’t save Family Food Fight though — just 743,000 national viewers. Seven’s faltering The Wall managed to grab 1.001 million national viewers, which is barely enough for an expensive program. Seven’s Sunday Night (1.066 million) was a video version of stablemate No Idea with a story on Prince Harry and Megyn Markle and then a softy on Dawn French at 60 (she also has a book out). Then Seven followed with an hour of free advertising for Qantas and its new Dreamliner — 592,000 national viewers watched this PR job. On 60 Minutes — a failed attempt to show the NT News in Darwin how smart a southern reporter was. Just lightweight, as was the effort on North Korea. 

Contrast the weak figures for 60 Minutes and Sunday Night with the 7pm ABC News — 1.337 million — close to if not the best this year and after 1.283 million a week ago. After months of weak figures, has the audience rediscovered the network’s Sunday night flagship? In regional markets the ABC was also an improver. Doc Martin led the night with 498,000 people, followed by 7pm ABC News with 430,000; Seven News was third with 415,000, Sunday Night was fourth with 373,000 and The Wall was fifth with 367,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (32.4%)
  2. Nine (26.9%)
  3. ABC (21.4%)
  4. Ten (13.1%)
  5. SBS (6.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (18.4%)
  2. Nine (18.3%)
  3. ABC (16.5%)
  4. Ten (8.0%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (7.5%)
  2. GO (3.5%)
  3. 7TWO(3.9%)
  4. ABC 2 (3.2%)
  5. ONE (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Doc Martin (ABC) — 1.570 million
  2. Seven News  — 1.347 million
  3. 7pm ABC News — 1.337 million
  4. Nine/NBN News — 1.175 million
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.066 million
  6. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.022 million
  7. The Wall (Seven) — 1.001 million
  8. Family Food Fight (Nine) —743,000
  9. Paul Kelly Live At The Opera House repeat (ABC) — 649,000
  10. Dreamliner (Seen) — 592,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Doc Martin (ABC) — 1.042 million

Losers: Ten, as usual. 60 Minutes and Sunday Night — weak lightweight content

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 932,000
  2. 7pm ABC News – 907,000
  3. Nine News — 889,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 736,000
  5. Sunday Night (ABC) — 693,000
  6. The Project 7pm (Ten) —339,000
  7. Ten Eyewitness News — 285,000
  8. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) —211,000
  9. SBS World News — 157,000

Morning TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, 376,000, 175,000 on ABC News) — 551,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 439,000
  3. Landline (ABC) — 397,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 391,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 268,000
  6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 239,000

Top five pay TV channels:

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. A Place To Call Home (showcase) — 101,000
  2. Hidden Figures (Foxtel Movies) — 85,000
  3. A League: Perth v Melbourne Victory (Fox Sports) — 79,000
  4. 24 Hours in Emergency (LifeStyle) — 61,000
  5. NCIS (TVHITS) — 48,000

*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.