Rain, rain go away (but leave the viewers, thanks)

Figures for news programs picked up yesterday due to the Sydney rain storm. Sunrise rose to 491,000, and the metro audience topped 300,000 for the first time in months. Today’s audience jumped to  371,000 nationally and 263,000 in the metros, and ABC News Breakfast saw its audience up 30,000 or so to 276,000 nationally. Figures for the mid-morning programs like The Morning Show and Today Extra, plus the hour of news on the ABC from 9am to 10am, all saw higher audiences as well. In the early evening, Ten News saw its metro audience jump well past 400,000 to 432,000 and reach 600,000 nationally — it has been months since it reached those levels. Sunrise, Today and News Breakfast had a combined average of 1.13 million from 7am to 9am.

Episode 100 last night for Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell was the second most watched non-news program with 1.02 million people, after its lead-in from the Tom Gleeson-hosted Hard Quiz with 1.04 million. That easily accounted for Seven’s Border Security (964,000) and Emergency Call (915,000), and Nine’s broadcast of the ARIA Awards (672,000). 

In regional markets, Seven’s 6pm News led with 495,000, then Seven News/Today Tonight with 486,000, followed by Emergency Call with 365,000, Border Security with 351,000 and Home and Away with 350,000.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (30.6%)
2. Nine (27.4%)
3. ABC (20.1%)
4. Ten (15.3%)
5. SBS (6.0%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (21.5%)
2. Nine (18.9%)
3. ABC (14.6%)
4. Ten (8.7%)
5. SBS ONE (3.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (4.0%)
2. GO (3.7%
3. 10 Boss (3.6%)
4. 7mate (3.4%)
5. Gem (3.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.492 million
2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.460 million
3. Nine/NBN News — 1.192 million
4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.149 million
5. 7pm ABC News — 1.056 million
6. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 1.043 million
7. Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (ABC) — 1.020 million
8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 985,000
9. Border Security (Seven) — 964,000
10. Home and Away (Seven) — 947,000

Top metro programs: the national top 10 says it all

Losers: Anyone who missed Mad As Hell.

Metro news and current affairs:

1.  Seven News — 996,000
2.  Seven News/Today Tonight — 975,000
3. Nine News  — 900,000
4. Nine News 6.30 — 870,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) —719,000
6. 7pm ABC News – 711,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 620,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 436,000
9. Ten Eyewitness News — 432,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 267,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 491,000
2. Today (Nine) — 371,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 276,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 235,000
5. Mornings (Nine) — 171,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 80,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Love It or List It Australia (LifeStyle) — 141,000
2. Grand Designs (LifeStyle) — 64,000
3. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 54,000
4. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 48,000
5. NCIS (TVHITS) — 47,000