Back Roads comes back to town, with viewers in tow

Nice to see Back Roads (1.02 million nationally) returning last night. Nice to see Q&A (533,000) and Media Watch (778,000) still on air, and Australian Story too (1.05 million). Back Roads succeeds because it allows the people in regional Australian towns, villages and cities to tell their stories at a time when the Sydney-centric HQs of Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS pay lip service to covering regional areas. It and Australian Story were the most watched non-straight news programs last night and deserved more.

The ABC finished third overall on the night. Seven won, Nine was second. Ten’s main channel share was under 10% for the second night in a row this week. In regional areas, Seven News/Today Tonight was on top with 529,000, followed by Seven’s 6pm News with 517,000, Home and Away was third with 370,000, Back Roads with 360,000 and the 7pm ABC News with 331,000.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (28.5%)
2. Nine (27.7%)
3. ABC (21.1%)
4. Ten (15.2%)
5. SBS (7.5%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (19.2%)
2. Nine (18.9%)
3. ABC (16.2%)
4. Ten (9.0%)
5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. GO (4.5%)
2. 7TWO, 10Boss (4.3%)
3. ABC Kids/Comedy, 7mate (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.533 million
2. Seven News — 1.524 million
3. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.193 million 
4. Nine/NBN News — 1.151 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.083 million
6. Australian Story (ABC) — 1.597 million
7. Back Roads (ABC) — 1.029 million
8. 7pm ABC News — 1.02 million
9. Home and Away (Seven) — 990,000
10. 7.30 (ABC) — 955,000

Top metro programs:

1. Seven News — 1.107 million
2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.004 million

Losers: Ten — especially Murphy Brown (416,000).

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 1.107 million
2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.004 million
3. Nine News 6.30 — 930,000
4. Nine News— 897,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) —818,000
6. Australian Story (ABC) —731,000
7. 7pm ABC News – 671,000
8. 7.30 (ABC) — 641,000
9. Media Watch (ABC) — 516,000
10. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 429,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 449,000
2. Today (Nine) – 321,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 260,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 230,000
5. Mornings (Nine) — 138,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 60,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Paul Murray Live (Sky News), The Brokenwood Mysteries (13th Street) — 66,000
2. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 57,000
3. Outlander (Fox Showcase) — 56,000
4. Bones (TVHITS) — 53,000