alan jones
Alan Jones (Image: Sky News Australia)

Week one of Alan Jones’ new life as a Sky after dark talking head. So how did he go? Well, it wasn’t encouraging — from the strong opening night audience of 109,000 on Monday it was a slide to just 57,000 on Thursday.

Now some might argue that was low because the AFL and NRL games were underway on Fox Footy and Fox League. Paul Murray’s audience (after Jones) also fell sharply — to 66,000 on Thursday night from 94,000 on Monday. Sky will blame the footy for fall, but the channel’s management programmed Jones up against the start of the football, knowing that those codes and Jones share similar demographics — middle aged to elderly white men and the occasional women who are angry. If Jones and Murray had really rusted-on viewers (as we have been led to believe), the falls wouldn’t have been so big.

Meanwhile in the real world, the AFL easily outpointed the NRL games last night, meaning Seven had a big win on the night from Nine. The Geelong-Brisbane game averaged 772,000 on Seven (and 216,000 on Foxtel) for a total of 988,000. The NRL game — Easts v North Queensland — drew 522,000 on Nine and 203,000 on Foxtel for a total of 725,000 viewers. Game set and you know what to the AFL.

And The 5.30pm to 6pm part of The Chase Australia still outdid the 7pm-onwards prime time programs with 1.08 million national viewers.

In the regions: Seven News, 633,000, Seven News 6.30, 583,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm 422,000, Home and Away, 370,000, and 7pm ABC News, 334,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (33.6%)
  2. Nine (24.1%)
  3. Ten (15.6%)
  4. ABC (15.5%)
  5. SBS (11.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (22.5%)
  2. Nine (17.3%)
  3. ABC (10.4%)
  4. Ten (8.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (7.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (5.1%)
  2. 7TWO (4.4%)
  3. 10 Bold (4.3%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.5%)
  5. 10 Peach (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News —1.811 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.711 million
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.340 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.261 million
  5. 7pm ABC News— 1.117 million
  6. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) —  1.086 million
  7. ACA (Nine) — 1.002 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 954,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 818,000
  10. Seven’s AFL — 772,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.178 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.128 million
  3. Nine News – 1.020 million

Losers: Everyone bar AFL or NRL hardcores, Alan Jones.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.178 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.128 million
  3. Nine News – 1.020 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 —938,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 783,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 692,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC)— 562,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 508,000
  9. Ten News First — 430,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 341,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 476,000/274,000
  2. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 3368,000/220,000
  3. Today (Nine) — 316,000/209,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 278,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 184,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 69,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Gleelong v Brisbane (Fox Footy) — 216,000
  2. NRL:North Qld v Easts  (Fox League) — 203,000
  3. AFL: Post – Game  (Fox Footy) — 131,000
  4. Aussie Gold Hunters (Discovery) — 89,000
  5. The Late Show With Matty Jones (Fox League) — 79,000