The Winners: A typical Thursday night. RPA was solid for Nine with 1.318 million, Seven News was second with 1.253 million and Law And Order SVU perked up to average 1.179 million at 8.30pm for Ten (which has a lot of programs firing at the moment). Today Tonight was next with 1.155 million, followed by the 7pm ABC News (1.150 million), Nine News (1.120 million), Home And Away (1.115 million) and A Current Affair (1.080 million). The early figures for 9.30pm have a Nine program called Kitchen Nightmares but that was pulled — at least in Sydney — and the Sarah Connor Chronicles was successfully “reprised” there with 1.073 million. Getaway averaged 1.051 million and Ten’s Medium had 1.027 million. The Biggest Loser averaged 926,000 from 7pm to 8pm and Seven’s Amazing Race averaged 886,000 at 7.30pm.

The Losers: Lost, 869,000 seems poor, but it was the most popular program in 16 to 39 and second in 18 to 49 so Seven will be happy, but it’s fading badly. Saving Kids on Ten, 795,000 at 8pm; a bit weak. Likewise Out of The Question on Seven at 8.30pm. Both need some more energy or pace. Inspector Rex, 436,000. Not a loser, just unfortunate at the way SBS continues to repeat it to drag in the money.

News & CA: Seven News won nationally and won strongly in Sydney but fell in a bit of a hole again in Melbourne. Nine News was under 300,000 in Sydney and the ABC News rated second behind Seven. In Melbourne, the ABC News ran a close second behind Nine and well ahead of Seven. Today Tonight won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth but lost Melbourne and Brisbane. Ten News, 736,000; Late News/Sports Tonight, 548,000. Nightline, 355,000. The 7.30 Report averaged 866,000; Lateline, 273,000; Lateline Business, 139,000. SBS News, 168,000 at 6.30pm; 158,000 at 9.30pm. 7am Sunrise, 422,000; 7am Today, 289,000.

The Stats: Nine won with a share of 30.1% from Seven with 24.7%, Ten with 23.6%, the ABC with 16.2% and SBS with 5.4%. Nine won all five markets (even Perth) and now leads the week 27.8% to 27.4% for Seven. Ten is on 24.0%. In regional areas WIN/NBN won for Nine with 30.4%, from Prime/7Qld with 25.4%, Southern Cross (Ten) with 24.0%, the ABC with 13.8% and SBS with 6.4%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Seven will deny it but Thursday nights are looking a bit light on for the network. It looked that way for much of last year. Last night’s effort wasn’t the network’s finest and with Australian playing Sri Lanka tonight (it’s a Day/Night match from Perth, so the game will dominate evening viewing in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane), Nine should do well and add to its small lead in week one of the ratings. Seven will hope Better Homes and Gardens continues to dominate 7.30pm tonight. The weekend is mixed: Nine is hoping Johnny Depp’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will do the trick at 7.30pm. Seven goes all UK again with a repeat of the Vicar Of Dibley from the first ep (yes, it’s first up on Seven but a former ABC program), plus a new Inspector Lynley Mystery. On Sunday, the big question is will more viewers discover Sunday at 7.30am on Nine? Australia plays India from Adelaide Oval in an ODI, Robin Hood and Miss Marple are on the ABC, Seven has its line-up aimed at females and Ten asks if we think we can dance, after profiling The Biggest Loser. So You Think You Can Dance Australia is two hours from 7.30pm and should influence the night. There’s a repeat of Underbelly on Sunday night after the cricket.

Source: OzTAM, TV Network reports