Australia Talks, but is anyone listening?

Australia talked last night on the ABC — and it was a long conversation. Australia Talks averaged a solid 804,000 national viewers from 8.30pm (551,000 metro and 253,000 in the regions), followed by an hour or so of Q&A discussing what we had heard about the views of 50,000 people quizzed across the country. It was both ho-hum and intriguing, and well worth the time and effort. It couldn’t, however, top the first hour of Have You Been Paying Attention on Ten — 1.09 million.

I thought one of the best programs of the year was last night’s episode of Australian Story — watch it for one woman’s enormous courage. 902,000 watched last night, and it deserved many, many more. (Go and track it down online.) Seven’s 6pm news led the night in the regions with 525,000, then Seven News/TT with 511,000, followed by Home and Away with 349,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm on 330,000 and ACA with 320,000.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (26.8%)
2. Nine (24.9%)
3. Ten (21.4%)
4. ABC (19.9%)
5. SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (17.2%)
2. Seven (16.7%)
3. ABC, Ten (15.8%)
4. SBS ONE (4.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7mate (4.7%)
2. 7TWO (3.9%)
3. 10 Bold (3.5%)
4. Gem (3.2%)
5. GO (29%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.495 million
2. Seven News/TT — 1.447 million
3. Nine/NBN News 6.30  — 1.155 million
4. Nine News — 1.110 million
5. Have You Been Paying Attention (Ten) — 1.098 million
6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.035 million
7. 7pm ABC News — 972,000
8. Home and Away (Seven)  — 957,000
9. 7.30 (ABC) — 929,000
10. 7pm ABC News — 902,000

Losers: Zumbo’s Just Desserts is heading towards flop territory — 602,000 after 700,000 nationally on Sunday night.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 969,000
2. Seven News/TT — 936,000
3. Nine News 6.30  — 858,000
4. Nine News — 842,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 715,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 658,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 634,000
8. Australian Story (ABC) — 605,000
9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 497,000
10. 10 News First — 361,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise: National: 448,000, Metro: 274,000
2. Today: National: 311,000, Metro: 205,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 249,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 199,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) —147,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) —70,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 63,000
2. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 62,000
3. F1; Brazil Race (Fox Sports) — 59,000
4. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 46,000
5. Credlin (Sky News) —- 44,000