Crikey

Fairfax makeover. Anyone surfing the interwebs in the last 24 hours might have noticed that The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age websites have undergone a magical transformation. A brave move considering the old version of The SMH site was the most popular online news site for the month of July according to Nielsen figures. The Age might want to spare a couple of their website dollars for proofreading (yes, yes, we realise this is the pot calling the kettle a deep shade of purple):

 Then again, perhaps in the new Age website regime our Magda won’t be wheeled out for such unedifying duties as she was at 10.16pm last night — Jane Nethercote.
 

Ninemsn CEO tells staff: we’re still number one. Message from ninemsn CEO Tony Faure to all staff yesterday:

All, You may have seen some media coverage of recent Nielsen numbers on the online news category. Some media have taken these numbers and used them in a naive comparison of apples and oranges. Claims that SMH has overtaken ninemsn as the leading online news source are wrong. While we don’t dispute the data reported by Nielsen, the ninemsn news referred to in the Nielsen number is just that – only the ninemsn news URL. Nielsen’s figure for ninemsn does not take into account the UBs for the news within other sections of ninemsn such as the homepage, sport, weather and entertainment. It also doesn’t take into account the huge homepage news UBs, which are difficult to break out, but clearly very large. By contrast, the SMH news number quoted by Nielsen is almost their entire site including news, sport, weather, business, entertainment, Travel, technology and Life & Style. Our news publisher number – which takes into account news, weather, sport (still not everything that SMH includes) – would be higher. In this far more accurate and like-for-like comparison, ninemsn currently has higher daily and monthly UBs than SMH. Max and his team have been kicking some great goals with recent live news streams, getting the cadets up and running and as we all saw at the company meeting, our foreign correspondent Henri. We know we have the leading online news whatever numbers you look at, and we will be correcting this to the media in the coming days.

Trioli cops a bagging over new ratings figures. It’s a bit rich for the non-radio media to be picking on Virginia Trioli, the ABC 702 morning presenter in Sydney, as somehow being the main contributor to the station’s very sharp loss in the latest radio ratings survey. No mention of her in the story and yet her photograph graces the online page on the SMH website. But the worst offender was Michael Bodey in The Australian: “Trioli’s ratings head south”. It’s not the first time Bodey had sledged Trioli in The Australian. Was he, as ABC sources claim, an aspirant to the morning show slot when Sally Loane was flicked? If true, that would make for some strained times at ABC radio and TV functions where Ms Trioli would normally attend. Perhaps Bodey should have picked out other presenters for commentary. 702 breakfast with Adam Spencer lost 0.9%, Virginia Trioli was down 1.8% but the most popular drive host in Sydney, 702’s Richard Glover fell a huge 2.4%. Afternoons with James Valentine was off 2.1%, evenings (Mostly James O’Loughlin) was off 1.9% and weekends were also down 1.9% each. So in terms of relative performance, Trioli was the second best performer at the ABC in terms of share loss in what was a horrible survey for the station. This at a time when the station and ABC radio management is looking to find a new boss to replace the just retired Roger Summerill. James O’Brien, the program boss, is the acting station manager. Repairing this slump could make him or break him. But it is a bit rich for the likes of Michael Bodey to be taking pot shots at Ms Trioli (whom I haven’t really warmed to; she’s still too earnestly Melbourne) when other slots on 702 had bigger slumps. — Glenn Dyer

Last night’s TV ratings
The Winners: 14 programs with a million or more viewers on a night totally dominated by Seven, while Ten was stronger than it should have been because Nine ran dead again and programmed for profit rather than viewers. Seven has six programs in the top 10, the top six, Ten had the next three, Nine had one at 10th spot. RSPCA Animal Rescue was the top program with 1.684 million viewers, followed by Medical Emergency at 8pm with 1.664 million. Seven News had 1.469 million, All Saints was next with 1.462 million at 8.30pm, Today Tonight got 1.360 million and Home And Away had 1.338 million people. Ten’s 8pm Simpsons repeat averaged 1.278 million, fresh NCIS, 1.274 million at 8.30pm and the new Simpsons ep at 7.30pm, 1.267 million people. Temptation was 10th for Nine at 7pm with 1.181 million, Nine News was 11th with 1.170 million, the 7pm ABC News was next with 1.101 million people, A Current Affair was 13th with 1.096 million and Things To Try Before You Die (Fix Up Tuesday night and put some decent programming on?) averaged 1.013 million for Nine in 14th spot. Seven returned the Caroline Quentin show, Life Begins last night, 988,000 at 9.30pm and won the timeslot. Seven’s Deal Or No Deal, 928,000 at 5.30pm, Numb3rs on Ten at 9.30pm, 827,000.

The Losers: Losers? Bert’s Family Feud back at 5pm, battling away to earn a buck for Nine. 311,000 desperates tuned in. No wonder Nine News and A Current Affair were down last night. Ten for sticking the underwhelming Torchwood at Midnight. Just 98,000 viewers. It’s better than that, but it’s not Dr Who-like. Why not a Friday night at 9.30pm and try and make it a cult show? Nine’s entire schedule from Bert onwards. The repeats of the two CSIs Miami (801,000) and New York (810,000) didn’t fool viewers. Must have fooled the Nine management though. Where is the strong second half programming Nine has been saying it will produce this half? The ABC’s South Side Story, 769,000: or how Rus and Pete saved Souths and bought it. It is an interesting story for a historic Rugby League Club. But six half hour programs? The only reason to justify that is Russell Crowe’s co-operation.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne where Nine won by 1,000 viewers. Seven News won by a 188,000 in Perth over the WIN owned Nine News which averaged just 88,000. More people watched ACA in Perth! And WIN are threatening to go it alone if Nine comes the heavy on a new affiliation agreement. Today Tonight won nationally. Nine News and ACA were not helped by the very weak 5pm to 6pm hour. Ten News At Five, 905,000, the Late News/Sports Tonight, 386,000. Nine’s Nightline, 325,000. The 7.30 Report, 777,000. (John Howard and Kerry had another set to. These interviews are becoming strangely addictive to see the desperation of the PM). Lateline, 201,000. World News Australia on SBS, 166,000 at 6.30pm, 178,000 at 9.30pm. Insight 190,000. 7am Sunrise, 399,000, 7am Today, up to 255,000. 9am Morning Show on Seven, 171,000, KAK at 9 am on Nine, 101,000, 9am With David and Kim, 95,000.

The Stats: Seven won with a share of 32.5% (32.6% a week ago) from Ten with 24.1% (23.7% ), Nine with 24.0% (23.9%), the ABC with 14.7% (14.5%) and SBS with 4.7% (5.3%). Seven won all markets bar Adelaide when Ten popped up to win. Seven was a huge winner from Ten in Perth. Ten was a distant third in Sydney (20.7% was its lowest share in the metro markets). In regional areas a win for Prime/7Qld with 32.5% from Southern Cross (Ten) with 25.4%, WIN/NBN for Nine with 24.3%, the ABC with 13.6% and SBS with 4.1%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: In some guides (which most people use to help choose the TV shows) Nine had marked CSI Miami and New York without the letter R for repeat, which they were. The Network is now so stuffed it can’t get basic programming information accurate for the public, or was it yet another production problem for the guides? It didn’t help. Third is not good and Nine will go third tonight with Ten’s strongest line up starting with Thank God You’re Here and a fresh House ep. Nine has fresh eps of McLeod’s Daughters, Cold Case and Without A Trace (according to the guides!). The ABC has Spicks And Specks. And Seven has an odd night. Most shocking, a movie called The Village and The Unit, seem designed to send viewers to Nine, Ten, the ABC or even SBS for George Negus and Dateline at 8.30pm. Bed beckons if the other networks do not appeal tonight for Seven fans. What a dispiriting trio of programs. Tuck your feet in and watch Thank God, then Spicks And Specks.