Crikey

Last night’s TV ratings
The Winners: Nine programs with a million or more viewers. RPA was tops in its final ep of this series with 1.437 million. Seven News was second with 1.362 million and Today Tonight was third with 1.250 million. Home And Away was 4th with 1.213 million and Ten’s Law And Order SVU was 5th with 1.117 million. The 7pm ABC news was next with 1.060 million, Seven’s Amazing Race averaged 1.053 million at 7.30pm and beat Getaway on Nine with 1.047 million. Nine News was 9th with 1.032 million and A Current Affair fell below a million viewers with a very low 993,000. The Biggest Loser on Ten at 7pm was also low with 984,000.  

The Losers: Losers? Two And A Half Men on Nine at 7pm: 905,000. Lost on Seven at 9.30 pm, 770,000. American Dad on Seven at 9pm, 496,000

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market as did Today Tonight. Nine News fell to 246,000 in Sydney, 141,000 behind Seven. ACA fell to 250,000 in Sydney, 116,000 behind TT. Nine News Sydney and ACA are two weak points which need fixing ASAP. The 7pm ABC News beat Nine in Sydney. The 7.30 Report averaged 865,000 (when are we going to have stories on this program that people interested in social affairs under the age of 40 might relate to?). Lateline averaged 275,000 (and it’s the Virginia Trioli model tonight. Can someone help her with her autocue reading, especially for news?). Lateline Business, 135,000. Ten News At Five, 755,000, the Late News/Sports Tonight 460,000. Nine’s Nightline, 361,000. World News Australia 164,000 at 6.30pm, 121,000 at 9.30pm. 7am Sunrise 402,000, 7am Today, 261,000.

The Stats: Nine won the 6pm to 12pm battle with a share of 31.0% (31.8%) from Seven with 25.2% (24.2%), Ten with 22.5% (23.1%), the ABC with 16.7% (15.8%) and SBS with 4.6% (5.4%). Nine won all five metro markets and leads the week 30.9% to 27.5%. In regional areas a win to Nine through WIN/NBN with 29.9% from Southern Cross (Ten) with 24.6%, Prime/7Qld with 24.3%, the ABC with 15.7% and SBS with 5.4%. In the 6 pm to 10.30 pm slot Fusion says Nine won with 25.29% (26.06% a year ago) from Seven with 21.73% (23.10%), Ten with 19.31% (20.23%), the ABC with 14.91% (13.27%), Pay TV with 14.78% (13.57%) and SBS with 3.99% (3.78%).

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Thursday night and Nine was strong, Seven weak, especially from 8.30pm, which lost it the night. Ten was solid. Ten’s Law And Order SVU is one of the surprise improvers of the year. Last year it was tired, boring and bereft of new storylines. So far this year the acting is better, scripts crisper and storylines interesting. Someone put a bomb under it. Nine’s RPA ended. Tonight it’s Better Homes and Gardens up against Don Burke (and how many days will his makeover of a few hours take this time. One in Spring that supposedly took three hours, took three days). Don creates a garden paradise, Better Home And Gardens do a street makeover. Will this tosh never end? The most watched program last night in any market was Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares in Melbourne with 444,000. Ramsay’s US Nightmares program screened elsewhere and averaged 893,000, so it had a total of 1.337 million, which is what won Nine the night after being so appalling from 6pm to 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks, Fusion Strategy reports