Ratings logic as easy as ABC

There are more (in)glorious quotes today from network execs to marvel over. It’s nice to see the ABC thrown into the pack for once, too.

ABC TV director Kim Dalton has told The Australian he was particularly pleased that so many hit programs on the ABC this year were Australian-made.

“In 2008, more people watched ABC TV than ever before and that demonstrates the importance of the public broadcaster and the way we connect with all Australians,” Mr Dalton said.

While Seven will win the year in ratings weeks and total viewers, Nine will be first in 18-49 and 25-54 demographics.

Meanwhile a spokeswoman for TEN said the network did not compete on the basis of total viewers and had once again finished the ratings season as the leading network with 16-39 year-olds and in targeted demographics in daytime.

“In 18-49s, it has been a tougher year,” she said. “We continue to have a competitive share of this market and we are focused on our strategy of building our position in this demographic.”

TEN has lost 7.6 per cent of its audience share in 18-to-49s. Seven, too, has lost share in 18-to-49s, dropping 8.6 per cent, while Nine has lifted 8.8 per cent.

Seven is down 7.4 per cent in the 25-54 group while Nine has grown by 6.4 per cent year-on-year. TEN has also lost 4.8 per cent of its share of the audience in this advertiser-friendly demographic.

There is again a nod towards the importance of demographics.

Nine CEO David Gyngell said Seven had an “ancient view on audience performance”, based on a total people analysis. “Nine has enjoyed a resurgent year with sustained and strong growth in the key demographics, measured against big downturns for our opposition — Seven in particular,” Mr Gyngell said.

“But this is just a good beginning and we take nothing for granted. We respect our opposition, but we’ve served notice that we’re back in the game in a big way. The industry knows that, and our singular purpose now is to build on these good foundations.”

Yesterday, Melbourne programmers for Seven and Nine were also putting up a good fight to The Sunday Herald Sun.

“We don’t like to boast, but it’s fair to say we are very pleased with the result,” Seven’s Melbourne program and communications manager Brad Lyons says. “The fact our top-rating shows are all Australian-made makes me so proud.

“You can’t forget the impact of our News and Today Tonight,” he added. “They have given us a great platform every night.”

But Len Downs, Nine’s head of programming in Melbourne, says Seven’s seeming dominance was misleading.

“To say Seven have won easily shows a lack of understanding of the game,” he says.

“Yes, they won overall, but they have a significant skew to an older demographic. From the start of the year we’ve said our focus will be on the 25 to 54-year-olds, which is the demographic most important in terms of revenue.”

Downs admits Rafters is a significant gain for Seven.

“But we’ve done very well with shows such as 20 To 1 and Farmer Wants A Wife, which give us big numbers in our target demographic,” he says.

But it’s Seven chief executive David Leckie who wins for the quote of the hour.

“We are the only network with hit programs,” Mr Leckie said.

“We lead in prime time and overall. We are dominating Nine and TEN. Nine had 150 hours of Two and a Half Men and 60 hours of Gordon Ramsay to prop it up this year. It won’t next year. I don’t care about TEN.”

Riiiiiiiiiiight…..

Source: The Australian, Sunday Herald Sun