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Channel Nine wins first ratings week

After an extraordinary week of news, programming upheavals and special events, Nine takes victory in the first week of ratings.

underbelly-clareThe Nine Network has officially won the first week of ratings in 2009.

Nine finished with 31.6% ahead of Seven’s 27.5% and TEN’s 20.4%. The ABC had 15.5% and SBS 5.0%.

Nine took out five nights, with Seven winning just Tuesday and Wednesday. It also won three key demographics 16-39, 18-49, 25-54.

Top show of the week was Underbelly with 2.58m viewers, a record for scripted drama or comedy since the introduction of OzTAM people meters in 2001.

But it was a week in which normal programming seemed to go out the window as news of the Victorian bushfires ricocheted throught evening schedules. Extended News bulletins caused daily upheaval to plans from Sunday night onwards. As well as its Australia Unites appeal, Nine also had cricket matches still in play.

Seven’s best was Seven News on Sunday with 1.9m while TEN’s was NCIS with 1.4m. Spicks and Specks took 1m for ABC and Top Gear nabbed 815,000 for SBS.

23 Responses

  1. Once the regular programs come back online I can’t see Nine holding up except for Underbelly. They don’t seem to know what to do that is why Two & Half Men is recycled over and over. Also, I think that Peter Overton will let them down, it was a bad decision to replace Mark Ferguson.

  2. RichoTB, you really only watch the Mentalist? Wow. I watch about 20 shows, but that includes a few shows like south park which are on hiatus at the moment.

    I was in a routine last year of watching heroes villains, despite how boring it was, but then i promised myself to watch the end of the chapter and that’s it. I think the pace and revelations of lost this season are better than the last, which as a whole, i didn’t find as good as other people thought.

  3. The only show I’m watching these days is The Mentalist…I stopped with Lost and Prison Break, the new seasons just didn’t cut it for me, I’m holding out on 24 until the whole season is completely aired, and the new Heroes Fugitives volume is boring, a complete X-Men ripoff. This coming from someone who thought Villains was the best volume to date. Funny how I still find TV News, ratings, etc so interesting when I don’t even watch more than 1 show every few weeks.

  4. Would love to see repeats of “All Together Now”!

    Think about it with the popularity of Packed To The Rafters (Rebecca Gibney) Jane Hall being on Neighbours, Steve Jacobs being on Today show.. People would want to watch it!

  5. @ natasha

    about half the shows i watch are on ten….

    friends (not on but still), rove, dexter, californication (coming back soon), house, law and order SUV, life on mars, etc…

  6. Yeah 7 put on DH & Brothers and Sisters repeats instead of the slated shows on Saturday night. I have seen 4 episodes of Gavin & Stacy on a plane. It was a very funny comedy/drama.

    David…any idea what happened?

  7. i think the week before was a much better indicator of how things will normally be, and 9 came third to 10 and 7 most nights. once the fire coverage and cricket are gone all they are left with is their shows and except for underbelly they just don’t cut it. with underbelly doing so hugely it will probably enable them to come 2nd in the week despite losing other nights to 10 but they certainly won’t keep beating 7.

  8. it’ll be very interesting to see how week 3 turns out without any major “event television”

    sunday could go to anyone it will probably be determined by the news ratings which vary. Monday easily to 9. Tues-Fri will go to 7 good chance 10 will come 2nd on some of those days. and saturday depends what sport/movies are or but 9 will have a leg up with AFHV.

  9. Benno, well said. This has to stop, and now. These totrally meaningless and statistically flawed “ratings” should be taken with a grain of salt, which is actually more than they’re worth anyway.

    Earthquake, they made 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers across two seasons.

    And Jason – “sked”? Oh please. Let’s leave the wanky Variety-speak to Variety 😀

  10. @ Earthquake – Newlyweds was one of Seven’s also circa 93 IIRC in tandem with Hey Dad!

    As for Seven – yes good that they are pursuing an alternative but their Melbourne Sked last night was total crap, hopefully they’ll pick it up next week.

  11. FYI the new Underbelly will be on DVD come May, so if you miss it don’t worry.

    Good win to ch9 winning the week, with a few abnormal events helping them win the night. But with UB having just 11 more eps and no telethons to come plus the cricket ending I think ch7 will still win the year.

  12. Good on Seven for doing something different on Saturdays.

    AFAIK Ten has AFL on Saturdays coming up so hopefully Seven will continue with comedy Saturdays including the very hilarious Not Going Out with Tim Vine and Lee Mack.

    It was great to see those two again on TV after The Sketch Show ended prematurely.

    Hopefully once Fawlty Towers finishes (didn’t they only make 6 episodes of that??) they will put on The Benny Hill Show or Are You Being Served.

    Does Seven still have the rights to their old Aussie sitcoms? It would be good to give them an airing on comedy night – Kingswood Country, Hey Dad, Acropolis Now, Hampton Court, Bullpit. Maybe even some sitcoms from the other channels like Newlyweds (the Australian comedy, not the stupid Jessica Simpson series), All Together Now, Bob Morrison, Sit Down Shut Up.

  13. Very good win to 9. My prediction is that they will just win this week (theyll get Sun, Mon, Thur and Sat with the other days going to 7). Hope Underbelly holds up as it is a great show.

  14. This has to stop – the constant focus on who wins the night/week/year in total viewers. It just further encourages the networks to screw over the viewers even more in the egotistical ‘war’ between each other.

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