Nine hearts a ratings win

Channel Nine has won the first week of 2008 ratings.

Nine took out the week with a 28.7% of the audience, over Seven’s 27.2% and TEN’s 22.5%. The ABC had 16.4% and SBS on 5.3%.

Nine won Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and all cities except Perth. All else fell to Seven.

But what a mess was the last seven days! It was the week a court shot down Nine’s best ratings hope and saw Victorians turn ‘criminals’ just to see the show about big crims. Both Eddie and PM Rudd said “sorry.” Seven rested on its 07 laurels only to find the audience didn’t, and TEN was beaming over some surprise hits.

With the exception of So You Think You Can Dance and One Day Cricket, Aussies are still enjoying their summer and watching less telly than in 07.

Nine should be saying “we heart cricket” after One Day Cricket delivered what Underbelly couldn’t. It was their top performer for the week (Friday and Sunday). National Nine News and CSI also charged. Despite no Melbourne audience, Underbelly was first in every other city on Wednesday, had it enjoyed the hometown crowd it would have easily topped the 2m mark. Also strong were the dependable RPA, plus A Current Affair, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, A Year with the Royal Family, CSI: NY and CSI: Miami. Upstaging many of Nine’s regulars was Kitchen Nightmares USA, which has grown beyond a cult audience despite erratic scheduling by Nine. It outperformed The Chopping Block which had a modest rise to 1m viewers, following several encore screenings and lighter competition. Meanwhile, Monster House had a dismal first outing at only 793,000 viewers. Could Nine move it to a “family friendly” weekend slot? Sans Ray Martin, the early morning Sunday was whipped by Weekend Sunrise, more than three times its audience. Also under performing are Getaway, Australia’s Funniest Home Videos and Two and a Half Men. Can Nine ‘fast-track’ Temptation?

Seven’s top figure was also for News. And in its 20th year Home and Away is still strong, thanks to the ‘Milco’ storyline. The Zoo had a strong premiere too. Also at the northern end of Seven’s show were The Force, Grey’s Anatomy, Better Homes and Gardens, RSPCA Animal Rescue and Desperate Housewives. Dirty Sexy Money had an ok debut against tough competition. More concerningly, most of the network’s best figures lagged behind star performers of 2007. Both Border Security and It Takes Two were down on season averages. As a result the network has scrambled to air an “encore” episode of ITT and has a behind-the-scenes support act ready for 5pm next Tuesday. The Real Seachange underperformed at 1m also resulting in a repeat. On Thursday, both The Amazing Race and Out of the Question were lowly.

TEN is grinning from ear to ear with So You Think You Can Dance Australia, the first official hit of the year and the week’s #1 show. It is dominating the Sunday and Monday slots so far and expected to build. Against reality and observational genres, sitcom Back To You also launched strong. Thanks to Melbourne, House held its own against Underbelly. Bondi Rescue, Law & Order: SVU and Medium did well. Women’s Murder Club enjoyed a healthy debut and Good News Week was well received –but TEN saw a big drop off when Supernatural even after a cheeky cross-promo. Both will benefit from an earlier timeslot from this week. Potentially living up to its title is The Biggest Loser, which already has its work cut out. No special performances by Burn Notice, Numb3rs, Saving Kids with Damien Leith.

ABC’s top shows were ABC News, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, Doc Martin, Spicks and Specks and Dalziel and Pascoe. This year Robin Hood appears to be a little off target against stiff competition.

Top Gear was SBS’ best followed by Who Do You Think You Are.

Week 7