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Fortune smiles on Nine as TEN tumbles

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It was the week the axe fell, on Nine’s Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune and, at least temporarily, Seven’s Ugly Betty, Schapelle Corby captivated our imagination once more, the BBC took hold of UKTV, Seven bought a 10yr old Gordon Ramsay series and won a case against the ACCC, Sam Newman returned to the Footy Show, Nine said it would stay put at its current properties, TEN News returned to Perth studios, iTunes added Aussie TV, and TiVO’s price was revealed at $700.

But as the axe swung on Wheel of Fortune, there was better news. Nine has taken out Week 26 with a 28.8% share over Seven’s 27.7% and TEN’s 19.9% -it’s lowest survey share this year. The ABC had 17.5% and SBS 6.0%.

Nine won Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Saturday and tied with Seven for Wednesday. Seven also won Tuesday and Friday. Nine won Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven won Perth.

Top show of the week was Seven News (Sun) with 1.77m viewers.

Nine’s Schapelle Corby documentary underpinned the network’s win. The first episode rated 1.61m viewers, only surpassed by 60 Minutes’ 1.76m. The excellent doco helped reaffirm Nine’s brand, somewhat tarnished this year by 60 Minutes’ cross promotions stories at the same time as Seven News has boomed. The second episode dipped to 1.27m but it was enough for A Current Affair to file another story on the saga. Nine’s other top shows this week included Domestic Blitz, the final Sea Patrol, Getaway, Bear: Spy in the Woods, Search and Rescue, Fire 000, Two and a Half Men and National Nine News. Sam Newman’s return to the Footy Show saw the combined AFL / NRL figures lift from 895,000 to 1.17m. 10 to 1 and especially Deadly Surf were thumped by Australia’s Got Talent. Both have been replaced. Fridays continue to be the network’s weakest link.

Seven News continues to lead its network’s successes. The Sunday edition (1.77m) was the top show of the week, and all other editions topped every other weeknight except one –which was only bettered by Australia’s Got Talent (1.73m). Also strong were Border Security, Better Homes and Gardens, Today Tonight, Surf Patrol, Battle of the Choirs, All Saints, Gladiators, Grey’s Anatomy and Home and Away. Once the “beautiful Sunday” hope of the network, Ugly Betty was third behind the ABC, resulting in the network pulling remaining episodes after this week. Medical Emergency scored a tepid 836,000 but Seven knows it will pull stronger figures when it joins RSPCA Animal Rescue in Betty’s old slot next week.

TEN has slipped below the 20% barrier for the first time this year, beaten by the ABC on three nights. Star performer NCIS (1.47m) is essentially the only show that gives the other networks grief in terms of total people. Next best were The Simpsons, Law & Order: SVU, Big Brother (eviction), Good News Week and Medium. But the daily Big Brother slipped as low as 694,000 on Friday –is this a record low? Supernatural’s poor faring doesn’t bode well for the forthcoming Dexter, while Monday nights are so slight that Mark Loves Sharon has a tough fight ahead.

ABC might have been down on its 2008 high last week, but it was still strong. Spicks and Specks (1.3m) and The Gruen Transfer (1.18m) beat everything in their timeslots (a good sign as Hollowmen nears). Other hits included ABC News, Wild China, Elders with Andrew Denton, The New Inventors, Silent Witness, Spooks, and The Einstein Factor. The 7:30 Report is doing very nicely thankyou but Q+A is sinking fast.

Top Gear’s excellent 928,000 spearheaded Monday as SBS’ best night.

Week 26

8 Responses

  1. I know it can be confusing. It’s just that in the U.S. now all media reports on the ratings include the 18-49 figure as being equally important to the total people figure because that is the only demographic advertisers care about, so it makes sense to report those figures as well.
    Here in Australia, SEVEN and NINE focus on the 25-54 demographic, and TEN only care about the 18-49 primetime (6pm-10.30pm) commercial share because that’s the focus of their business…and that’s where most advertiser dollars are spent, which is the whole point of ratings anyway.

  2. You’re right they are the focus of my site. I think, on the whole, viewers / readers are more interested in overall figures while advertisers are focussed on demographics. I realise that isn’t always the way TEN would like to see it, but total figures is standard across most media ratings articles.

    Actually not all the networks supply the same info so it’s crucial I have consistent info. For that reason state figures are also not published here. If you want to start emailling me demos on Sunday mornings for all five networks I’ll give it some thought.

    On Monday TEN supplied the following:

    Five networks
    6pm-midnight
    Network 18-49 16-39 25-54 Ppl 50+ Ttl Ppl
    TEN 25.5% 28.8% 22.7% 10.9% 19.9%
    Nine 28.8% 28.5% 29.7% 29.2% 28.8%
    Seven 27.4% 26.3% 27.8% 28.2% 27.7%
    ABC 12.0% 10.0% 13.5% 25.4% 17.5%
    SBS 6.3% 6.4% 6.3% 6.3% 6.0%

    Again it’s a lot to take in which is why total figures will always be my focus.

  3. While total people figures are the focus of your ratings reports, David, I would love to read at least a mention of the demographics for each network. All networks report demographics in their press releases…and while it is a nice ego boost for a network to win in total people, it actually doesn’t mean alot to an advertiser when they target a particular audience for their product.
    I’m just suggesting, that to be fair, wouldn’t it be nice to include some demographic results when reporting the ratings results each week?

  4. Nine are powering ahead and look like possibly winning the year. They really do have the best shows so it’s not surprising. Should easily win next week too with the SOO decider and also the legends game on Tuesday night.

  7. Nine are going to be hit hard next week with Sea Patrol and one of their beloved Ramsay shows getting sunk to hiatus status. Sadly, that Farmer dating show and Celebrity Singing Bee are likely to be adored by the masses of unintelligent drones who will watch anything Nine drops in a primetime slot.

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