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Everyone’s a winner, babe.

That’s no lie.

Our big three commercial networks spent yesterday and today talking up their half-yearly performances. They’re all absolute champions when it comes to ratings. They tell us so.

Here’s an excerpt from all three press releases. But first here are the raw figures that matter.

Network Share 2008:
Nine: 27.9%
Seven: 27.6%
TEN: 21.6%
ABC: 17.2%
SBS: 5.7%

18-49:
Nine: 28.7%
Seven / TEN: 27.2%
ABC: 11.2%
SBS: 5.7%

16 – 39:
TEN: 30.3%
Nine: 28.7%
Seven: 26.1%
ABC: 9.3%
SBS: 5.6%

25 – 54:
Nine: 29.0%
Seven: 27.6%
TEN: 24.8%
ABC: 12.8%
SBS: 5.8%

55+:
Seven: 28.3%
Nine: 27.6%
ABC: 25.5%
TEN: 12.2%
SBS: 6.3%

Weekly wins:
Nine: Ten.
Seven: Nine.
Tied: One.
TEN / ABC / SBS: None.

Seven:
The Seven Network continues to dominate Australian television, leading in
breakfast television, news and public affairs, and across the broadcast day (6:00am-midnight).

Seven is also number 1 in the primetime that matters for advertisers: 6:00-10:30pm and dominates the most-watched programmes on television.

City Homicide is the most-watched series on television. Seven dominates the top ten programmes on television – with four of the top five and seven of the top ten series.

This is Seven’s second consecutive year of leadership in primetime, its fifth consecutive year of leadership in breakfast television and its fourth consecutive year of leadership in nightly news and public affairs.

Seven’s primetime share in 2008 surpasses the network’s audience share in 2005 (the year of the first series of Desperate Housewives and Lost), underlining a depth of programming development over the past five years.

Seven’s strong performance comes in a competitive year – underlined by primetime cricket across the opening month of the new television season and the launch of an unparalleled number of new series by other networks.

In 2008, Seven’s primetime audience share across the first half of the television year ranks only behind Seven’s share in 2007 as the network’s best performance since 2003. Nine’s primetime audience share is its second lowest in six years, despite primetime cricket, Underbelly and Gordon Ramsay. Ten’s audience share is behind 2007’s, despite the launch of So You Think You Can Dance.

Nine
As at midnight last night – the halfway point in the 2008 ratings year – OzTAM figures reveal Nine has achieved very significant year-on-year primetime gains at the expense of the Seven Network:

Nine’s substantial turnaround has delivered on the public pledge of returning Chief Executive Officer, Mr David Gyngell, in November 2007 that the network would “lift its game” in 2008 by executing a content-based recovery aimed at winning back the trust and support of its audience across all timeslots and all demographics with particular focus on the 25-54 age group.

The results released today affirm that in the first half of 2008, audiences have responded positively to those changes at Nine.

David Gyngell said today that the outcome thus far was gratifying, and a tribute to the creativity, talent and sheer hard work of the network’s staff across the country.

“But the job is barely started, and we’re working every single day to serve our iewers and to improve our ratings performance. At Nine these days we take absolutely nothing for granted.

That’s our policy. Our opposition is formidable and I respect them. But our fortunes lie in our own hands, and the challenging task ahead is to consolidate this strong first half growth.

“What these figures do say is that Nine has made a good start on its rebuilding, and is very much back in the game, thanks to the strong support and loyalty of our viewers, and our clients.” Mr Gyngell said.

“Our continuing job is to maintain that trust by delivering good, watchable, entertaining and informative programming.” he said.

TEN:
David Mott, TEN’s chief programming officer:
“TEN had a great start to the year with considerable increases in both audience and share across key demographics.

We have reached the half way mark and we’re still in a strong position in our main demographic, 18-49, with audience and share comparable to this time last year. We continue to gain ground [in audience and share] in 25-54 and total viewers.

The big success story so far this year is undoubtedly So You Think You Can Dance Australia, proving viewers have a massive appetite for fresh, feel-good content.

We are also thrilled with the performances of Bondi Rescue and The Biggest Loser. The shows have gained audience on last year, which is encouraging and supports the notion that positive, life-affirming shows are resonating with viewers.

Looking forward, the network will feature a growing line-up of locally produced shows including Kenny’s World, Rush, Taken Out and Bondi Rescue: Bali. Popular favourites Australian Idol, Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader? and the AFL finals month are set to return.

To add to this, we have a much stronger portfolio of US shows from our US output deals with 20th Century Fox and CBS Paramount.

Adults 18-49 remain at the heart of our schedule and we will continue to develop compelling programs that appeal to this demographic.

It is too early to make predictions, however, we are confident that we will remain highly competitive in 18-49, win in 16-39 and continue to grow in 25-54.”

Figures: Ratings weeks 7-28 excl Easter. 6pm – midnight.
OzTAM sourced.

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7 Responses

  1. I find it laughable in the extreme that “Simple” Simon Francis has spent years deriding Ten for recognising 6-10.30pm only and then goes and does it himself because it makes his network look better… hypocrite.

  2. Well clearly Nine are ahead so theirs is the only accurate press release the other two are just network spin. The cream always rises to the top!

  3. It is laughable channel 9 saying that “At Nine these days we take absolutely nothing for granted.” and “thanks to the strong support and loyalty of our viewers, and our clients.” Again, i checked how late their shows started, and tonight the farmer show finished 8 minutes late. Sure, they serve loyalty and are not taking audiences for granted. Yay for the internet.

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