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Local content king for Seven

It was the week TEN called it quits on Big Brother while Rove McManus scoffed at its demise and Nine said it might be interested, an ABC correspondent was arrested on a drugs charge in Singapore, Neighbours was (again) attacked for Anglo-Saxon casting, a war of words broke out over the price of NRL rights, ACMA slapped TEN over an episode of Californication and a Milo ad, Anna Coren tested for roles with CNN, Seven restructured executive roles, ABC announced a new local drama and the Pope criticised sexual exploitation on TV. It was also the week all our networks were able to agree on Freeview.

Seven won week 29 with a 27.3% share over Nine’s 26.3% and TEN’s 21.5%. The ABC had 17.6% and SBS 7.2% -it’s best this year. This again ties the number of weeks won between the Seven and Nine networks for 2008.

Seven won Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, while Nine won Sunday, Thursday and Saturday. Seven also won all cities except Brisbane, which fell to Nine.

Top show of the week was again 60 Minutes with 1.82m viewers.

Both City Homicide and RSPCA Animal Rescue (1.60m each) led the way for Seven. Locally made content continues to underline the might of Seven’s slate. Other local winners included Border Security, The One, All Saints, Seven News, Medical Emergency (which is surging after being moved from 9:30pm Tuesdays), Today Tonight, Better Homes and Gardens, Battle of the Choirs and Home and Away. But there is a significant drop between Border Security (1.47m) and Surf Patrol (1.16m) before the audience flocks back for City Homicide. On Saturdays The Great Outdoors (828,000) is trailing Funniest Home Videos (1.16m) fronted by its former cast mate. This week there was good news with US crime series as Criminal Minds (1.4m) won its Wednesday timeslot, no walk in the park when it is up against the ABC’s light entertainment. It also won on Monday. But Prison Break did not enjoy the lead-in, plummeting to 635,000. No doubt its die-hard fans were tired of waiting and simply downloaded the rest of the third series. Seven has pushed the show out to 10:20pm in double episodes designed to burn it off. Bones also enjoyed a surge this week, doubtless due to slight alternatives. Seven continues to have problems on Sunday nights which is proving critical as the biggest home audience of the week and a chance to promote its weekly product. No wonder there is talk Dancing with the Stars will move in after the Olympics.

Meanwhile Nine’s Sundays remain its trump card with News, Domestic Blitz, 60 Minutes, CSI Miami and Without a Trace all winning their slots. Other performers for Nine this week included Wipeout, Farmer Wants a Wife, Getaway, Two and a Half Men (both early evening and 8:30pm Tuesday), A Current Affair, National Nine News, Funniest Home Videos, Life of Mammals and Celebrity Singing Bee. Nine was hit hard on Wednesday when it came third behind TEN. Previous favourites Search and Rescue and Fire 000 were thumped by the competition, even behind New Inventors. On Monday nights The F Word was thrashed by Criminal Minds and Elders with Andrew Denton. So far Antiques Roadshow hasn’t been Nine’s saviour against Deal or No Deal, hovering around 550,000 to Deal’s 850,000. It should be noted Antiques’ figure is a one hour average, and in Brisbane Extra is eye to eye with Deal.

Changes to TEN’s Wednesday saw a significant lift with So You Think You Can Dance (US) and Jamie Oliver’s Eat to Save Your Life helping it beat Nine for the night. It will be stronger this week with the controversial Jamie’s Fowl Dinners set to have people talking. But who would have thought TEN’s biggest audience for the week would be 9:30pm Tuesday for a repeat of NCIS (1.28m)? It was a similar story on Thursday when Law and Order SVU was its best drawcard for the night. Rove passed the 1m mark this week, surpassing the Big Brother eviction before it. Dexter is also strong late night on Sundays. But Mark Loves Sharon is dropping, moved to 10:30pm this week. Good News Week may be being bettered by tough competition, but its audience is consistent and pulls well in its demographics. Futurama isn’t working on Thursday nights and is now replaced by the return of Rules of Engagement and, briefly, Back to You. The final Friday Night Live had a strong finish at 1m viewers, more popular with BB fans than the last Big Mouth.

The Hollowmen saw a slight drop in figures (down from 1.18m to 1.04m) in its second week for the ABC. This isn’t unusual and the show was up against TEN’s Jamie Oliver special. Unusually the broadcaster’s biggest shows, Spicks and Specks (1.34m) and The Gruen Transfer (1.31m) didn’t win their slots. Elsewhere this week Doctor Who again beat Big Brother, while Elders with Andrew Denton, The New Inventors, Silent Witness, Spooks, Collectors, Catalyst and The Bill were all strong. Unusually Sunday was the ABC’s weakest night, let down by The Golden Bowl.

Top Gear (922,000) had its second best figure this season, almost matching Big Brother, and pushing SBS to a 9.8% share for the night. Together with Tour de France late nights and World Youth Day coverage in early evenings, SBS had its best week of the year.

Week 29

2 Responses

  1. Sometimes on Sundays I just don’t have time as they take a while to pen (even I need some time off, lol!). In fact I had stopped doing them completely but people asked for their return.

    I sometimes try to get to them later but the ways news works other stories just come flooding in and it has already dropped down the radar by then. At last count I have done 7 of the last 10 weeks.

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