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The race that tops the nation

If television were a horse race bookmakers would be losing a lot of money as Seven stays ahead of the pack again last week. At least the winning post is in sight.

It was the week a Pay TV spokesperson called broadcaster feuding “juvenile” while another exec wanted better inclusion at the digital switch table, a TEN programmer conceded it had massive timeslot problems, Nine axed production staff, Sonia Kruger was criticised for an on air joke, a former soap star said he didn’t really enjoy soaps, belated guide amendments left viewers confused, an ABC journo pleads guilty to charges in Singapore, drug charges against a Seven personality were dropped, Seven revisits its C7 case against Pay television, the ABC launches its new morning  programme, a TEN reality show was looking for a new location, basketball associations regroup to seal a Pay TV deal, and we were fascinated as America voted in its first black President. But a horse race beat them all.

Seven finished the week with 30.1% over Nine’s 26.3% and TEN’s 19.8%. The ABC had 18.3% and SBS 5.5%.

Nine won two key demographics, 18-49 and 25-54. TEN won 16-39. Seven won all cities in total people.

As the final weeks of the official ratings year slip away, there is little change to the weekly results. The most significant difference was Seven winning Sunday and Thursday with Nine winning Monday –a reversal of fortunes.

Top show for the week was the race that stops a nation, Melbourne Cup, with 2.15m viewers. Played out of ratings it didn’t factor into evening shares, but it did assist Seven’s Tuesday with a whopping 2.06m for Packed to the Rafters. Once again Seven scored well with Find My Family, The Zoo, Criminal Minds, Seven News, Today Tonight, Home and Away, All Saints, and Better Homes And Gardens. Dancing With The Stars was the top show for Sunday, giving the network an unusual win, but viewers weren’t so taken with The Rich List and a repeat of City Homicide. Some shuffling of Thursday’s line-up angered fans of Prison Break, but secured the night for the network.

Two and a Half Men netted mixed fortunes for Nine. One repeat was its top show for the week 1.49m viewers, while another slumped to 807,000. A new CSI beat City Homicide‘s repeat with 1.31m and helped win Monday. Also high on Nine’s list were 60 Minutes, 20 to 1 and Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Nine News and A Current Affair did manage some nights at 1.2m –but the network now has too many shows, which like TEN, are landing under the 1m mark. Lucky the network is pushing the demographic line. Talladega Nights tanked. Whose idea was that?

Finishing four nights behind the ABC it was another awful week for TEN who must be relieved the end of the year is in sight. NCIS was tops with 1.23m viewers. There was some comfort in Australian Idol‘s 1.21m beating 60 Minutes while Law and Order: CI also netted 1.21m. Rove held with 1m viewers. But Wednesday was dismal, landing behind the ABC and only half of Seven’s audience share. Its top show for the day was the 5pm News. Without a new episode of House, and too many changes at 7:30pm the network slumped –leaving Big Cat Diary to be axed. Essentially, Will and Grace isn’t doing any better or worse than any of the other recent 7pm musical chairs. Rush had 886,000, not triumphant but it’s more than The Strip gets in an 8:30 timeslot on an easier night. There is no good news in the poor lead in Idol gives Good News Week on Mondays either.

Spicks and Specks remains #1 for the ABC on 1.21m. Elsewhere Taggart, ABC News, The 7:30 Report, Australian Story, The New Inventors, Trek: Spy On The Wildebeest, Rough Diamond and The Bill all performed. ABC News Breakfast started out with 12,000 viewers on ABC2 but later in the week it had halved. How long before taxpayers start querying the cost effectiveness of this venture?

Top Gear Australia took 653,000 viewers on Monday, a comparatively good night for the network with 6.8%.

Week 45.

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12 Responses

  1. I have a plan for channel 10: move their top rating program ‘NCIS’ away from direct competition with the highest rating drama for the week ‘Packed to the Rafters’ and the obligatory ‘Two and a half men’. It has to do better against something else. Other than that, maybe they should try shows with more than one word titles (House, Life…)

  2. Seven will never lose.. After the Olympics, all their shows gained viewers and the Network itself has now become unstoppable. Nine should be happy regardless. TEN will be on anti depressants if it doesnt do something.

  3. It’s all in how the people view the ratings. CBS is well known to skew old, but nowhere near as old as 7 (find my family, the zoo, every factual ending with ‘unit’ etc etc). A win in total people in the states is considered good, sometimes a win in the 18-49 is viewed as better, but usually equal.

  4. woah sevens audience are really really old, i thought they were killing in the 25-54 demo but obvisly not. I don’t understand how sevens result in australia is really good but if a US network had the same result it would be considerd terrible

  5. They sure do! These wraps involve a lot of checking and referencing as it is, I’d rather not add to the workload on a Sunday.Plus the opening para would be full of blue links I reckon it would be an eyesore. If you can’t find something best idea is to ask. Readers are good at answering qs too…

    Craig ratings end Nov 29.

  6. David just a suggestion for the weekly wrap-ups, is it possible for each of the stories of the week in your summary to include a link back to the original story? For instance, have “a former soap star said he didn’t really enjoy soaps” link back to its original story. Just so that people, like me sometimes, would like to go back to a story that you’ve highlighted in your weekly recap as they may have missed it during the week. But then, I know that takes time and it’s your weekend as well.. 🙂

  7. v good wrap up david,

    i am so glad that pttr finally broke 2mil again. and it was for a really good ep, i think a lot of the newcomers will be back.

    in the weekly top 100 wil pttr be no. 1, or will it be the cup

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