7TWO: day one
It was 'Time' yesterday. So how did 7TWO fare on its first day?
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Day One for 7TWO was a modest debut -but then, nobody, including Seven execs, was expecting it to make a big splash just yet. It will take some time to create awareness, and its better titles are not until mid-week anyway.
7TWO finished with 1.8% compared to GO! on 4.2%, ONE had 2.1%, ABC2 0.4% and SBS2 0.3%.
82,000 watched the channel launch at 12pm, with 88,000 averaging for the Michael Jackson concert that followed.
But Seven had a huge Sunday share overall.
Seven had a clean sweep of the top five programmes on Sunday night, with The Force #1 with 1.51m viewers. Who would have thought a factual about cops on the beat could be so strong this long after its debut? Or is it that viewers are unhappy with alternatives? It thumped 60 Minutes on 964,000 and Australian Idol on 942,000. Rainforest was even lower on 764,000. Even Who Do You Think You Are? took a slight drop to 382,000 for SBS.
Seven was the only network to pull an audience over 1.1m. While officially it isn’t a long weekend in Melbourne, some viewers may be treating it that way.
Electric Dreams tanked for TEN on just 592,000 -there are two more specials to go. Not enough people seemed to care for the idea of watching Brits doing it the hard way with black and white tellys and a tiny fridge. It’s a long way from the escapism of Merlin.
Wipeout managed 211,000 on GO!
While Nine may have lost its double act lead now that 7TWO is on the scene, even without the new channel Seven would still have won yesterday.
46 Responses
It’s early days. The only thing I enjoyed was Scrubs & Taking of Pelham 123. *cue Kim Beazley theme*
I dislike the cross promotion with the main channel. Can’t they come up with better and totally different imaging for 7TWO than what they have on Ch 7? The onyl thing different is the colour scheme. At least GO! is different to Ch 9.
It was a boring launch.
Could anyone please advise whether the final season of Lost will be shown on 7TWO only and not the regular channel next year?
I really enjoyed the MJ concert, that was a good opener to start with. However I did sit through and watched Tom Arnold junk movie, lol – Hey it was better then the junk that was airing on Go on a Sunday night, but must agree it was a pretty terrible movie, I could have flicked it to 7 but why would I want to watch Bones and Castle or Border security?
I do look forward to Scrubs, so that’s a highlight for me on a Sunday. I’m going to give this channel more chances , only because it’s new and Seven are probably going to tweak it some more.
Still they have some great content in the evenings though, which is what I’m looking forward to this week. Ugly Betty, Heroes and American Gladiators is my top must watch. 🙂
probably not worth the wait by the sounds of last night’s total fizzer – but when is Prime 2 coming???
Just looking at the guide for the next week and I’m happy with what they are showing.
Emerdale (weekdays), Last Comic Standing, Strike Force (Shamrock V Diaz on one of the nights), Seasons 4 of Atlantis and Heroes, Reaper and a few other things will all get air time here and it’s all for free, so I’m not complaining.
Two weeks was not long enough for TV Week to get a new channel into the mag. The guide itself is put together ahead of the main magazine and putting in a new channel would require a redesign of the whole guide. (I’ve worked on guides before and putting them together is an utter nightmare)
TVW have always prided themselves on being the most comprehensive guide, a conspiracy theory is ridiculous. Seven were secretive and so they missed out.
And like David pointed out, TVW covers what sells, which is usually Seven programming.
(PS: I’m not from the mag or speaking on their behalf)
When is Prime getting 7TWO? All my new shows starting back this week and we can’t get them – Ugly Betty, Heroes, The Unit!!! They should show all New episodes when everyone has access to the channel.
‘The Ringer’ in SA started around 15 minutes late!
well, sundays are gonna be movie night on 7TWO while on 7 they have 2 crime shows so at least theres something else to watch instead cause not everyone likes crime shows!
for those complaining, its the first week so give it some time before it gets better. if you think you can do better with the lineup, why not apply for a programmer position at 7 😉
next week they have new Shark and The Unit and at least this week theres returns for Heroes, Ugly Betty and Stargate. plus theres new to FTA – Reaper which would speed up the dvd release. if you say theres nothing good on, that just shows that you watch Too much TV and should be doing something better with your lives!
@Craig: Given that 7TWO’s schedule was out over a week ago that should have been plenty of time to get it into TV Week on sale today. But they are probably not in much hurry to get 7TWO listed seeing that TV Week is connected to Channel Nine!
I don’t read much into the ACP connection, why wouldn’t they want it there? And frankly Home & Away dominates TV Week covers more than any other show. I suspect it is a sign of the times for print media. All these channels are fighting for real estate on one page. TVW recently revamped its guide, and now it is being forced to reconsider it again.
In answer to another question, 7TWO is not block programming like GO! so there is more choice.
Those saying 7TWO is random, has anyone thought how random the main commercial channels are, News, Sport Comedy, Factual programs, Singing Contests. You dont know what to expect? Who would have thought!
I think the idea of 7TWO is exactly that, a second commercial channel with no theme.At all.
And judging by the success of the main commerical channels, its a safe option to success.
Secondly, 7TWO appearing on Prime wouldnt have affected the metro ratings at all even if you did get it.
Electric Dreams was somewhat meaningless. There wasn’t much substance to it. I was expecting a kind of Reality Show, but at one day per year, it’s not really a struggle to survive in a primitive era.
I turned on Channel 10 at 6.30 to see Generation then realised it wasn’t on. I was going to turn off but once started watching Electric Dreams found I was really enjoying it. Not to see how the family coped (couldn’t care less) but just for the nostalgia factor. The Atari, TV, record player and all the furnishings in the house brought back alot of memories. The preview for next week’s show showed the exact Nintendo Game and Watch I still have to this day! Wil watch again.
@craig- just depends on where you are and what guide you get, the one I get has the 7two listings, some will some won’t.
the programming yesterday and today is deliberately rubbish because the real launch is melbourne cup day. they are going to use the massive number of people watching the race to boost awareness. I think they’ll play a 7two ad right before the race to make sure everyone sees it. They might even do a flashforward style watermark during the race itself, but hopefully they realise now how this will annoy people, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
I believe that if daytime counted towards winning the ratings, all networks and channels would improve daytime programming.
Not bad 1.8% for 7TWO considering what was on. 7TWO should do better than GO in the long term though.
Problem with Electric Dreams is some products and aspects portrayed in the show as the 70’s don’t make sense to us as we either never had them – like that bedside coffee maker made in the UK – or had different products here.
Well I’m sticking with GO!! and ONE. Much better options. 7Two…. more like 7Two Late.
Electric Dreams did tank in total people, but it did beat Sunday Night in 16-39. Sunday night had over 60% of the 50+ audience watching, so that’s why the extra total people numbers. In 18-49 it was much closer with Sunday Night getting 376,000 and Electric Dreams getting 355,000 (based on Electric Dreams telecast time). There’s just a lot more older people watching Seven at the moment.
7TWO would rate better if it aired on Prime.
TEN really need Merlin. It would actually boost Idols figure however it works exceptionally well when partnered with MC.
I must have gone blind, I can’t see it!
Oh that’s right, I’m in Tasmania!
Besides the very few programs 7TWO has on mid-week ala Heroes, Ugly Betty, Repear, The Unit, Sopranoes and Six Feet Under the lineup is pretty shocking.
I would appreciate some better daytime lineups but its just a mash of sh!t.
Go has good daytime lineups of older sitcoms and repeats from previous nights etc; Go is programmed in a very superior way to what 7two currently looks like.
Nice start for 7TWO considering the content on yesterday. I guess ONE was helped by the F1 final? And GO! always has a strong Sunday with Wipeout.
But what I find weird is I just picked up TV Week and still no listings for 7TWO in the TV Guide and not even a mention of the new digital channel!
How fare ahead are they printed?
i think i remeber the 7TWO guide having the ringer as a first run movie.
agree though that mchale was a bad choice.
TEN can’t seem to get it right. Electric Dreams is a great concept. Look at how the brit versions of world’s strictest parents on seven still pulled in huge numbers. while it may be in a tough timeslot, under 600k is laughable
I think 9 and 10 viewers have lives and go out when the weather is good. 7’s viewers seek airconditioning.
There was nothing to watch on 7TWO. MJ concert followed by Cheetah Girls, no thanks. Tuesdays where the problem is for me, do we know if 7TWO will be like GO! and repeat shows the next day, cos i really need that option to watch some shows.
OMG 7TWO programming yesterday and last night was appalling – they showed one of the worst movies ever made – McHale’s Navy. Hardly a reason to get excited about the channel and not a very good way to get people wanting to watch the channel
The channel seems really random with its programming – atleast with GO! and ONE you know what you are going to get. I know Seven will say that it wants to compliment its main channel but it is a bit random. Maybe they should rename the channel as 7R.