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TEN toughs it out on Monday

Monday night was hard going for TEN, finishing fourth behind the ABC and no show rising above 600,000.

However you carve it up, Monday night was a disaster for Network TEN.

Finishing fourth behind the ABC, the highest audience it could manage was 599,000 for Junior MasterChef.

Despite the lure of a trip to Los Angeles the show finished fourth in its slot beaten by 7:30 and Australian Story. The bad news continued with Undercover Boss Australia (583,000) and the first episode for The Project (571,000). A Law and Order: SVU repeat was 352,000 while Good News World fell to 159,000.

At least Neighbours still topped digital channels on 302,000.

Monday was won by Nine with The Big Bang Theory as the night’s top show on 1.4m. But the show didn’t get underway until around 8:15pm, meaning there will be an adjusted figure to follow. Celebrity Apprentice was again divided into two parts: Challenge: 1.23m, Monday: 963,000. Either way it did good business. Nine News was 1.08m, followed by The Mentalist, also starting late, averaging 1.07m, ACA (847,000) CSI: Miami (Ep 1: 673,000), Hot Seat (555,000) and CSI: Miami (Ep 2: 454,000).

The X Factor was Seven’s best on 1.2m, followed by Seven News (1.16m), Today Tonight (1.1m), Home and Away (977,000), Body of Proof (Ep1: 935,000, Rpt: 504,000) and Deal or No Deal (467,000).

ABC News (911,000) was ABC1’s top performer, followed by Australian Story (851,000), Four Corners (812,000), 7:30 (777,000), Media Watch (748,000) and Q & A (648,000) which was second in its slot.

World News Australia was the strongest for SBS ONE on 210,000. Housos was 180,000 and William Shatner’s Weird or What? pulled 156,000.

Nine Network won its second night of the week with 30.5% over Seven’s 29.2%. ABC was 19.5%, TEN was 16.8% and SBS 4.0%.

It’s worth noting that the night before a public holiday in Melbourne would have contributed to figures that were lower than usual for a Monday -but they are likely to be balanced by higher than usual Tuesday figures, which is the usual trend for public holidays.

This week is also shaping up as one to watch, with Nine leading over Seven. It’s likely that the Melbourne Cup will deliver solid numbers into Seven’s early evening -but now there is no Rafters.

44 Responses

  1. TEN’s almost 20-year long experiment with News @ 5 has failed miserably; they got themselves into this mess but seemingly refuse to acknowledge this and return their news to a 30 min format at 6:00pm, where is should be. The 6:00 to 7:30 bracket is crucial and shoud never be messed with; the programs in each of these slots should be like-for-like; News against News; Current Affairs v Current Affairs; Soap v Soap. Simple, but they never listen. The majority of the workforce is not home until at least 5:30; they need to wind down, they will not commence watching a news service that has already doled out the main news; they will wait until the regular 6:00pm news, which only 7 and 9 provide. In the meantime, while they’re waiting, they can watch something like Deal or No Deal, as you can dip in and out of those shows as and when you want, without really missing anything. Then, after the main news, most viewers appear to stay switched to the channel they are already watching for the (cough) Current Affairs.
    TEN do not have a hope in hell with the current format; they have one piece now finally in place – The Project is now in the correct timeslot; however, it is now being watered down in 60 minute format; 7pm needs Neighbours; 6pm needs the News. Then you can have you It’s a Knockout’s, etc between 5 & 6

  2. Its no surprise that Ten is struggling. It is impossible to win timeslots with repeats, especially an episode repeated for the third time eg SVU.

    In my opinion Ten’s major blunder is airing Ten News at 5 for 1.5hrs. In their infinite wisdom it would appear that this week they have launched a 6pm Bulletin which consists of either Sandra or Bill getting out from under the desk and introducing “6pm News” which is a total rehash of the top stories. This might not be a problem on a big news day but on Monday night a story on Skippy was repeated within 5 mins of it first airing – thought I was suffering deja vu.

    Ten need to go back to an hour long bulletin from 5pm, find something to fill the 6pm slot which is an alternative for those not interested in news, and keep The Project on from 6:30pm.

    They also need to bring back Tens Late News. It outrated everything that replaced it when screened regularly at 10:30pm. Sandra Sully belongs in a late timeslot – its where she thrives & where she has an extremely loyal, national fanbase. News updates recorded 4hrs in advance are ridiculous. Monday night Late News would have had at least double Good News Worlds ratings.

    Come on Ten, reformat the reformat.

  3. @ HB. I know the project is not serious current affairs but clearly the audience is not wanting that. 6.30 with George tried it and it failed badly. Think we can clearly say that quality current affairs on comercial tv has gone forever this is now the role of the abc It’s not all bad news for ten. With just under 600k for 7pm. Ten have increased their ratings significantly between 6.30 and 7 already. I actually have enjoyed the project the last few nights. A good mix of casual presentation and news topics. Charlie is gold for this program. Dave is just not a natural. And George on Monday presented very well given the focus was not entirely on him…well done team. Let’s hope the ratings improve compared to the opposition crap at 6.30.

  4. Watching the “Vote Labor Project” for the first time in ages the disgraceful way they reacted to Steve Price confirming Abbott never had prior Knowledge of the Qantas thing was tantamount to a parliamentary rebuttal.
    This type of News programme should at least pretend to be impartial and not like a meeting of the young Fabian Society.
    Myself like many people I know are sick of the one sided Political agenda offered by Comrade Charlie,Dipsy and the Alfred .E.Neuman (Mad Magazine) lookalike and will need to lift its game if it expects us to digest One hour of propaganda every week day.

  5. I know ten say it’s 5pm news wins its timeslot. But what a nightmare having news at 5pm has created for the network between 6 and 7pm. After over ten years of trying various shows it has just not worked. Should ten go back to a 6 pm news service with other programming between 5 and 6pm? Why are ten showing jeopardy on one? Are they seeing how it performs and thinking about an Aussie version for early evening??? Just starting a rumour!!!

  6. The 7 Pm Project, now know as the project, is Channel 10 at it’s trashiest worst. They’ve had their run, George Negus tried to raise the standard but that failed as Dopey Dave and Clueless Charlie run the program into the ground. The hard-to-remember female (whatever her name is) tries to raise the standard, but face it: Ten viewers find real news – and facts – to be waaaay to hard to grasp. Given they seem to have an attention span that makes a gold-fish look studious, what else does Ten expect? You cannot keep an audience with stale jokes from stale presenters in a stale program from a stale TV channel.

  7. @TVluva, Watching JMC last night or sunday i cant remember , the way George was dressed was disgustimg , unshaven , wearing a track suit top and jeans.I mean at least make an attempt to look half decent on television.To be honest they all just show up and get there pay cheque.

  8. @ TVluva. The graphics on Ten actually make sene, the more brighter appearance is to lure more younger demographic considering that was the aim of the network since the idiot lachlan got in, i must say he has failed misserably Ten would have been fine without him.

  9. 1: Melb Cup will take 7 past the winning post for this week.

    2: All TEN have to do to win the 6.30 time slot is dust the cobwebs off those old eps of It’s a Knockout aka Almost Anything Goes, redress ‘n’ repackage them with some sweet-teenie-tweek-something doing tedious tops ‘n’ tails (“is it your Grandma and Grandpa dressed up as oversized idiots tummy butting everyone in sight? Or is that your Mum and Dad?” (Crowd cheers wildly)

    Then strip same show from 6.30 till 7 weeknights. Will appeal to the TT & ACA junkies who will make the switch. And will cross promote the new show.

    Seriously.

  10. 7pm was a good time for The 7pm Project. In my opinion 6.30 is too early and will be too early for a lot of people, still on the way back from work,the gym,cooking, eating etc.

  11. Seriously doubt if JMC will return next year, the gloss has well and truly worn off that show. There is something disconcertingly bizarre about precocious 10-year-olds discussing the pressure points of a dish and turning out Cordon Bleu style meals. It has started to do my head in and I have switched it off. Also agree that 2.5 hours of current affairs a night is way too much. I doubt whether The Project will stay an hour long show as it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of competing with ACA and TT. Viewing patterns at that time are too deeply ingrained to be changed at this stage.

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