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Anh Does the ratings week

Ratings: Anh Does Vietnam broke every rule in the book by topping the week, while TEN ties with the ABC.

Anh Does Vietnam broke every rule in the book by topping the ratings week.

The travel special was boldly programmed into a prime Sunday slot and romped home with 1.67m viewers. The success sends a clear message to network executives that multicultural television can be a broad commercial success.

Seven won the week while ABC and TEN locked in a dead heat.

Network:
Seven: 31.4
Nine: 26.4
ABC: 18.5
TEN: 18.5
SBS: 5.2

Primary Channel:
Seven: 22.8
Nine: 19.3
ABC1: 14.0
TEN: 12.6
SBS ONE: 4.5

Multichannels:
7TWO: 5.3
GO!: 4.1
7mate: 3.4
ELEVEN: 3.0
Gem: 3.0
ONE: 2.9
ABC2: 2.6
ABC3: 1.0
ABC News 24: 0.9
SBS TWO: 0.7

Nine won 16-39, Seven won 18-49 and both tied for 25-54.

Seven won Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Nine won Thursday. Both tied for Saturday. ABC defeated TEN on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Seven won all five metro cities.

Anh Does Vietnam was 1.67m for Seven then The X Factor (1.51m / 1.46m), Sunday Night (1.5m), V8 Supercars: Bathurst (1.49m), Seven News (Sun: 1.42m, weeknights: 1.08m), Winners and Losers (1.07m), Surveillance Oz (1.05m) and Better Homes and Gardens (1.02m).

60 Minutes (1.22m) was best for Nine then The Big Bang Theory (1.07m), Nine News (weeknights: 1.05m, Sat: 1.00m), Big Brother (Live evictions: 994,000), House Husbands (967,000) and ACA (936,000).

New Tricks (1.08m) led ABC1 followed by Call the Midwife (1.05m), Gruen Planet (995,000), ABC News (weeknights: 979,000), Australian Story (878,000), The Hamster Wheel (827,000) and Rake (801,000).

Underground: The Julian Assange Story scored 1.33m for TEN, well ahead of NCIS (825,000), then Julian Assange: The Real Story (707,000), TEN News (655,000), a Modern Family episode (636,000) and NCIS: LA (625,000).

For SBS ONE the top shows were Coast (348,000), Who Do You Think You Are? (318,000), Survivors: Indestructible Creatures (282,000), Prohibition (262,000) and Insight (258,000).

19 Responses

  1. I am pleased Anh topped the ratings.I Studied Vietnamese History in High School quite a long time ago and when I could as a kid sometimes even stayed up to watch China Beach but nothing really intrigues you about the place till you have been which I had the pleasure of doing at the end of 2009.There are places that must be seen to be believed

  2. The success of Ahn Does Vietnam was not surprising. After all, Seven had great success earlier this year with Billy Connolly’s Route 66 and this was Seven’s attempt at producing a program in the same vein.

    Vietnam has always been a country which Australians have had an affinity with since the war. It has been largely a mystery since the communists took over and I’d long wondered what the legacy of the war was. Until now we’d never seen that presented from an Australian viewpoint. Ahn Do’s personal popularity no doubt helped but the main attraction of the show was how well it was produced and the fact that the viewer was drawn in right from the start and the early momentum was maintained throughout.

    The only low point was – like the Billy Connolly series – it came to an abrupt end when Seven cut off the credits. Hopefully they will release it on DVD and blu-ray so we can see who was responsible for producing such a top rate show.

  3. I’ve read some reviews about Homeland’s second season from other countries that point to it looking a little diluted and stretched out now.
    I think it could turn out to not be the saviour that Ten hope it to be.

  4. Hmm- is it really multi-cultural television David?

    It was a travelogue, hosted by a reasonably well known comedian who was born overseas and speaks with an Australian accent.

    The fact that Border Security goes close to a million up against post League Grand Final hoo-haa (and 1.2m without) says that voyeuristic television designed to appeal to the racists and the xenophobes is a broad commercial success.

    1. I agree it was astutely packed for a Seven audience (the show would have been a lot different had it been made for SBS). But the numbers were so far ahead of the negativity of Border Security that I think it shows an optimistic multicultural tale can attract a broad audience. To me that’s a strong message.

  5. Anh Do was excellent. Bold move from Seven – glad it paid off! Proof that quality TV isn’t dead. (Mind you, Seven are still sticking with that dire talent show).

  6. @Shazz, I’m sure viewers of The Project, Meet The Press, Homeland, Puberty Blues, Modern Family, Offspring, Julian Assange, Etc. wouldn’t appreciate being labelled “the base element of society”.
    It’s great that viewers are supporting the ABC.
    But our public broadcaster does not rely on advertising revenue , therefore, the ratings do not dictate it’s budget.

  7. @squareyes

    The BBC is the unquestioned God of UK television with the BBC taking between 30-35% of the market share depending on year and yet Commercial TV still flourishes. TENs problem is that it appeals to the base element of society, who are fickle and disloyal.

  8. House Husbands sinks.

    @blindowl SBS has always gotten tiny ratings, because they are a niche service. Why should they aim for a broader audience, when they are supposed to be servicing a multicultural audience which isn’t catered for by anyone else?

    Tonight’s ratings shall be interesting. I’m not sure how Ahn Do will do or how Homeland will perform… TEN are really risking their biggest drama title by fasttracking it.

  9. Great achievement for Ahn. He isn’t the highest profile star, but with a shoestring budget, short promotion and no massive fanbase he has achieved what certain other big stars haven’t with massive hype, open cheque books, and strong fanbases. *cough* hamish and Andy.

  10. I don’t know that Anh Doe proves that multicultural TV will always be a success. It was successful because it was a known character with great comedic talent sending himself up slightly whilst telling a story. Most multicultural TV doesn’t try this and is much more politically correct and therefore is unlikely to excite the average punter or the networks.

  11. I disagree, blindowl. I actually think SBS is doing everything right. Their consistently poor ratings is because of norms in society, which disregard SBS as an option for television entertainment. Also, a cycle of poor ratings occurs, when SBS’ only advertising is on their own channel, which only reaches their small yet loyal audience. If Anh does Vietnam was on SBS it would be much lower (e.g. 500 000) but if some SBS shows were on seven, ten or nine they would rate much much higher (e.g. Go Back to Where you Came From broadcast on Nine or even ABC would exceed the magic million mark)

  12. Glad to see TEN is slowly regaining its third place position. Its great to see that ELEVEN and ONE have beaten all ABC multichannels. If TEN treated ONE better by having exclusive premieres in a constant timeslot I have no doubt that it could give 7MATE a run for it’s money – but TEN seem to think constant repeats in primetime slots is acceptable. Will be interesting to see what tonights Super Sunday ratings are like.

  13. You say this programme sends a message to networks about the possible success of multicultural programmes. I agree, and just wish SBS would pay attention. We have a network dedicated to multiculturalism but is getting miniscule ratings. SBS needs a total rethink of its’ programming

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