Election ’07: The Chinese are happy. A full two page spread about the election, Rudd’s background, Chinese family connections etc featured in a local Chinese rag. Very well received by, and important to, the locals. — Chris Caffin, Shenzhen, China

 

 

Insiders has Sunday covered in election wash-up. After losing badly on Saturday night, Nine suffered further ignominy Sunday morning as Sunday was beaten soundly by Insiders from 9am to 10am. Seven’s Weekend Sunrise easily won the Sunday morning battle (527,000) but Insiders averaged 335,000 to claim a clear win over Sunday, which averaged 283,300 from 9am to 10am. Sunday’s audience did jump after Sunrise finished at 10am and averaged 333,000 for the two hours, which is its highest audience for sometime. Ten’s Meet The Press also had high numbers with 136,000 from 8am. — Glenn Dyer

Finale can’t boost fading Idol. A moderate performance from Australian Idol on Sunday night, but the series final failed to set TV sets on fire, rating little better than the performances on the previous Sunday. The verdict segment averaged 1.450 million, compared to 2.107 million last year, and the winner’s segment averaged 1.447 million, compared to 2.189 million last year. The Opera House performances from 7.30pm to 9pm averaged 1.295 million, which was also lower. So it’s no wonder the Ten Network didn’t make the comparison in yesterday’s press release: the days of huge audiences above 2 million viewers are clearly long gone. Nine’s 60 Minutes had more viewers from 7.30pm to 8.30pm (1.358 million), but Ten narrowly won the night from Nine and Seven in metro areas. In regional areas, Seven won narrowly from Nine with Ten running third. The three Idol programs all finished in the metro top 5 (Seven News was No.1), but in regional areas Idol’s verdict and winner segments could only manage 7th and 8th. It was a continuation of the most curious factor in TV this year: the way regional TV viewers rejected Idol, compared to its relative success in the cities. Over 2007, the key Sunday night performance eps averaged 1.37 million people, down 270,000 people or around 16%. It’s for that reason that Idol will be changed dramatically next year to lower costs. — Glenn Dyer

Last night’s TV ratings
The Winners: Border Security was first with 1.803 million (up on recent weeks), then Surf Patrol with 1.598 million at 8pm and Home And Away with 1.475 million. Criminal Minds was next with 1.369 million, followed by Seven News (1.343 million), A Current Affair (1.303 million), Nine News (1.295 million), the 7pm ABC News (1.274 million), Today Tonight (1.235 million), The 7.30 Report (1.020 million for its take on the election result), Who Wants To be A Millionaire (1.019 million) and Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope with 1.019 million for an excellent interview with Jerry Seinfeld and an even better segment with three butchers. The repeat of Mythbusters on SBS at 7.30pm, 368,000 and fading.

The Losers: Ten. Neighbours was the peak at 6.30pm with a very good 929,000 viewers, followed by the News at 5pm with 890,000. It just scraped home in third, but only averaged a 15.3% share in Sydney, which put it fourth behind the ABC. A repeat of Antiques Roadshow (700,000) beat Seven’s Deal or No Deal (684,000) at 5.30pm for the second time in a week.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne and Brisbane. Today Tonight lost overall to ACA and in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. TT was very weak in Melbourne. The ABC 7pm News and 7.30 Report had probably their best night for weeks, if not months, with both over the million mark. Lateline was solid with 462,000 and Lateline Business averaged 164,000 (Enough Rope‘s good numbers helped). Ten News averaged 890,000 and the Late News/Sports Tonight, 363,000. Nightline, 200,000. SBS News, 179,000 at 6.30pm; 144,000 at 9.30pm. 7am Sunrise, 478,000, 7am Today, 264,000.

The Stats: Seven won with a share of 33.4% (34.3% a week ago) with Nine second on 25.6% (28.3%), Ten on 17.8% (17.0%), the ABC on 17.2% (14.3%) and SBS on 5.9% (6.1%). Seven won all five metro markets and leads the week 29.0% to 25.8% for Nine. In regional areas a closer result with Prime/7Qld on 31.4%, WIN/NBN on 28.3% for Nine, Southern Cross (Ten) on 17.3%, the ABC on 15.0% and SBS on 8.0%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Today Tonight started the week on the wrong note, losing to ACA nationally with Karl Stefanovic in the chair instead of Tracy Grimshaw. Is that what we will see in 2008? Enough Rope stood out last night, as did The 7.30 Report. I can hardly wait until Thursday to see if Clarke and Dawes have worked out Kevin07, or whether they tackle Howard’s End. Tonight on Seven it’s the final of Dancing With The Stars and Ten has an interview with the world’s most over-hyped sporting talent, David Beckham, and the match between Sydney FC and his LA Galaxy. Don’t expect much from the interview, there are a number of restrictions on it. Last week’s Beckham doco on the ABC sank without much of a trace and the soccer game in Sydney tonight maybe a sell out but it is not a significant event, despite what Ten’s on air promos try to tell us.

Source: OzTAM, TV Network reports