The Winners: From the winners below you’d be hard pressed to work out that it was Nine’s night, which it was, thanks to The Footy Show, which lifted to 973,000 thanks to 200,000 extra viewers for the AFL show in Melbourne (507,000). The 152,000 and 116,000 for the NRL Footy Show in Sydney and Brisbane were higher than in recent weeks, but not the huge lift we saw in Melbourne.

The Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year final on Nine at 7.30-8.30pm averaged 883,000.

Seven’s Beauty and The Geek Australia averaged 804,000. Seven’s Four Weddings averaged 759,000 at 7.30pm.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.216 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.113 million

The Losers: Rush on Ten at 8.30pm, 665,000. Now some of the audience may have been watching the AFL Footy Show in Melbourne, but it’s a low figure. But not as low as Crownies, 489,000 on the ABC at 8.30pm. The repeat of Law & Order: S.V.U at 9.30pm on Ten for two hours from 9.30pm, 410,000. That’s a weak effort.

News & CA: Seven’s giddiness at its second 6pm News win this week in Sydney on Wednesday evening was quickly replaced last night. Nine News beat Seven News by 78,000 in Sydney. But Seven News beat Nine  News by 68,000 in Melbourne and a big 67,000 in Brisbane. Seven News had bigger wins in Adelaide and Perth, but Sydney is the market that matters.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.216 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.113 million
  3. Nine 6News (6pm) — 996,000ABC News (7pm) — 918,000
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 872,000
  5. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 750,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 689,000 (+ 21,000 on News 24 simulcast)
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 539,000
  8. 6.30 With George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 398,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 201,000
  10. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (11.30pm) — 173,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 162,000
  12. SBS News (9.30pm) — 131,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 90,000 (+ 35,000 on News 24 at 8.30pm)

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 368,000
  2. Today (Seven) (7am) — 318,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 32.1% from Seven (3) on 27.7%, Ten (3) was on 21.0%, the ABC (4) was on 14.4% and SBS (2) ended on 4.9%. Seven leads the week with 31.2% from Nine on 26.6% and Ten on 22.1%.
  • Main Channel: Nine with 25.9% won easily from Seven on 18.8%, with Ten on 15.0%, ABC 1 was on 10.8% and SBS ONE ended with 4.1%. Seven leads the week with 23.6% from Nine on 20.1% and Ten with 15.6%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won with 5.1% from Eleven on 4.5%, with 7mate on 3.7%, GO was on 3.5%, Gem was on 2.8%, ABC 2 was on 2.3%, ONE ended on 1.5%, SBS TWO was on 0.8% followed by News 24 with 0.7% and ABC 2 was on 0.5%. That’s a FTA viewing share last night of 25.4%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.2% from Eleven on 3.9% and GO on 3.7%.

Pay TV: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 26.4%, from Seven (3) on 22.7%, Ten (3) was on 17.2%, pay TV (200-plus channels) won with a share of 15.3%, the ABC (4) was on 11.8% and SBS (2) was on 4.0%. The 15 FTA channels had an 84.7% share of TV viewing last night. The 10 digital channels had a share of 22.1% and the five main channels had a 62.6% share.

The five top pay TV channels last night were:

  1. Fox 8 (3.29%)
  2. Lifestyle (2.54%)
  3. Nickelodeon (2.43%)
  4. TV1 (2.3%)
  5. Crime and Investigation (2.12%)

The five most-watched pay TV programs were:

  1. AFL: AFL Teams (Fox Sports 1) — 110,000
  2. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 88,000
  3. Australia’s Hardest Criminals (Crime and Investigation) — 81,000
  4. Eastenders (UKTV) — 78,000
  5. Glee (Fox 8) — 78,000

Regional: WIN/NBN (3 channels) won with a share of 33.2% from Prime/7Qld (3) on 27.4%, SC Ten (3) was on 21.1%, the ABC (4) was on 13.7% and SBS (2) ended on 4.6%, WIN/NBN won the main channels with 24.7% from Prime/7Qld on 18.0%. 7TWO won the digits with 5.1% from GO on 4.7%, 7mate on 4.4% and Eleven on 4.3%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA viewing share last night of 28.5%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 31.2% from WIN/NBN on 29.1%.

The five most watched TV programs in regional markets were:

  1. Seven News — 464,000
  2. ACA — 452,000
  3. Nine News — 447,000
  4. Home and Away — 403,000
  5. Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year — 320,000

Major Markets: Nine’s night with wins overall and in the main channels in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven won overall in Perth, but Nine won the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Eleven won Brisbane and 7mate won Adelaide. Seven leads Nine and Ten in all five metro markets.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Nine won easily thanks to The Footy Show and the final Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year, which stabilised around the 850,000 to just over 900,000 level, which is OK for a Thursday night. But it lost ground over the series.

The top five programs nationally last night were:

  1. Seven News — 1.751 million
  2. Nine News — 1.495 million
  3. Home and Away — 1.451 million
  4. Today Tonight — 1.407 million
  5. The Footy Show — 1.375 million

A long weekend in some states with the AFL and NRL grand finals and the return of the annual moaning about daylight saving, which starts on Sunday.

Tonight: No football, except in Melbourne where preparations are under way for tomorrow’s festivities. Seven has Better Homes and Gardens. Nine has a black hole from seven o’clock. Ten has a black hole as well from 7.30 for two hours with The Renovators: that’s in non-AFL states. In AFL markets it has two hours of Before The Game from 8.30. The ABC is an oasis of culture with Scott and Bailey and later Bored To Death. The ABC also has the worst bit of TV this week at eight o’clock called My Family. Pay TV has the Rugby World Cup

Saturday: Ten has the AFL. It’s got wall-to-wall programming for its last AFL coverage for at least five years, from 10am to 6pm. But no after the game coverage. Strange. The ABC has Monroe at 8.30pm after Dr Who and then Dr Who Confidential, which is being axed for the new series now under way in the UK. Nine has movies and a Rugby World Cup match at 11.50pm (England versus Scotland). Seven has movies and dreams of next year and five years of AFL grand finals to itself. Pay TV has the Rugby World Cup. Nine shows Australia versus Russia live just after midday because there’s no reason not to.

Sunday: The NRL grand final on Nine. It has coverage from noon to 7.30pm — then it has 60 Minutes and Underbelly: Razor. Ten has Junior MasterChef which should shine like a beacon next to the premiere of Terra Nova at 8.30pm, which is Jurassic Park meets Area 9 meets Lost. Seven has Sunday Night, Wild Boys and a repeat of Bones. ABC has Grand Designs and The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Pay TV has the Rugby World Cup with the pool matches finishing this weekend.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports