Easter viewing: double demerit points for the networks

Go Easter egg hunting and avoid the TV this long weekend, unless it's for sport.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: An ugly night. An exception was the UCI Track Cycling World Championships on SBS TWO.

Nine, Ten and Seven have gone on Easter break early, closely followed by the ABC, it seems. Except for the sport, it’s going to be five boring days, with more to come next week. Double demerit points for the networks (except SBS) I say. Go Easter egg hunting and avoid the TV, unless it’s for sport.

Ten’s The Biggest Loser again confirmed why this series is a dud. The 902,000 in metro market last night was OK and enough to win the full hour (and beat Home and Away in the first 30 minutes in metro markets). Ten put out a statement this morning gloating about this win in metro markets. No mention though by Ten of the national result where Home and Away averaged 1.319 million viewers and The Biggest Loser, 1.224 million.

Tonight: AFL on Seven’s main channels in the south and 7mate in the north, and on Pay TV. Seven has the movie The Queen in northern markets. The ABC starts a three part historical legal re-enactment series, called Australia On Trial at 8.30pm. SBS has its cooking shows, look for Two Greedy Italians at 8.30pm to be the more interesting of the three. Ten has Modern Family repeats at 7pm and 8pm. Nine has The NRL Footy Show in the north. The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are on SBS One and TWO.

Friday: NRL at 4pm and 7.30pm on Nine’s main channel in the north and on Gem in southern markets. Seven has a Telethon in Victoria, Better Homes and Gardens and a repeat of Gosford Park at 8.30pm in the north. Ten has Young Talent Time if you are still interested, followed by three hours of Glee repeats. The highlight is Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries on ABC 1 at 8.30pm. The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are on SBS One and TWO. The US Masters Golf is on ONE early in the morning on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings.

Saturday: NRL on Pay TV. AFL on Seven’s main channels and 7mate and on Pay TV (afternoon and evening). The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are on SBS One and TWO. Movies on Nine, and Seven. The ABC has a fresh New Tricks and the final Spooks. Ten is truly weak. Judge Judy is on at 6pm. No more need be said.

Sunday: Poor dears. Insiders, Offsiders and Inside Business won’t be on the ABC on Sunday. The Bolt Report on Ten is on air, bringing us the latest in the Great Easter Egg warming conspiracy. Meet the Press is also on Ten at 10.30am. Ten has netball at 12pm and 2pm. And then repeats of Modern Family and New Girl after a fresh The Biggest Loser at 6.30pm. Seven has the final Sunday Night for a while at 6.30pm and then a collection of repeats. Nine has a fresh 60 Minutes at 7.30pm and repeats. The UCI Track Cycling World Championships finish on SBS TWO. And later in the night the great Paris Roubaix road race is on SBS ONE. Nine also has NRL in the north and on Gem in the south, as does Pay TV, which also has AFL.

Monday: AFL on Seven and 7mate, and on Pay TV in the afternoon. Repeats at night after Home and Away at 7pm. Ten has a fresh The Biggest Loser at 7pm. Nine has repeats. The ABC has its hours of news and current affairs from 7pm to around 11.15pm. Nine has a fresh Alcatraz, nothing else of note. NRL on Pay TV at night. Don’t forget the Masters golf on ONE in the morning.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

Seven News — 1.684 million
Nine News — 1.543 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.488 million
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.392 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.319 million
ABC News — 1.280 million
The Big Bang Theory ( Nine) — 1.264 million
The Biggest Loser (Ten) — 1.224 million
The Big Bang Theory ( Nine) — 1.216 million
Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation (Ten) — 969,000

The Metro Winners:

Seven News (6pm) — 1.136 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.069 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.039 million

The Losers: Let’s just say Seven and Nine, from 7.30pm and 7pm respectively, and those who watched them.

Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Seven won the rest. A Current Affair won Melbourne and Brisbane. Today Tonight won the rest. Seven News and Today Tonight were again boosted by big margins in Adelaide and Perth where Nine News is on the nose, as well as A Current Affair.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.136 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.069 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.039 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 955,000
ABC News — 924,000
Ten News (5pm) — 615,000
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 610,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 484,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 189,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 171,000
The Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 88,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 82,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 32,000

In the morning: Ten’s Breakfast is still struggling for traction.

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 370,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 333,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 165,000
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 92,000
The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 55,000
News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 40,000 (+22,000)*
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 40,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 29.0% from Nine (3) on 26.5%, Ten (3) on 21.3%, the ABC (4) was on 15.7% and SBS (2) ended on 7.5%. Seven leads the week with 28.1% from Nine on 25.1% and Ten with 22.2%. Main Channels: Nine won with 21.2% from Seven on 18.7%, Ten on 15.0%, ABC 1 was on 11.3% and SBS ONE ended with 6.0%. Seven leads the week with 20.7% from Nine on 19.0% and Ten on 15.8%.

Metro Digital: 7mate won with 5.2% from 7TWO on 5.1%, Eleven on 4.0%, ABC 2 was on 3.1%, GO and Gem were on 2.7% each, ONE ended on 2.3%, SBS TWO was on 1.5%, and News 24 and ABC 3 ended on 0.7% each. The 10 digital channels had a total share last night of a high 28.0%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.2%, from Eleven on 3.6% and 7mare on 3.2%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 23.0% from Nine (3) on 21.0%, Pay TV was third (200 plus channels) with 18.4%, Ten (3) was on 16.9%, the ABC (4) was on 12.5% and SBS (2) ended on 5.9%. The 15 FTA channels had a viewing share last night of 81.6%. The five main channels share was a low 59.5%, the 10 digital channels share was a high 22.1%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox 8 (2.1%)
Lifestyle (2.9%)
TV 1 (2.2%)
Disney Jr. (2.0%)
A&E (1.7%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

Selling Houses Australia (Lifestyle) — 177,200
Storage Wars (A&E) — 100,600
AFL: AFL 360 (Fox Footy) — 88,100
AFL: Open Mike (Fox Footy) — 74,000
WWE Raw (Fox 8) — 71,200

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 30.7% from WIN/NBN on 26.0%, SC Ten (3) was on 19.3%, the ABC (4) was on 14.5% and SBS (2) ended on 9.4%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 20.9% from prime/7Qld on 19.5%. 7TWP won the digitals with 6.6% from 7mate on 4.7% and Eleven on 3.9%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 29.0%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 29.7% from WIN/NBN on 26.1%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

Seven News — 547,000
A Current Affair — 534,000
Nine News — 505,000
Home and Away — 375,000
WIN News — 375,000

Major Metro Markets: Seven won overall in four markets, but not Brisbane where Nine won. Nine won the main channels in Brisbane, Sydney Melbourne and Adelaide. In Perth, Seven won the main channels. 7mate and 7TWO shared the digital channels in all five metro markets. Seven leads the week everywhere. In Perth, Ten is still second and Nine a weak third. Seven will go on to win the week because of the AFL tonight and Saturday night.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports