Reports are flying fast and thick about the impending demise of state-based 7.30 shows the ABC airs on Friday nights. Last week, Fairfax’s Michael Lallo reported the ABC was considering killing the shows and replacing them with a national news-chat program similar to The Project. Yesterday, The Guardian‘s Amanda Meade reported that a 10-minute state news segment would be added to the Sunday night line-up by way of replacement.
The loss of the local editions of 7.30, which used to be called Stateline, have prompted a fierce reaction, and a look at the ratings helps reveal why. Last week, the Friday-night state shows were more popular than the national edition fronted by Leigh Sales in three of the five cities measured by OzTAM ratings data. The national version out-rated the local show in Sydney and Melbourne, where most of the news in the daily version of the show takes place anyway.
The state-based 7.30 shows were more popular than the national one in cities with a single daily local newspaper, like Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
In the past week, the Monday-to-Thursday episodes of 7.30 averaged 92,500 viewers a night in Brisbane, with a high of 102,000 viewers on Tuesday night, which dropped to 80,000 on the Thursday night. The Friday-night state version, hosted by Matt Wordsworth, rated better than the average — 97,000 viewers. In Adelaide, 7.30‘s average viewership was 71,000 (with a high on Monday and Tuesday night of 75,000 dropping to 65,000 by Friday). South Australia’s 7.30, fronted by Simon Royal, had 76,000 viewers. In Perth there were on average 73,250 viewers of 7.30 Monday to Thursday, and 73,000 for the Friday local version, hosted by Andrew O’Connor.
In Sydney and Melbourne — cities served with two daily local papers and a range of alternative and independent media outlets — the national edition trumped the state one. In Sydney, Australia’s most competitive media market, the Monday-to-Thursday 7.30 averaged 223,750 viewers last week — which is significantly higher than the Friday local program, which had only 130,000 viewers despite being fronted by journalistic heavyweight Quentin Dempster. In Melbourne, 7.30 had an average of 240,000 viewers Monday to Thursday, while last Friday’s version of the show, hosted by Josie Taylor, had 177,000 viewers.
Friday nights rate poorly across the board. They’re the second-weakest night of the week at most broadcasters, and the audience skews old. So the state-based 7.30 shows’ strong ratings are all the more remarkable — and they pick up a few more thousand viewers as well on News 24 on Friday nights and over the weekend when they are repeated (The figures above are for ABC 1 Friday night ratings and don’t include the repeats. They also don’t include regional ratings or those of Canberra and Hobart). Of course, this isn’t a perfect comparison of like and like. But the fact that the more poorly resourced, local alternative rates so well says something about the demand for ABC TV coverage of local affairs, particularly in cities where there are not many media alternatives.
In Queensland, we rely on Friday’s 7:30 to report on the Queensland Government’s latest shenanigans. Matt Wordsworth does a sterling job of reporting the facts without the spin,and is fearless in asking the hard questions.
7:30 Friday is the only source of Queensland-based unbiased media coverage, given that the Courier Mail, our only daily paper, is in Murdoch’s stable. Maybe this is why the Abbott Government is so keen to see the local 7:30’s demise.
So someone has worked out that Leigh Sales is not actually the doyen of broadcast journalism many people rate her to be. Well knock me over with a feather.
And 730 doesn’t rate. Knock me over with another feather. Of course, her hectoring left wing bias has nothing to do with it. After all, an independent review of left wing bias on 730 will find none.
It’s just dang awkward that people don’t watch anymore. Except in Sydney and Melbourne of course because these two cities have the concentration of inner urban elites who love Leigh Sales’ editorial slant.
More reruns of “The Hanster Wheel”?
@suzikue, you are spot on, in a Queensland, where we are inundated with News Limited and Fairfax (currently infested with ex News Limited employees), where the southern shock jocks are rebroadcast daily on regional radio, we need the local ABC 730 Report now, more than ever.
As to the Monday to Thursday version, after Ms Fergusion left, the fire has gone out in the belly.
Pity you don’t have figures on the Canberra program. It is a gem, not so much current affairs as a quirky look at all sorts of odd areas of our community and its history. There’s nothing else like it on local TV.