Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings, Aug 11, 2017

Nine’s night, thanks to the revamped AFL Footy Show and the absence of any credible competition on the other channels — although The Bachelor grabbed 1.02 million national viewers for Ten and helped fight off an average offering from the ABC.

A slimline Eddie McGuire returning to The Footy Show’s return was just more of the same — the attempted revamp was an really attempt to recover to past glories. It managed 622,000 national viewers, 381,000 of those in Melbourne. In fact it was all about the Melbourne market — while audiences in Perth (70,000) and Adelaide (78,000) were the best for a year or more, it could only grab 93,000 regional viewers. The NRL game last night (Souths and Canterbury) averaged 213,000 in the regions. In the metros it grabbed 336,000, well behind the 529,000 in the metros – with that boosted by Melbourne. The NRL game managed 786,000 viewers on Nine (579,000) and Foxtel (207,000).

But I reckon Seven would have been quietly happy with The Front Bar figures — 304,000 nationally and 180,000 in Melbourne. Yes, it was easily beaten by Nine’s offering, especially in Melbourne but on a cost to income basis, Seven would be smiling. TV is no longer bigger, better and brighter (and a case of damn the budget) but all about cost to revenue, reach, social engagement. The Front Bar will hang in there, but will the Melbourne viewers return for more of the same helping of the Eddie McGuire they now know so very well?

The big test is who many of last night’s viewers turn up next week and the week after — and past the end of this year, whether Eddie McGuire returns in 2018. He is no longer the fresh-faced former Ten and print journo with a love of Collingwood who fronted the first program back on March 24, 1994.

Network channel share: