Disappointments.
The final episode of the The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty (614,000 nationally) — mistitled — the dynasty has risen and is now sinking slowly.
60 Minutes (846,000 nationally) missed its big chance on Sunday night just when the stuttering program had gold fall into its lap with the news Friday of Donald Trump’s COVID-19 infection, and a cover story slotted in from Nine correspondent, Alexis Daish. It was tweaked a little, but someone should have knocked together an updater instead of the second part of the report or the bushfire smoke story.
But no go — 60 Minutes’ demise as a current affairs, even public affairs, program exposed for all to see.
Insiders on ABC TV, 541,000. Down on the previous week but the start of daylight saving, school holidays and a long weekend in some states saw figures across the day and evening fall.
This time last year, the AFL and NRL seasons had finished and we were adrift until 2020, but little did we know that fires and COVID-19 would change everything.
The AFL’s four finals easily outrated the NRL’s four finals — the gap on Saturday was very telling. Friday night’s thriller between the Brisbane Lions and Richmond was watched by 1.23 million on Seven. The Melbourne-Parramatta final in the NRL could only gather 509,000 eyeballs, even though it was played in Brisbane.
The NRL’s highest audience of the four was for the first final on Thursday night — 726,000. Friday night’s audience was top for the AFL. That is bad news for the NRL and Nine.
The absence of a Queensland team means a low figure for the rest of the finals and the grand final, just as the lack of the Sydney Swans and Giants in the finals means lower figures for the AFL.
Nine was an easy winner (with daylight second and third) from Seven (which claims its “spine” did well — that must from from Trump’s medical team), the ABC and a very weak (again) Ten.
In regional markets Seven News, 423,000; The Block — Winner 381,000; The Block, 347,000, Nine/NBN News, 345,000; 7pm ABC News, 332,000.
Network channel share:
- Nine (36.7%)
- Seven (27.6%)
- ABC (16.9%)
- Ten (14.2%)
- SBS (8.4%)
Network main channels:
- Nine (26.0%)
- Seven (14.7%)
- ABC (12.1%)
- Ten (7.6%)
- SBS ONE (5.3%)
Top 5 digital channels:
- 7mate (5.2%)
- GO (4.2%)
- 10 Bold (3.7%)
- ABC Kids/Comedy (2.6%)
- 10 Peach (2.4%)
Top 10 national programs:
- The Block (Nine) — 1.44 million
- The Block (Nine) — 1.33 million
- Nine/NBN News — 1.30 million
- Seven News — 1.30 million
- 7pm ABC News — 968,000
- 60 Minutes (Nine) — 846,000
- Grantchester (Seven) — 660,000
- The Rise of The Murdoch Dynasty (ABC) — 614,000
- NRL — Final 4 (Nine) — 550,000
- Insiders (ABC) — 541,000
Top metro program:
- The Block — Winner (Nine)— 1.06 million
Losers: Seven, Ten. Not trying
Metro news and current affairs:
- Nine News — 955,000
- Seven News — 874,000
- 7pm ABC News – 636,000
- 60 Minutes (Nine) — 609,000
- The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 358,000
- Nine Late News — 292,000
- The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 252,000
- Ten News First — 212,000
- SBS World News — 200,000
Morning (National) TV:
- Insiders (ABC, ABC News ) — 541,000
- Landline (ABC) — 388,000
- Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 385,000
- Weekend Today (Nine) – 374,000
- Offsiders (ABC) — 217,000
- Sports Sunday (Nine) — 162,000
Insiders: I wonder how the ratings will go over the next year. The reason is because Barrie Cassidy knew exactly when to allow an interviewee to speak without interruption and when not to: sign of a professional. Unfortunately that’s an art that David Spears has yet to lean. I find his constant interjections to those he’s interviewing, and worse still, the members of the panel, tiresome to put it mildly.
Agreed. From the first airing of Insiders I was a devoted viewer. Now I don’t bother apart from the final 5 minutes to see Mike Bowers’ cartoon segment.
Speers should adopt the late Mike Willesee’s approach ie: leave silences & allow the politician to nervously fill them. They inevitably hang themselves.
David Spears is quite grating in blocking the free flow of the interview. (Not to the same extent as hyper zealot Leigh Sales. These interviewers should leave it to the viewers to make judgements and simply steer gently the conversations to reveal, as Barrie Cassidy did. No one wants to see impolite, targetted interrogations.
Speers has been a major disappointment, especially after all the hype that preceded him. He and Sales really should have learned by now that they are not the stars of the show. Great to see Stan Grant on The Drum. Question is whether Fanning is just on leave or has been moved elsewhere.