The lower rating summer is well and truly here

Bluey rounded up 428,000 for the morning fresh ep and 271,000 for the repeat later on — 699,000 in total. Still ruling!

With 827,000 nationally, the ABC’s Hard Quiz was the most watched non-news program, followed by Gruen with 805,000. 

The ABC is doing what a TV network is supposed to do — program new content that viewers can sample and settle down with. Nine, Seven and Ten are in summer mode — Ten to conserve cash until early January when I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here starts its 2022 season, Seven until the cricket starts next week and it can send everyone off on holidays and save money, and Nine until the tennis starts early in the new year.

The weak programs and repeats now on the main channels of Nine, Seven and Ten was underlined last night by the ratings (and not for the first time either). The figures show that the number of people not watching the three main channels and watching either the ABC or SBS (in all their channels) or the digital channels of the networks (such as 7TWO, 10Bold and Gem) was considerably more… yet it’s the main channels where the networks still make most of their money, even in low rating summer. 

You’d have to think there are a lot of advertisers who have signed off for Christmas early, but it happens every year. The share of viewers watching all digital channels last night (including those at the ABC and SBS) was just over 38%. Once you strip out the 2.5 million or so watching Seven and Nine’s 6 to 7pm news broadcasts, the post-7pm audience watching the three commercial main channels at the moment is not very big at all.

Overall, Nine’s night from Seven, the ABC and a very weak Ten.

Regional top 5: Seven News, 545,000; Seven News 6.30, 522,000; 7pm ABC News, 319,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 311,000; ACA, 299,000.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (29.0%)
2. Seven (24.7%)
3. ABC (19.6%)
4. Ten (16.3%)
5. SBS (10.4%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (19.1%)
2. Seven (16.9%)
3. ABC (13.8%)
4. Ten (7.7%)
5. SBS ONE (5.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 10 Peach (4.1%)
2. Gem (4.0%)
3. 10 Bold (3.8%)
4. 7TWO (3.5%)
5. ABC Kids/Plus (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.487 million
2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.421 million
3. Nine News — 1.102 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.092 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 953,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 945,000
7. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 827,000
8. Gruen (ABC) — 805,000
9. 7.30 (ABC) — 773,000
10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 767,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers.

Losers: Anyone watching the commercial main channels last night.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 941,000
2. Seven News 6.30 — 899,000
3. Nine News — 820,000
4. Nine News 6.30 — 813,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 654,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 626,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 514,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 333,000
9. Ten News First — 283,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 199,000

Morning (national) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) — 452,000/274,000
2. Today (Nine) — 310,000/205,000
3. ABC News Breakfast (Nine) — 309,000/194,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) —210,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) — 138,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 38,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

1. Love It or List It Australia (LifeStyle) — 79,000
2. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 53,000
3. Credlin (Sky News) — 39,000
4. Chris Smith Tonight, The Kenny Report (Sky News) — 38,000