Another weekly ratings win for Nine

Yet
another weekly ratings win to the Nine Network as Seven’s dancing-inspired challenge
flicked and then died on the back of some average Thursday and Saturday
night programming.

Seven
won Friday night but it was nowhere near enough to put it back in the game, specially with the cricket from Brisbane doing
the job for Nine and delivering good audiences on Thursday, Friday and Saturday
nights.

The cricket averaged 784,000 people on Saturday, providing Nine News –
especially in Sydney and Melbourne – with a solid platform. Nine
won the night with a national share of 30.2% to 25.9% for Seven, 19.8% for Ten, 17.6% for the ABC and 6.3% for
SBS.

For the
week, it was a clear win to Nine – 29.5% to 27.6% for Seven,
22.1% for Ten, 15.8% for the ABC and 5.0% for SBS. Once again Nine’s clear programming
ability and inventory of good local and international second-rung programs
beat Seven.

Last night’s TV
ratings

The Winners Nine and no relief for Seven as it tried comedy on a Sunday
night for the third time this year. And failed again. But the use of a concocted
local and British Comic Relief special last night wasn’t as bad as Let Loose Live
earlier this year. Nine won with a new episode of CSI (1.687 million), 60
Minutes (1.581 million) and Nine News (1.454 million). The performance episode of
Australian Idol did 1.430 million, up 200,000 on the previous Sunday,
but with well under the two million plus audiences of this time a year ago.
Celebrity Overhaul was 5th with 1.208 million people. Seven
News was the network’s best with 1.189 million and it was all downhill from there. ABC News
at 7pm was the best for the national broadcaster with 1.031
million.
The Losers Seven for the underperformance on the night,
again. Comic Relief averaged 945,000 from 7.30pm to 10pm. OK, but nowhere
enough to make the network competitive. Billy Connolly’s tour of New Zealand did
as expected – poorly (watched by 591,000 from 10pm to 11pm). Ten’s version of
Australia’s Brainiest Kids averaged 890,000. Elvis: the Early Years followed Idol’s “Elvis” impersonations and more than half a million
viewers dropped out having preferred the impersonations. Einstein Factor‘s penultimate episode on the ABC fell to just 717,000 –
around 200,000 or more under recent levels. A victim of daylight saving?
News & CA Yes, Sunday night and Nine News and 60 Minutes won easily. But Ten will be very happy that Idol accounted for 60 Minutes in Sydney,
probably its most notable victim so far. In fact Idol topped the night in Sydney
for Ten. The ABC News at 7pm with 335,000 viewers beat Seven (257,000) in
Sydney. Earlier, the Sunday program with 341,000 was shortened for the
early start of the cricket. Weekend Sunrise was watched by 295,000 and followed the
Rugby Union test between Australian and France. TheInsiders on
the ABC had 165,000, Business Sunday had 164,000, Inside Business on the
ABC had 94,000 and Ten’s Meet The Press had 70,000.
The Stats Nine won with a share of 31.3% to 25.5% for
Ten, 22.1% for Seven, 16.0% for the ABC and 5.1% for SBS. Nine even won Perth
from Seven – Idol just wasn’t popular there for Ten.
Glenn Dyer’s
comments		 Even though the cricket
finished early at 3.30pm, its audience averaged 730,000, thanks to the decision
to go live in Brisbane from the start of play with the Windies looking like
losers. The Nine commentary team ignored the fact that the ground was populated
with just 5,000 people. Tonight the question is how many people will watch the verdict
episode of Idol on Ten? Not as many as last night. Grey’s Anatomy on Seven will
do well, as will The Great Outdoors. Nine has SuperNanny, Who Wants to be a
Millionaire? and Cold Case. 24 on Seven at 9.30pm will not do the
numbers for Seven but it’s nice to see the Network bringing back an old favourite
from its vaults: Quincy ME, one of the original forensic shows, a 70s hit with
Jack Klugmann starring. Nostalgia is in!