The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Seven’s night with a second clearcut win in a row. Surveillance Oz again maintained its surprising popularity, with 1.08 million metro and 1.7 million national viewers at 8pm.

Nine was soft and Ten was a little stronger, but could have been better but for a spectacular flop at 9.30pm (See the Losers). Seven was very strong in regional markets where it won easily (again).

A Moody Christmas grabbed 677,000 metro and a million national viewers and deserved a lot more at ABC1. Perhaps the Christmas shown in the first of six eps last night was a bit too close to home for many viewers who didn’t want reminding of some of the atrocities that have gone on at family Christmases in the past. It was a very, very Australian Christmas depicted at 8.30pm. Another good program from the ABC to enjoy in the closing weeks of ratings.

At 9pm The Chaser’s Hamster Wheel averaged 671,00 metro and 956,000 national viewers and also deserved more as it ripped into Paul Henry who is fronting Ten’s weak and underperforming Breakfast program. Ten are paying him a reported $1 million a year.

The joke is on Ten and those who employed him, from chairman Lachlan Murdoch to CEO James Warburton. An Australian presenter on Sunrise, Today, ACA or the ABC couldn’t say the sort of things Henry does and get away with it, but he does. Why Kathryn Robinson continues to sit next to Henry is beyond me. The Hamsters did a sterling job last night.

Big Brother on Nine had another sad night: 802,000 metro and 1.090 million national viewers, while the 8pm “special” called Big Brother Little Sister was even less liked with 688,000 metro and 918,000 national viewers at 8pm. From memory it was the second Little Sister idea for BB and both have now been flops.

BB‘s demographic competition, Seven’s Home and Away drew 880,000 metro and million national viewers. Adding the ratings of BB and Little Sister together and averaging them, BB had around 750,000 viewers over the 90 minutes, which is pretty weak and illustrates the ratings traps of using another network’s castoff.

Seven won 8.30pm with Criminal Minds which remains solid with 970,000 metro and over 1.5 million national viewers. A Moody Christmas finished second with Ten’s The Good Wife and Nine’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings again flopping.

Star Update: Can Dannii Minogue move to Nine next year after the network snapped up Australia’s Got Talent hours after Seven boned it? Nine wants her and she has been the only judge on Talent that has earned her keep in the time the program was on Seven.

Talk round TV is that she signed a two year, “pay or play” contract with Seven last year. So Seven still have her under contract for 2013. Could that see her on Dancing With The Stars, The X Factor or Celebrity Splash? Or will Seven do a deal with her to allow her to walk? Stay tuned.

Tonight: Brynne and Beauty and The Geek Australia on Seven. Watch at your own risk. Ten has more Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals and Law and Order: SVU. Nine has Big Brother and AFP. ABC1 has Catalyst which seems to have gained a second wind in recent weeks.

But ABC 1 has also Redfern Now at 8.30 pm, one of the ABC’s high profile dramas of the year. Watch. SBS has a couple of its usual foodie programs.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional, inc. Tasmania and regional WA combined):

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.714 million.
  2. Surveillance Oz (Seven) — 1.702 million.
  3. Highway Patrol (Seven) — 1.584 million.
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.521 million.
  5. Criminal Minds (Seven) — 1.515 million.
  6. ABC News (7pm) — 1.499 million.
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.471 million.
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.315 million.
  9. 7.30 (ABC 1) — 1.245 million.
  10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.194 million.

The Metro Winners:

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.160 million.
  2. Surveillance Oz (Seven, 8 – 8.30 pm) — 1.089 million.
  3. ABC News (7pm) — 1.072 million.
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.065 million.
  5. Highway Patrol (Seven, 7.30pm) — 1.033 million.

The Losers: Ten, with Glee averaging 598,000 metro and 766,000 national viewers at 7.30pm. It was still Ten’s second most popular program after the 5pm News. The Good Wife at 8.30pm on Ten, 478,000 metro and 638,000 national viewers. Fading. Unfortunately it’s becoming very soapy.

Despite this, Ten was a little stronger, but was then let down at 9.30pm by Emily Owens MD. It’s now official, the foreign flop of 2012, down to just 186,000 metro and 257,000 national viewers in only its second outing on Australian TV. The downloaders are welcome to this turkey. Nine’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, 530,000 at 8.30 pm in metro markets and 707,000 nationally. Not good enough.Metro News & CA: Another one of those nights at 6pm and 6.30pm. Seven News had another win in Sydney (coming back?) but another big loss in Melbourne (by 91,000 to Nine). Seven won the rest, Perth by 98,000. ACA won Melbourne by a massive 144,000 viewers, 359,000 to just 215,000. ACA also won Brisbane, but lost Adelaide and Perth (by 89,000). The 7pm ABC News in Sydney had more viewers (290,000) than Seven, 273,000 and Nine, 245,000. Nine News in Melbourne was the most watched program last night with 390,000 viewers.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.160 million.
  2. ABC News (7pm) — 1.072 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.065 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 979,000.
  5. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 936,000.
  6. 7.30 (ABC 1, 7.30pm) — 834,000.
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 637,000.
  8. The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 543,000.
  9. The Project (Ten, 6pm) — 453,000
  10. Lateline (ABC 1, 10.40pm) — 227,000.
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 202,000.
  12. Ten Late News (10.30pm) –145,000.
  13. The Business (ABC 1, 11.15pm, rpt) — 125,000.
  14. SBS Late News ( 10.30pm) — 66,000.
  15. The Drum (News 24, 10pm, rpt) — 61,000.

In the morning: Nine’s had its first win over Seven’s The Morning Show from 9 to 11am yesterday since the revamp at the start of the year. News 24 was again boosted by its coverage of the US storm damage. Ten’s Breakfast also rose, unfortunately, seeing Paul Henry is fronting it.

  1. Today (Nine, 7am) — 354,000.
  2. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) 354,000.
  3. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 141,000.
  4. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 134,000.
  5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — 76,000 + 37,000 on News 24.
  6. Breakfast (Ten, 7 am) — 53,000.

Metro FTA: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 32.0%, from Nine (three) back on 25.6%, the ABC (four) was on 19.3%, Ten (four) was fourth with 17.5% and SBS (two) ended on 5.6%. Seven leads the week with 30.5% from Nine on 26.6%, the ABC on 19.1% and Ten on 18.4%.

Main Channels: Seven won with 23.0% from Nine on 17.9%, ABC 1 was on 14.5%, Ten was on 11.4% and SBS ONE ended on 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 22.8% from Nine on 19.8%, ABC 1 on 14.7% and Ten on 12.6%.

Metro Digital: GO won with a share of 4.7%. from 7mate on 4.6%, with 7TWO on 4.4%, Eleven was on 3.7%, Gem was on 3.0%, ABC2 was on 2.8%, ONE was on 2.4%, News 24 was on 1.3%, SBS TWO was on 1.1% and ABC3 ended on 0.7%. The 10 digital channels has an FTA share last night of 27.7%. 7TWO leads a close week with 4.0%, from GO on 3.9% and 7mate on 3.6%

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 26.7%, from Nine (three) back on 21.4%, the ABC (four) was on 16.1%, Ten (four) was 4th with 14.6% and SBS (two) ended on 4.7%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share last night of 85.7%.

The five main channels share was 61.6%, the 10 digital channels had a share of 61.8%. The 200 plus channels on Foxtel gave pay TV a share of 14.3% last night. Paul Murray on Sky news at 9pm had a second solid night in a row with more than 53,000 viewers.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 — 3.0%.
  2. LifeStyle — 2.9%.
  3. TV1 — 2.4%.
  4. Fox Classics 1.9%.
  5. Sky News — 1.8%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Location, Location, Location Aust. (LifeStyle) — 77,000.
  2. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 56,000.
  3. The Walking Dead (FX) — 56,000.
  4. Grand Designs (LifeStyle) — 52,000.
  5. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 53,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 36.2%, from WIN/NBN (three) on 25.0%, the ABC (four) was on 18.4%, SC Ten (four) was 4th with 14.9% and SBS (two) ended on 5.5%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 24.6%, from WIN/NBN on 16.3%, ABC1 was on 12.5% and SC ten ended on 8.4%.

The digitals were won by 7TWO with 6.2%, 7mate was on 6.0% and GO was on 4.9%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of a very high 33.8%%. Prime/7Qld still lead the week with 34.3%, from WIN/NBN on 26.8%, the ABC on 18.5% and SC Ten on 16.6%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets (inc. Tasmania and regional WA) were:

  1. Surveillance Oz — 614,000.
  2. Seven News — 554,000.
  3. Highway Patrol — 550,000.
  4. Criminal Minds — 545,000.
  5. ACA — 491,000.

Major Metro Markets: A clean sweep for Seven, overall and the main channels in all five metro markets. Nine was second everywhere. The ABC was third overall everywhere bar Brisbane where Ten was third. In the main channels Nine was second everywhere bar Perth where ABC 1 again finished second and Nine third.

GO won the digitals in Brisbane, Gem won Adelaide, 7mate won Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Seven leads the week everywhere, with Nine second and the ABC third, except in Brisbane and Adelaide where Ten is clinging onto third spot. In Perth Nine and the ABC share second place.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data