Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: Top Gear shamelessly plugs Bond

The Glenn Dyer breakdown:  Seven’s night with Winners & Losers topping the most-watched list and ending a solid 2012 for the program. W&L had more than 1.17 million metro and over 1.8 million national viewers. Now for 2013 and further improvement.

Seven had another solid win in the regional markets. But in the metro markets, Seven’s weakness in Melbourne again showed up last night. After the 6pm news and TT lost to Nine News and ACA, Nine managed to win the main channels, after Seven won overall (including the main channels). Nine 6pm News in Melbourne was the most-watched program in any market last night with 358,000, followed by Winners & Losers in Sydney with 352,000 (a bit ironic seeing W&L is shot in and around Melbourne).

In Sydney it was Ten which continues to be weak with the ABC/ABC1 finishing third for yet another night, despite Ten winning nationally and in the five other metro markets. Ten has in fact lost many of its loyal Sydney viewers this year, which will add to the problems the network faces in 2013.

And, didn’t you just love the Bond car special from Top Gear (Nine, 7.30-9pm) which averaged 957,000 metro and 1.5 million national viewers. Now the BBC is a government-owned and publicly financed body in the UK, but the Bond car special was one long, very commercial plug for the new Bond movie, Skyfall and for the movie franchise generally.

The commercial ITV network in the UK or the Australian commercial TV networks couldn’t have made a special like that which was any more commercial. But the Bond movies are a national franchise of the UK cultural industry, so I suppose that justifies the waste of taxpayer money on such a special. Top Gear already blurs the line between the BBC’s national broadcaster status and its commercial side (in the BBC Worldwide commercial arm). There is a rather obvious conflict of interest here.

Tonight: The final Home and Away tonight at 7pm to 8.30pm caps what has been a very successful year and provides the usual cliffhanger to leave viewers wanting to return in 2013. At 8.30pm things turn Grimm for Seven, again. Nine has A Big Fat Royal Gypsy Wedding (next Big Fat Gypsy Losers?, or MasterGypsy?) at 8.30pm. But also at 8.30pm is another episode of A Moody Christmas (which with The Librarians is one of the best Aussie comedies for years). Ten has The Good Wife, also at 8.30pm (so get the PVR working and hope that the networks meet their start/finish times accurately, as per the EPG and don’t fluff it). Ten also has Glee.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

1. Winners & Losers (Seven) — 1.825 million.
2. Seven News — 1.649 million.
3. Nine News — 1.560 million.
4. Top Gear: Bond Cars (Nine) — 1.531 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.525 million.
6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.522 million.
7. ABC1 News (7pm) — 1.425 million.
8. Once Upon A Time (Seven) — 1.341 million.
9. 7.30 (ABC 1) — 1.212 million.
10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.185 million.

The Metro Winners:

1. Winners & Losers (Seven, 8.30pm) — 1.172 million.
2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.078 million.
3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.064 million.

The Losers: Viewers generally, apart from Winners & Losers, it was a weak night of viewing.Metro News & CA: A strong, winning night for Nine (News and ACA) in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, or a weak, losing night for Seven (News, TT), take your pick.

1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.078 million.
2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.064 million.
3. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 964,000.
4. ABC1 News (7pm) — 963,000.
5. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30 – 7 pm) — 948,000.
6. 7.30 (ABC 1, 7.30pm) — 788,000.
7. Ten News (Ten, 5pm) — 631,000.
8. Foreign Correspondent (ABC1, 8pm) — 582,000.
9. The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 511,000.
10. The Project (Ten, 6pm) — 396,000.
11. Ten Late News (Ten, 10.30pm) — 228,000.
12. Lateline (ABC1, 10.30pm) — 198,000.
13. The Business (ABC1, 11.05pm, repeat) — 133,000.
14. SBS ONE News (6.30pm) — 122,000.
15. SBS ONE Late News (10.30pm) — 85,000.
16. The Drum (News 24, 10pm, repeat ) — 32,000.

In the morning:

1. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 391,000
2. Today (Nine, 7am) — 340,000.
3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 179,000.
4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 129,000.
5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — 36,000 + 22,000 on News 24.
6. Breakfast (Ten, 7am) — 40,000.

Metro FTA: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 30.8% from Nine (three) on 26.3%, Ten (three) was on 20.7%, the ABC (four) was on 16.9% and SBS (two) ended on 5.3%. Seven leads the week with 30.5% from Nine on 28.0%, Ten on 18.8% and the ABC on 18.1%. Main Channels: Seven won with a share of 22.8% from Nine on 19.8%, Ten was on 14.7%, ABC 1 was on 12.0% and SBS ONE ended with 4.2%. Seven leads the week with 21.7% from Nine on 20.3%, ABC 1 on 13.2% and Ten on 13.1%.

Metro Digital: 7mate won with 4.2% from GO on 3.9%, 7TWO was on 3.7%, Eleven and ONE were on 3.0% each, ABC2 was on 2.9%, Gem was on 2.6%, ABC 3 was on 1.2%, SBS TWO ended with 1.1% and News 24 was on 0.8%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 26.4%. 7mate leads the week with 4.9% from GO on 4.6% and 7mate on 3.9%.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 25.3% from Nine (three) on 21.6%, Ten (three) was on 17.0%, the ABC (four) was on 13.9% and SBS (two) ended on 4.3%. The 15 FTA channels had a total viewing share of 84,5%, the 10 digital channels share was 21.8% the five main channels share was 62.7%. The 200 plus channels on Foxtel gave pay TV a share of 15.5% last night.

The top five pay TV channels were:

1. Fox 8 — 2.9%
2. LifeStyle — 2.5%.
3. TV1 — 2.3%.
4. Fox Classics — 1.7%.
5. A&E — 1.6%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

1. The Walking Dead (Fox8) — 115,000.
2. Prince Charles: The Royal Restoration (LifeStyle) — 96,000.
3. America’s Next Top Model (Fox 8) — 80,000.
4. Family Guy (Fox8) — 76,000.
5. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 73,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 33.8% from WIN/NBN (three) on 28.9%, SC Ten (three) was on 16.9%, the ABC (four) was on 15.7% and SBS (two) ended on 4.7%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 24.1% from WIN/NBN on 21.8%, SC Ten was on 11.9% and ABC1 ended on 10.3%. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.3%, from GO on 4.4% and 7mate on 4.3%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of a high 28.6%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 33.2%, from WIN/NBN on 30.2%, the ABC is on 16.7% and SC Ten is on 15.8%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

1. Winners & Losers — 654,000.
2. Top Gear: Bond Cars — 574,000.
3. Seven News — 571,000.
4. A Current Affair — 562,000.
5. Home and Away — 541,000.

Major Metro Markets: Across the country a clean sweep for Seven (overall and main channels) except in the main channels in Melbourne where Nine won. In Sydney Ten’s weakness continued as the ABC/ABC1 were third for yet another night. Ten was third elsewhere. A mixed night for the digitals, 7mate won Sydney and Brisbane, 7TWO won Melbourne, ONE won Perth and GO won Adelaide. While Nine still leads in Melbourne, Seven leads the week everywhere else. The ABC remains in third place in Sydney, Ten is third elsewhere.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data