Has Rove jumped the shark?

So Rove
broadcast a live “nick” on his Ten Network program last
night. The
vasectomy was seen in the TV industry as a case of “jumping the shark” in an
effort to boost ratings or to make the program a bit more
edgy. But shark or not, the viewers weren’t tuning in. Rove’s audience averaged 755,000
people for the hour and a quarter from 9.30 to 10.45pm. That
was 85,000 under the audience for the previous Tuesday night. Viewers
would have been better off watching the ABC program at 8pm called Sex in the
Bush. It was
about why female choice is the most important factor in the perpetuation of the
species (ie sex!). An
average audience of 738,000 watched it and it was the 25th most watched program,
but behind Rove in 24th place.

Last night’s TV
ratings

The Winners
Dancing With The Stars and Tuesday mean it’s a ratings win for
the Seven network, and so it was last night. This year’s ratings darling is doing
2004 ratings numbers (or close to it) for Seven and enabling it to beat the
opposition on the night.The audience was off a touch, just under two mil at
1.982 million for 90 minutes from 7.30 to 9pm. That dragged All Saints up the
ladder once again with 1.486 million viewers, meaning victory on the night and
adding to the solid performances from Home and Away (second overall and 1.573
million people), Today Tonight and Seven News. A Current Affair, and Nine news
were the best for that network. Temptation went back over 1.2 million in a
firming night. A repeat of CSI did 1.226 million on average but couldn’t match
the end of Dancing or All Saints. Ten’s best was two episodes (repeats) of
The Simpsons from 7.30 to 8.30pm with 1.052 million and 1.048 million
respectively. The ABC’s best was the 7pm news where the audience dipped under
the million mark to 967,000.
The Losers

Brainiac for Ten, 816,000 people and listing badly. It
lost 50,000 people from last week. Seven’s Last Man Standing. I know it’s dead,
but still is hanging in there at 10pm with 772,000 people. Rove. Even a live
vasectomy couldn’t boost the audience. Still it won its timeslot for Ten in the
18 to 39 age group, but are the males in that group really interested in
‘getting nicked’? The ABC’s Tuesday version of The Bill 807,000, can someone at
the ABC do something?
News & CA
Seven News and Today Tonight were again pushed to national
wins by big audiences in Perth, and wins in Sydney and Adelaide. Seven News in
Sydney though had a big win over Nine in Sydney of 88,000 with the Nine News
down under 300,000 viewers again (294,000). Nine News and ACA won Melbourne:
Nine News won Brisbane, Today Tonight won Brisbane, Nine News won Adelaide, TT
won Adelaide, Seven won Perth. Is it me or is Juanita Phillips not pulling the
same sort of audiences for the 7 pm news in NSW that Felicity Davey
did?
The Stats Seven won with a share of 35.2%, from Nine’s 26.9%, Ten
with 20.2%, the ABC down on 12.7% and SBS with 5.1%. Seven won
everywhere.
Glenn Dyer’s
comments		 Strange as it might seem,
but a first reading of the numbers would indicate that Seven’s higher share came
from the ABC, Nine and SBS. Ten was all but unchanged so perhaps their viewers
aren’t into dancing. SBS’s share dropped simply because Mythbusters wasn’t on at
7.30pm as it is on Mondays. So that bit of share would have gone back to the
commercials or the ABC. The biggest source of new viewers for Seven seems to
have been the ABC and Nine. Tonight its a different game with Seven depending on
the News, TT and Home and Away, with an assist from Beyond Tomorrow. Blue
Heelers will detract from the performance. Nine with McLeod’s, CSI Miami and
Without a Trace has hopes. Ten’s rest with House at 8.30pm.