Glenn Dyer's TV shorts and ratings

Glenn Dyer’s TV shorts and ratings

Cricket viewers dropped off in the wee hours Judging by the comments on radio and around Australia over the past 24 hours a lot of people were up watching the closing stages of the third Ashes Test on SBS in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Well, there were quite a few, but not as […]

Crikey

Aug 17, 2005

Cricket viewers dropped off in the wee hours

Judging
by the comments on radio and around Australia over the past 24 hours a lot of
people were up watching the closing stages of the third Ashes Test on SBS in the
early hours of Tuesday morning. Well,
there were quite a few, but not as much as the knowing comments would seem to
indicate.

The
closing stages of the match, from 2am onwards, saw the SBS audience dip from
179,400 between 2am and 2.15am according to Oztam figures, down to 169,000 at 3.30am to 3.45am and
119,600 between 3.45am and 4am when the result was known. Compare this with midnight when there were 529,000 people watching.

By 1am just over
334,000 people were still fixed on the box. Between
1.45am and 2am, the audience eased to just over 234,000, and then dropped
sharply in the next quarter hour as eyelids began to
droop. More than 54,000 people went to bed in that 15 to 20 minute
period.

Last night’s TV
ratings

The Winners	Seven, with Border Security (No. 1 with 1.922 million people) and the second episode of True Stories with 1.596 million. Seven had the top five programs and six in the Top Ten. Nine had the other four to finish second. Home and Away had its best night for some time, a clear winner over Nine’s Temptation: 1.455 million to 1.362 million.
The Losers	Well, Ten had a down night as expected, the semi-final of Australian Idol was its most popular program with 1.212 million. Seven’s Last Man Standing was pre-empted last Tuesday just as viewers were appearing to warm to it at 9.30pm on Tuesday nights. It returned last night and was watched by 643,000 or so people. Not bad, but there’s no impetus in those numbers, which is a pity. Ten’s Celebrity Ready Steady Cook at 7pm was underdone with 796,000 viewers. Easy meat for Home and Away, Temptation and the ABC 7pm News.
News & CA	Seven News and Today Tonight won nationally thanks to wins in Sydney and Perth. Nine News and A Current Affair won Melbourne and the two split Brisbane and Adelaide.
The Stats	Seven won with a 28.2% share from Nine with 27.0%, Ten with 23.8%, the ABC with 13.1% and SBS sans cricket with 7.9%. Seven won again in Sydney and in Melbourne. The wins in Sydney are becoming more frequent again for Seven, as Nine seems to have lost the edge in the country’s main market. The size of Nine’s win in Brisbane, which is CSI country, kept it to within 1.2% of Seven nationally. Nine also won Adelaide narrowly, but lost big time in Perth.
Glenn Dyer’s comments	Another close night in the end, despite Seven’s strength from 6pm to 8.30pm. Ten will be the one to beat tonight with House, Idol and Rock School. Forensic Investigators will also be of interest given it has underwhelmed so far in its latest series. Nine leads the week narrowly from Ten and Seven.