Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: commercial reality TV no match for the ABC

Nine’s Night as The Big Bang Theory routed the rest. Seven’s The Big Adventure has another night bobbing around aimlessly in the ratings lists. It’s stuck and not going anywhere. Party Tricks on Ten is likewise becalmed in the sea of viewer choosiness. End of night as Nine wins the demographics and Total People in the metros and the main channels and the demographics in the regions. The ABC’s news and current affairs hours again beat Ten into fourth spot in the metros and regions.

The fresh and repeat episodes of The Big Bang Theory had more than 1.7 million national viewers, more than 1.1 million metro and  well over half a million regional viewers — most of whom were in the 16 to 49 demo, and as a result Nine cleaned up.  They handed over to Big Brother and over 800,000 viewers — most of them in the prime 16 to 49 age groups — turned off Nine and abandoned Big Brother, which averaged 912,000 national/ 701,000 metro/ 211,000 regional viewers. Big Brother has strong support from female viewers, especially in the 16 to 39 age group. That says a lot, I think, about younger female TV viewers (They are channelling their inner bogans?). Seven’s The Big Adventure had 1.086 million national/ 663,000 metro/ 423,000 regional viewers. Ten’s Party Tricks averaged 658,000 national/ 467,000 metro/ 191,000 regional viewers. Offspring is looming larger.

The Seven Network (like Nine with Big Brother) is playing ducks and drakes with Beauty and The Geek Australia. After flicking it from this Thursday night and replacing it with a second episode for the week of Dancing With The Stars (ostensibly for some sort of partner switch that has never been done before, gee, golly gosh), Seven last night started promoting the return of Beauty and The Geek a week Thursday. Just the thing to keep core viewers interested in the program (and what it has been doing to Sunday Night for the past three years). It is just as high-handed a way of impressing viewers as Nine’s unprogramming of Big Brother is.

And some good news from the US this morning for Ten with CBS giving full season orders to new dramas Scorpion, NCIS: New Orleans and Madame Secretary. The US reports say it is not certain if the programs are for nine extra episodes to take the series up to 22 for the year.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (28.3%)
2. Seven (27.9%)
3. ABC  (20.9%)
4. Ten (18.9%)
5. SBS (4.0%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (20.9%)
2. Seven (17.6%)
3. ABC (16.1%)
4. Ten (12.1%)
5. SBS ONE (2.9%)

Top digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (6.6%)
2. GO (4.0%)
3. 7mate (3.6%)
4. ONE, Eleven, Gem (3.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.799 million
2. The Big Bang Theory repeat (Nine) — 1.734 million
3. Nine News — 1.511 million
4. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.410 million
5. Australian Story (ABC 1) — 1.337 million
6. Seven News — 1.334 million
7. ABC News — 1.197 million
8. 7.30 (ABC) — 1.155 million
9. The Big Adventure (Seven) — 1.086 million
10. Four Corners (ABC) — 1.033 million

Top metro programs:

1. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.221 million
2. The Big Bang Theory repeat (Nine) — 1.156 million
3. Nine News — 1.054 million
4. Seven News — 1.044 million
5. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.012 million

Losers: Seven’s The Big Adventure. I don’t know what it is, but this one won’t take off. Also Big Brother. Four “intruders” — who cares? That’s four more people to be removed to end this rubbish.Metro news and current affairs:

1. Nine News — 1.054 million
2. Seven News — 1.044 million
3. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.012 million
4. Nine News 6.30 – 997,000 million
5. Australian Story (ABC) — 928,000
6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 873,000
7. ABC  News — 832,000
8. 7.30 (ABC) — 810,000
9. Four Corners (ABC) — 687,000
10. Q&A (ABC, 590,000, 86,000 on News 24) — 676,000

Morning TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 321,000
2. Today (Nine) – 305,000
3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 148,000
4. Mornings (Nine) — 148,000
5. News Breakfast (ABC,  82,000 + 50,000 on News 24) — 132,000
6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 38,000

Top five pay TV channels:

1. Fox 8  (2.7%)
2. LifeStyle  (2.4%)
3. UKTV (2.0%)
4. TVHITS! (1.9%)
5. FX (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

1. The Walking Dead (FX) – 107,000
2. The Walking Dead (FX) – 75,000
3. Family Guy (Fox8) – 67,000
4. Long Lost Family (LifeStyle) – 60,000
5. Futurama (Fox8) – 59,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.