Media Hunter

The spicks and the specks of the rest of the viewers

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

Did Australians watch anything other than the Olympics last week? Answer: yes, and the ABC reaped the benefits of offering an alternative to nationalism. Its most popular shows barely suffered a dent in audience -- ABC Sunday news and Spicks and Specks drew 1.1 million, Dr Who drew 1 million and a repeat of Agatha Christie's Poirot drew 994,000 on Friday before the great writer herself met Dr Who himself on Sunday night.

Channel Nine's entries in the top 30 for the week were 60 Minutes , the Sunday news, and the weekday news (for the full chart, go here). Ten's best affort was a repeat of NCIS. Picking up Seven's leftovers, SBS scored with the women's cycling road race (725,000) and Men's Archery (399,000). And it was business as usual for Pay TV, with 224,000 for NRL Titans v Knights (Fox Sports 2), 208,000 for NRL Wariors v. Sharks (Fox Sports 2), 191,000 for Project Runway Australia (Arena) and 165,000 for American Dad! (Fox 8).

Seven off and running with Olympics ratings

The national TV ratings race, David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

If Seven's programmers were worried that politics or pollution might put Australians off switching to Beijing, they can relax now. On Friday night an average of 3.3 million people in the mainland capitals watched the Olympic opening ceremony between 10 pm and 2am, with a peak audience of 4.4 million for the singing and 2.5 million still awake when the Australians marched in. (By comparison, the Athens opening in 2004 was watched by 3.04 million, Sydney scored 6.5m in 2000 and Atlanta scored 3.1m in 1996.

Then on Saturday evening, 2.2 million watched the heats. Seven estimates that 11.8 million Australians saw some part of the coverage on Friday or Saturday, offering some compensation for the disappointing performance of Make Me A Supermodel, which drew only a million viewers on Wednesday and Thursday and fell way behind Nine's gloriously silly new game show Hole In The Wall.

Seven rises while McLeods sinks

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

Seven won last week, with 29.4 per cent of the prime time audience, thanks to The Force (1.7m in the mainland capitals), a repeat of Border Security , RSPCA Animal Rescue and the Monday to Friday news, but Nine managed 27 per cent with the help of 60 Minutes  (1.7m), Nine news Sunday and Domestic Blitz . (Ed note: Unfortunately for Nine the much anticipated final season of McLeod's Daughters is of to a poor start attracting only 880,000 viewers on Wednesday night).

The ABC scored 18.1 per cent with The Gruen Transfer , Spicks and Specks , and Foyle's War, while Ten got 20 per cent even though its only entries in the Top 40 were a repeat of Thank God You're Here and a repeat of NCIS (1.2m).

On SBS, Top Gear drew 938,000 and a repeat of Food Safari drew 392,000, while on Pay TV, NRL Cowboys V Roosters drew 307,000 to Fox Sports 2, NRL Sharks V Dragons drew 263,000 to Fox Sports 2, a repeat of Family Guy on Fox 8 got 187,000 and Project Runway Australia on Arena got 175,000.

Better safe than silly

National TV ratings by David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

It was back to domesticity and reassuring predictability in Australia's entertainment choices last week. According to OzTAM, Channel Seven averaged 28.6 per cent of the prime time audience, scoring with its Sunday news, Better Homes and Gardens, City Homicide and RSPCA Animal Rescue.

Channel Nine got 25.9 per cent, thanks to 60 Minutes and Domestic Blitz. Only Wipeout suggested some viewers prefer a little edginess. Over the ratings year so far, Seven and Nine are neck and neck, each with 27.7 per cent of the audience.

Channel Ten (21.1 per cent last week) finally found an audience for Big Brother, which drew 1.4m for the announcement of its winner, but otherwise Ten could not get a program into the top 30 (see below). On the ABC (17 per cent), The Hollowmen have lost their sheen, dropping 200,000 to 907,000 (are viewers finding the show too cynical for these idealistic times?). But The Gruen Transfer and Spicks and Specks continue to soar, and Peter Cundall's final appearance on Gardening Australia drew 932,000 on Saturday.

Seven wins a week

The national TV ratings race by David Dale of Sun Herald blogs

Just as Mussolini made the trains run on time in Italy by redefining the concept of lateness, Channel Seven is able to announce it won the first half of the year by redefining the concept of prime time. By looking at viewing habits between 6pm and 10.30 pm, Seven can claim a slightly higher audience share than Nine for the first half. It's only the pesky industry standard of 6pm to midnight that makes Nine look good and Seven look bad.

In fact, Seven didn't need any redefinition to win last week. Between 6pm and midnight it averaged 27.3 per cent of the audience (thanks to City Homicide, RSPCA Animal Rescue and Seven News Sunday, all with 1.6 million viewers), while Nine got 26.3 per cent (thanks to 60 Minutes on 1.8m, Domestic Blitz on 1.7m and Nine news Sunday on 1.6m),. Ten got 21.5 (thanks to NCIS on 1.3m and Jamie Oliver's Eat To Save Your Life on 1.2m, but no thanks to Big Brother, which was unable even to attract viewers curious to see its death throes); ABC got 17.6 (thanks to Spicks and Specks and The Gruen Transfer on 1.3m, the news and Silent Witness on 1.2m and Doctor Who on 1.1m) and SBS got 7.2 (thanks to Top Gear on 922,000 and Inspector Rex on 411,000).

The chic of the new

National Television ratings

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

Most new TV shows this year have performed modestly or failed miserably, but last week was a dream come true for the programmers, as viewers responded eagerly to every experiment.

Channel Seven wondered if anyone in this sceptical age might be curious about mindreading, and found 1.5 million in the mainland capitals mysteriously drawn to The One: Australia's Most Gifted Psychic. The ABC researched the market for political satire, and drew 1.2 million to The Hollowmen (which completes the Wednesday power package of Spicks and Specks and The Gruen Transfer, both on 1.3 million).

Bye bye biffo

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

Channel Nine and the ABC broke records last week, and Channel Seven breathed a sigh of relief. The 2.14 million viewers in the mainland capitals who watched last Wednesday's State of Origin game was the highest audience for such an event since OzTAM started measuring ratings in 2001. The 1.25 million who gathered on Sunday to see Kylie Minogue in French maid uniform was the highest audience for any Dr Who episode.

And now that the big biffo is over until grand final time, Channel Seven can get on with its attempt to prove it can win the second half of the year without needing to include the two weeks of the Olympics. Seven's fightback continues tomorrow with episodes of an ancient Gordon Ramsay series and on Wednesday with the replacement of Ugly Betty with the traditional family favourite RSPCA Animal Rescue, which is "counterprogrammed" against Nine's Fire 000.

The ABC benefitted by providing a refuge for the biffophobes on Wednesday, drawing 1.1 million for both Spicks and Specks and The Gruen Transfer. SBS drew 872,000 for Top Gear (see the Top 40, below).

Seven is cheered by the notion that if Nine had not swamped Wednesday with the State of Origin, the week's audience shares would have been very different from: Nine 29.5 per cent, Seven 27.6, Ten 19.8, ABC 17.5 and SBS 5.6.

Nine is Australia’s Number 1 in mid-year ratings

Source: Nine Network and Media Spy

1 January 2008 – 30 June 2008 (includes all Summer & Easter Non-Survey dates within this period)

In November Nine announced it was embarking on a big rebuilding phase and in the first half of the 2008 calendar year, audiences have responded to the changes.

With a renewed focus on the 25-54 demographic audience, Nine has achieved a 28.7% share of viewing for the first half of the year. The result is equivalent to 3.5% year-on-year audience growth against a 6.6% decline for Seven.

Younger audiences have lifted significantly:
16-39 up 5.4% (Seven down 12.5%. Ten down 1.1%)
18-49 up 4.5% (Seven down 8.3%. Ten down 0.3%)

Stand-out performance with young audiences in Sydney:
16-39 up 14.6% (Seven down 7.2%. Ten up 6.8%)
18-49 up 9.9% (Seven down 6.6%. Ten up 7.0%)

Television's generation & gender gaps

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

If men and women could only unite, Australia might get some stimulating television in the second half of this year. But they can't, so we're stuck with the programming preferred by viewers aged over 55 -- the time of life when, apparently, the sexes are most similar.

Last week this column pointed out that the seniors are the biggest consumers of TV, while the groovers watch the least (37 per cent of prime time viewing is by people over 55, up from 32 per cent in 2003; 28 per cent is by people 16-39, down from 30 per cent in 2003).

So the network that wins the year will be the one with the geriatric appeal. Off the back of a truck has fallen some fascinating research about the age of viewers for each station's most popular shows this year. The median age of Australians is 37, which is to say that half the population is older than 37 and half is younger. But the median age of viewers for most top programs is well above the national figure. Half the people who regularly watch Today Tonight, for example, are over 54. What you're about to read suggests that TV is, to put it politely, a mature medium.

Nine ahead at half time

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs 

It was the battle of the Australian icons, as Dannii Minogue took on Schappelle Corby. And although Dannii scored a technical knockout, Schappelle performed strongly enough to let Channel Nine win the week and conclude the first half of the year with a higher audience share than Channel Seven (Nine has averaged 27.8 per cent for the ratings year so far, a rise of 1 per cent, while Seven averaged 27.7, a fall of 6 per cent).

The margin is so fine that Nine can't take any risks for the second half, which is why it announced late on Friday it had axed Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune, which was providing a lead-in of only 585,000 viewers for Nine's 6pm news. Its rival, Deal or No Deal, hands over 890,000 to Seven's news, and sets Seven up nicely for the night. Wheel will be replaced by Antiques Roadshow, which may be an appropriate label for most of what we'll be seeing this year.