Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs
It's that time of year when sport splits the nation. The AFL Grand Final drew 2.49 million viewers in the mainland capitals on Saturday (way below the 3.15 million it managed in 2006). Meanwhile only 898,000 watched the NRL preliminary final. The AFL total included included 331,000 Sydneysiders, while the biffo could manage only 24,000 southerners.
That result clinched the week for Channel Seven, which averaged 29.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 27.1, Ten 20.0, ABC 17.8, and SBS 5.2. Apart from the footy, the most watched shows included Packed To The Rafters (7), Find My Family (7), Border Security (7) and Wednesday's new episodes of Nine's latest Bandaid Two and A Half Men (9).
The mystery of the week was why the new season opener of House drew only 914,000, after the previous season had averaged 1.3 million. One theory is that the show which preceded it, Kenny's World, is actively driving viewers away from Channel Ten. Kenny's audience has trickled down from a million to 754,000 in three weeks. Ten's only consolation last week was 1.3 million for Australian Idol, which beat Seven's former champion Dancing With The Stars.
The ABC scored with Spicks and Specks, Midsomer Murders and Doctor Who (all 1.2m) while SBS was pleased with 939,000 for Top Gear and 442,000 for South Park. Pay TV scored with Futurama (Fox 8) 191,000 Camp Rock (Disney Channel) 190,000 and Family Guy (Fox 8) 183,000.
Over the ratings year so far, excluding the Olympics, Seven has an audience share of 28.0 per cent, while Nine has 27.5. That looks bad for Nine but last year was worse -- its audience is up 1 per cent while Seven's is down 3.2 (and the ABC's is up 6.6).
On Sunday the main channels were nearly neck and neck -- Nine with 25.3 per cent thanks to 60 Minutes and CSI Miami, Seven with 24.6 thanks to a resurgent Dancing With The Stars, Ten with 23.4 thanks to Australian Idol, and ABC with 22.3 thanks to the "death" of Donna Noble (nicely positioned for a Rose-style revisit in two years). That left SBS with a mere 4.4.
What Australia watched, week ending September 27
1 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL Seven 2,490,000
2 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL: PRESENTATIONS Seven 2,467,000
3 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL: POST-MATCH Seven 2,008,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 2,006,000
5 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,943,000
6 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,738,000
7 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,717,000
8 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,707,000
9 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL PRE-MATCH ENTERTAINMENT Seven 1,640,000
10 THE FORCE Seven 1,594,000
11 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,543,000
12 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,486,000
13 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,483,000
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,451,000
15 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,439,000
im an avid NRL supporter but the sydney guys just dont seem to follow the sports as much as the Melbourne guys. I think channel seven is much more professional than channel nine anyway. Now channel nine has the rights to the English premier league. Who the hell wants to watch that anyway.
Posted by: Rugbyleaguememorabilia | March 05, 2009 at 04:12 PM