Media Hunter

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.

Your TV set will run on grey power

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

What a sweet revenge for the over 55s. Once spurned and ignored by the commercial stations -- "Let them watch the ABC," was the attitude -- they have now become the powerbrokers. Their tastes will determine which network wins this year and gets the most advertising in 2009.

Not long ago Channel Ten used to put out press releases boasting how certain programs were "shedding" older viewers, while Nine and Seven proudly declared their target audience to be viewers aged 25-54. There's none of that talk now. The oldies are golden, and not just because there are more of them. It's also because they're the first ones back into their cocoons as uncertainty grows about the economy. And once they've pulled up the drawbridge, the over-55s are more likely to watch the box than the under 40s, who have other distractions.

For a vision of the future of Australian television, look at the favourite shows of each age group last week. In particular, compare the audience totals across the mainland capitals ...

Seven wins week while ABC rises

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

The ABC is going gangbusters at the moment, and not just because of youth-appeal shows such as Spicks and Specks and The Gruen Transfer. Last week, for the first time in living memory, the ABC's news beat Channel Nine's news, by averaging 1.21 million viwers to Nine's 1.20m. Its documentary series Wild China (1.26m) and The New Inventors (1.06m) made up for the surprisingly modest performance of the Jane Austen bonnet drama Northanger Abbey (931,000).

The other national broadcaster, SBS, is also doing well, thanks to Top Gear (826,000) and Food Safari (443,000).

Channel Seven won the week with 28.2 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 26.3, Ten 20.7, the ABC 18.8 and SBS 5.6. The most watched shows were Seven news Sunday, with 1.88 million; 60 Minutes (9) 1.62m; and Australia's Got Talent (7) 1.59m (Top 40 below).

The most watched programs on Pay TV included Australia's Next Top Model (Fox8) with 311,000; the rugby league match between Storm and Cowboys (FoxSports2) with 269,000 and Selling Houses Australia (Lifestyle) with 204,000.

ABC kicks Ten out of top 10

Source: Amanda Meade, The Australian

THE ABC beat Ten in the ratings nationally, in Sydney and in Melbourne last night (Sunday night), as reality TV original Big Brother failed to excite viewers.

While the ABC had two shows in the top 10 which both had more than 1.2 million viewers, ABC News and Wild China, Ten had none. More people watched the ABC's game show The Einsten Factor at 6.30pm than tuned into an early Big Brother show.

The Nine network won Sunday night with a healthy 30 per cent share, but Seven had a lot to celebrate too as its new show Battle of the Choirs peaked at 1.49 million viewers and averaged 1.44 million over the hour. It is up against the eternallty popular 60 Minutes on Nine, which won the hour.

It is another ratings triumph for Sunrise host Daviod Koch, who has also done well in prime time with Where are they now?

The Big Brother Eviction Show featured the return of Kyle Sandilands after a two-week absence but the program only managed to pull just one million viewers.

Nine can just sit and wait

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

A record audience of 2.08 million for Wednesday's State of Origin match was only one of the reasons why Channel Nine won the week and looks like winning the year. Another reason is that, apart from its news, Channel Seven seems to have run out of puff. With Desperate Housewives and Australia's Got Talent finishing their seasons soon, Seven's schedule is seriously short of hits. The Olympics will provide a boost, but the advertising industry does not include such extraordinary events in its annual assessment of a station's success.

Ten is in far worse shape. Not even the disappearance of co-host Kyle Sandilands could bring the viewers back to Big Brother, which has settled into a rut below 900,000 a night. Nine doesn't even have to try.

The most watched shows last week included Better Homes and Gardens (7) 1.61m; Seven news (7) 1.60m; NCIS (10) 1.57m; Australia's Got Talent (7) 1.56m; Sea Patrol (9) 1.48m; and Domestic Blitz (9) 1.36m (see below for the full Top 40).

The ABC managed 18.3 per cent of the prime time audience, thanks to Spicks and Specks (1.2 million) and The Gruen Transfer (1.1m), while SBS got a healthy 6 per cent, thanks to Top Gear (897,000). Channel Nine got 28.5 per cent, to Seven's 26.7 and Ten's 20.5.