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Good News week for Seven and SBS

Week 30 was a week of turning points. Nine told waved the white flag in its News brand, announcing the end of the Sunday programme after 27 years and Nightline after 15, the ABC launched its sexy new online TV player iView, Bert turned 70, Bindi turned 10, Big Brother left the building, Today Tonight tried to slap Foxtel only to end up being slapped by viewers, extra charges were laid against the ABC’s foreign journo Peter Lloyd, and beloved presenter Peter Cundall finished a 39 year run presenting gardening on Australian television.

And it was another win for Channel Seven with a convincing 28.6% over Nine’s 25.9% and TEN’s 21.1%. The ABC had 17.0% and SBS rose to 7.4% -another high for the year.

Seven won every night except Sunday.

Riding high in the News saddle, Seven News (Sunday) was the top show for the week with 1.60m viewers. Seven News was the #1 nightly show on every night but two. City Homicide remains the nation’s top drama (including international brands), while RSPCA Animal Rescue, Better Homes and Gardens, Border Security, The Force, All Saints, Medical Emergency, Today Tonight, Criminal Minds, The One, Battle of the Choirs, Home and Away, ABBA: The Mamma Mia! Story and Bones all performed well. But The Great Outdoors took a significant dip after a strong lead-in, beaten by Funniest Home Videos. The main problem areas for Seven are its US dramas Lipstick Jungle, Prison Break and Private Practice. The network’s strategy to address these problems is to “burn off” shows with double episodes to appease fans and get them out of schedule as soon as practical.

Nine’s traditional news and current affairs brand took a major hit this week, acknowledging that it could not salvage its iconic Sunday brand, which has never recovered since Weekend Sunrise moved in and Jana Wendt departed. Last week it had only 136,000 against Seven’s 440,000. Nightline was also a surprise axing, surely losing steam given its erratic start time. The chop came after David Gyngell had spent three days telling Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane media of the network’s triumphs. Ironically its strongest show remains 60 Minutes (1.56m). Also leading the charge were Wipeout, Nine News (Sunday), Domestic Blitz, Bert’s 70th Birthday, CSI: Miami, Two and a Half Men, Getaway, A Current Affair and David Attenborough. But Gordon Ramsay’s F Word is nearly half the figures Kitchen Nightmares was once getting –this week it competes against Denton’s own Ramsay interview. The return of McLeod’s Daughters at just under 1.1m equated to its closing weeks in 2007, but can it maintain this across the final series in a tough timeslot? Celebrity Singing Bee held at 1.18m, good enough for Nine to keep pouring more honey into new episodes.

Normally a Big Brother grand final is one of TEN’s best weeks of the year. In 2008 it couldn’t win its timeslot or lift the network to #1 for the night. But 1.42m is a good figure compared to other TEN shows, and particularly when it delivers in demographics. Last year’s finale however, had 1.8m. When you consider a repeat of NCIS had 1.19m viewers it doesn’t take long to do the sums. Elsewhere both Law & Order franchises, Rove, So You Think You Can Dance and Jamie Oliver’s Fowl Dinners did well. But Bondi Rescue did not rescue the 7pm timeslot slipping to 612,000 viewers and erased from future schedules after 3 nights. TEN will be hoping Friends repeats can do what Two and a Half Men repeats deliver Nine –that’s enough to see Seven hoping to reap the benefits. Neighbours lifted as high as 928,000. But Burn Notice is likely to struggle, and Rules of Engagement could find trouble once Back to You exits this week. TEN needs some consistency at 7:30 Thursdays. Mark Loves Sharon is no longer a network valentine, pushed out to 10:30pm at 438,000.

The Gruen Transfer is the new darling of the ABC, at 1.38m viewers, topping Spicks and Specks (1.28m). But the show ends its 2008 season this week. Other winners for ABC were Doctor Who, Foyle’s War, ABC News, Australian Story, The Commander, Catalyst, Elders with Andrew Denton and The Hollowmen –dipping under 1m for the first time. A whopping 932,000 viewers tuned in for Peter Cundall’s farewell episode, second in its timeslot and surely a Gardening Australia record.

SBS bettered its 2008 high of Week 29 thanks to Top Gear (902,000) and Tour de France –it scored 587,000 viewers on Saturday and pushed the network to a 10.2% share. Roll on Olympics?

Week 30

One Response

  1. I’m looking forward to see the battle between the networks post-Olympics. With Nine airing The Mentalist and Seven fast-tracking My Own Worst Enemy, Knight Rider and the new Heroes season, I’m interested in seeing which ones will fare well and which ones will flounder. Eli Stone will be nice as well, it’d be a good one to air on Sunday nights.

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