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2008: The Top 200

That's all folks! The biggest audience of 2008 ratings was the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, and the most popular series Packed to the Rafters.

And so as the 2008 ratings year concludes, here’s how they stacked up…

The biggest audience for the year was, unsurprisingly, the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, averaging 2.82m viewers. Late on a Friday evening that’s quite a feat -it didn’t start until 10pm AEST.

The biggest locally produced show was the AFL Grand Final at 2.49m viewers.

The most popular series was Packed to the Rafters at 1.94m viewers averaged across its series. If it weren’t for Victoria’s Underbelly ban, the result might have been different.

A note about these lists. As is quite common these days, ‘event’ television includes dividing finales into separate sections (AFL Grand Final, Australian Idol finale, So You Think You Can Dance etc).

Top 25 2008
1. Seven’s Beijing Olympics: Opening Ceremony 7 2.82m
2. Seven’s AFL: Grand Final – Geelong Vs Hawthorn 7 2.49m
3. Seven’s AFL: Grand Final: Presentations 7 2.47m
4. 2008 Melbourne Cup-The Race 7 2.27m
5. Seven’s Beijing Olympics: D1 Primetime 7 2.22m
6. State Of Origin NSW V Qld 3rd – Match 9 2.15m
7. State Of Origin NSW V Qld 1st – Match 9 2.09m
8. State Of Origin Qld V NSW 2nd – Match 9 2.08m
9. Rugby League Grand Final 9 2.05m
10. Seven’s AFL: Grand Final: Post-Match 7 2.01m
11. Seven’s Beijing Olympics: Closing Ceremony 7 2.01m
12. Packed To The Rafters 7 1.94m
13. The Biggest Loser – Finale TEN 1.90m
14. Dance Australia – The Winner Announced TEN 1.88m
15. Dance Australia – Finale Night TEN 1.83m
16. Find My Family 7 1.80m
17. Seven’s Beijing Olympics: The Heroes Of Beijing 7 1.77m
18. Seven’s Beijing Olympics: D1 Fringe 7 1.72m
19. Underbelly 9 1.71m
20. The Zoo – Tue 7 1.69m
21. Seven’s AFL: Grand Final Pre-Match Entertainment 7 1.68m
22. One Day Cricket – Aus V India – 2nd Final Session 2 9 1.64m
23. One Day Cricket – Aus V India – 1st Final Session 2 9 1.63m
24. Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares -Rpt 9 1.63m
25. City Homicide 7 1.62m

Top 200 Series (average)
1 Packed To The Rafters 7 1,937,841
2 Find My Family 7 1,803,223
3 Underbelly 9 1,706,831
4 The Zoo – Series 2 7 1,688,134
5 City Homicide 7 1,621,122
6 Border Security – Series 2 7 1,609,917
7 The Force – Behind The Line 7 1,597,773
8 Border Security – Series 1 7 1,579,681
9 Seven News – Sunday 7 1,578,016
10 RSPCA Animal Rescue 7 1,576,104
11 Australia’s Got Talent 7 1,523,360
12 60 Minutes 9 1,504,646
13 Two And A Half Men -8:00pm Wednesday 9 1,503,496
14 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – Thursday 9 1,501,569
15 Seven News 7 1,501,129
16 Domestic Blitz 9 1,497,437
17 So You Think You Can Dance Australia TEN 1,490,977
18 David Attenborough: Tiger, Spy In The Jungle 9 1,477,355
19 The One – Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic 7 1,451,088
20 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares 9 1,436,700
21 National Nine News – Sunday 9 1,413,537
22 The Farmer Wants A Wife 9 1,402,554
23 Bondi Rescue TEN 1,383,917
24 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 9 1,382,495
25 Two And A Half Men – Wednesday 9 1,379,520
26 Today Tonight 7 1,374,492
27 Sea Patrol II 9 1,373,598
28 Better Homes And Gardens 7 1,362,764
29 Surf Patrol 7 1,362,504
30 SCU: Serious Crash Unit 7 1,361,705
31 NCIS TEN 1,358,651
32 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – Tuesday 9 1,350,544
33 Gladiators 7 1,348,671
34 So You Think You Can Dance Australia – Results TEN 1,331,307
35 Seven News – Saturday 7 1,329,090
36 Doc Martin ABC1 1,321,687
37 Criminal Minds – Monday 7 1,309,277
38 Battle Of The Choirs 7 1,300,110
39 It Takes Two 7 1,295,439
40 David Attenborough’s – Life In Cold Blood 9 1,291,115
41 Desperate Housewives 7 1,287,015
42 Two And A Half Men – Monday 9 1,286,877
43 Criminal Minds – Wednesday 7 1,283,009
44 Dancing With The Stars 8 7 1,281,867
45 Medical Emergency 7 1,275,023
46 Crash Investigation Unit 7 1,255,355
47 The Gruen Transfer ABC1 1,247,287
48 All Saints 7 1,245,481
49 Home And Away 7 1,237,008
50 Wipeout 9 1,235,349
51 Midsomer Murders ABC1 1,226,183
52 The Zoo 7 1,226,053
53 The Real Seachange 7 1,221,601
54 Australian Idol TEN 1,216,566
55 The Celebrity Singing Bee 9 1,212,536
56 Search & Rescue 9 1,209,470
57 Hole In The Wall 9 1,205,192
58 The Mentalist 9 1,205,135
59 Doc Martin Rpt ABC1 1,202,720
60 Spicks And Specks ABC1 1,198,864
61 Wild China ABC1 1,189,332
62 City Homicide (R) 7 1,187,134
63 National Nine News – Monday-Friday 9 1,186,920
64 Foyle’s War ABC1 1,183,190
65 Hell’s Kitchen 9 1,180,779
66 NCIS (R) TEN 1,179,312
67 Grey’s Anatomy 7 1,177,605
68 My Name Is Earl – Thursday 7 1,172,721
69 20 To 1 – Sunday 9 1,169,600
70 Nine News – Sunday 9 1,166,731
71 This Is Your Life 9 1,160,008
72 Crash Scene Investigators 7 1,155,013
73 The Biggest Loser (Aus) – The Weigh-In TEN 1,153,582
74 Two And A Half Men – Monday-Friday 9 1,142,334
75 RPA 9 1,135,336
76 Getaway 9 1,131,752
77 Police Files – Unlocked 7 1,131,717
78 NCIS – 9:30pm Tuesday (R) TEN 1,129,489
79 How I Met Your Mother 7 1,124,508
80 A Current Affair 9 1,124,148
81 David Attenborough’s Life Of Mammals 9 1,115,388
82 Nine News – Monday-Friday 9 1,114,444
83 ABC News ABC1 1,113,368
84 CSI: Miami 9 1,111,460
85 Kitchen Nightmares U.S.A. 9 1,110,271
86 Animal Emergency 9 1,109,299
87 Fire 000 9 1,107,024
88 The Outdoor Room With Jamie Durie 7 1,105,447
89 Doctor Who ABC1 1,100,660
90 The Biggest Loser (Aus) – Elimination TEN 1,088,312
91 Law And Order: SVU TEN 1,086,140
92 The Biggest Loser – Monday-Friday TEN 1,079,472
93 NCIS – 8:30pm Tuesday (R) TEN 1,078,306
94 Bush Doctors 7 1,074,061
95 Bones 7 1,073,494
96 My Name Is Earl 7 1,070,891
97 Without A Trace 9 1,070,164
98 Silent Witness ABC1 1,069,326
99 Battlefronts 9 1,069,056
100 Nine News – Saturday 9 1,065,469
101 National Nine News – Saturday 9 1,064,100
102 Two And A Half Men 9 1,059,486
103 ABC News – Sunday ABC1 1,057,591
104 20 To 1 9 1,056,565
105 Dalziel And Pascoe ABC1 1,054,343
106 House TEN 1,052,640
107 Kath & Kim (R) 7 1,052,575
108 The Vicar Of Dibley 7 1,049,626
109 Bones – Monday 7 1,039,345
110 Outback Wildlife Rescue 7 1,037,217
111 Criminal Minds (R) 7 1,036,057
112 A Year With The Royal Family 9 1,034,143
113 The Rich List – Monday 7 1,031,759
114 RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service 9 1,026,418
115 Law & Order: Criminal Intent TEN 1,026,416
116 Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show 9 1,021,341
117 Deadly Surf 9 1,017,417
118 Big Brother Live Eviction TEN 1,006,405
119 Women’s Murder Club TEN 1,004,195
120 The All New Simpsons TEN 997,422
121 Two And A Half Men – 9:00pm Tuesday 9 985,376
122 Samantha Who? 7 985,065
123 That ’70s Show 7 984,512
124 Family Fortunes ABC1 984,262
125 CSI: NY 9 980,119
126 CSI: Miami (R) 9 979,412
127 Taggart ABC1 978,157
128 Make Me A Supermodel 7 978,133
129 The Simpsons – Tuesday TEN 974,798
130 The Hollowmen ABC1 973,914
131 Two And A Half Men – 8:30pm Tuesday 9 972,478
132 Wipeout (R) 9 972,026
133 Bed Of Roses ABC1 971,139
134 Australian Idol – The Live Verdict TEN 970,654
135 The Amazing Race 13 7 962,580
136 The Chopping Block 9 959,517
137 Back To You TEN 959,465
138 The Footy Show 9 955,609
139 ABC News – Saturday ABC1 954,808
140 10 To One 9 954,067
141 Ghost Whisperer 7 954,012
142 Wire In The Blood ABC1 951,984
143 Ugly Betty 7 951,260
144 Big Brother – Friday Night Live TEN 947,841
145 Law And Order: SVU (R) TEN 942,230
146 Enough Rope With Andrew Denton ABC1 941,343
147 20 To 1 (R) 9 941,033
148 The New Inventors ABC1 940,881
149 So You Think You Can Dance TEN 939,105
150 So You Think You Can Dance Thurs TEN 931,608
151 Most Shocking 7 931,492
152 Brothers & Sisters 7 930,861
153 The Hollowmen (Series 2) ABC1 930,832
154 McLeod’s Daughters 9 930,565
155 Good News Week TEN 929,161
156 Rush TEN 928,558
157 House (R) TEN 926,975
158 Thank God You’re Here (R) TEN 923,685
159 Jamie At Home (R) TEN 923,005
160 Elders With Andrew Denton ABC1 917,890
161 Rove TEN 916,353
162 Midsomer Murders (R) ABC1 911,177
163 Big Brother TEN 909,810
164 Cold Case 9 908,101
165 Border Patrol NZ 7 906,580
166 The Great Outdoors 7 905,555
167 Crime Investigation Australia 9 904,406
168 Medium TEN 903,274
169 Grumpy Old Women ABC1 901,690
170 How To Look Good Naked TEN 898,235
171 Kenny’s World TEN 895,861
172 More Than Enough Rope ABC1 893,866
173 So You Think You Can Dance – Friday TEN 891,092
174 Galapagos ABC1 890,098
175 Top Gear SBS 889,666
176 Australian Story ABC1 887,380
177 7.30 Report ABC1 885,697
178 The Amazing Race 7 885,267
179 Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? TEN 883,983
180 All New Futurama TEN 882,384
181 Lewis 7 881,081
182 Big Brother Nomination TEN 880,895
183 Ladette To Lady 9 880,363
184 The Simpsons – 8:00pm Tuesday TEN 878,692
185 Two In The Top End ABC1 876,548
186 Missing Persons Unit 9 872,091
187 Top Gear (Series 2) SBS 870,954
188 Private Practice 7 870,222
189 Rules Of Engagement TEN 868,939
190 Til Death 9 866,030
191 Ghost Whisperer – Late 7 861,585
192 Spooks ABC1 855,808
193 Dirty Sexy Money 7 853,437
194 Doctor Who: Confidential Cutdown ABC1 848,963
195 Four Corners ABC1 847,399
196 Catalyst ABC1 846,418
197 Border Patrol 7 845,643
198 2008 Olympic Swimming Trials 9 845,173
199 Big Brother – Sunday TEN 844,579
200 Fringe 9 841,475

Top 10 Australian Programmes (average)
1. Packed to the Rafters Seven 1.938
2. Find My Family Seven 1.803
3. Underbelly Nine 1.707
4. The Zoo Seven 1.688
5. City Homicide Seven 1.621
6. Border Security Seven 1.610
7. The Force Seven 1.598
8. Seven News – Sunday Seven 1.578
9. RSPCA Animal Rescue Seven 1.576
10. Australia’s Got Talent Seven 1.523

Top 10 Australian Drama Programmes
1. Packed to the Rafters Seven 1.938
2. Underbelly Nine 1.707
3. City Homicide Seven 1.621
4. Sea Patrol II Nine 1.374
5. All Saints Seven 1.246
6. Home and Away Seven 1.237
7. Bed of Roses ABC 0.971
8. McLeod’s Daughters Nine 0.931
9. Rush Ten 0.929
10. East of Everything ABC 0.789

Top 10 Events
1. Olympic Games – Opening Ceremony Seven 2.824
2. AFL: Grand Final Seven 2.491
3. AFL: Grand Final – Presentation Seven 2.468
4. Tennis: Australian Open – Men’s Final Seven 2.447
5. The Melbourne Cup Seven 2.272
6. Olympic Games – Day 9 Primetime Seven 2.226
7. Olympic Games – Day 1 Primetime Seven 2.215
8. Tennis: Australian Open – Final Presentation Seven 2.207
9. State of Origin III – Match Nine 2.145
10. Olympic Games – Day 5 Primetime Seven 2.131

Top 10 Comedy Series
1. Two and a Half Men – 8:00pm Wednesday Nine 1.504
2. Two and a Half Men – 7:30pm Wednesday Nine 1.379
3. Two and a Half Men – 7:30pm Monday Nine 1.287
4. My Name Is Earl – Thursday Seven 1.173
5. Two and a Half Men – Monday-Friday Nine 1.142
6. How I Met Your Mother Seven 1.125
7. My Name Is Earl – Sunday Seven 1.071
8. Kath and Kim- Repeat Episodes Seven 1.053
9. The Vicar of Dibley Seven 1.050
10. The Simpsons – New Episodes Ten 0.997

Top 10 Factual Programmes
1. Find My Family Seven 1.803
2. The Zoo Seven 1.688
3. Border Security Seven 1.610
4. The Force Seven 1.598
5. RSPCA Animal Rescue Seven 1.576
6. Bondi Rescue Ten 1.384
7. Surf Patrol Seven 1.363
8. SCU: Serious Crash Unit Seven 1.362
9. Medical Emergency Seven 1.275
10. Crash Investigation Unit Seven 1.255

Top 10 Light Entertainment Programmes
1. Australia’s Got Talent Seven 1.523
2. So You Think You Can Dance Ten 1.491
3. Gladiators Seven 1.348
4. Battle of the Choirs Seven 1.300
5. It Takes Two Seven 1.295
6. Dancing with the Stars Seven 1.282
7. Australian Idol Ten 1.217
8. Celebrity Singing Bee Nine 1.213
9. Spicks and Specks ABC 1.199
10. 20 to 1 Nine 1.170

Top 10 Nightly News and Public Affairs Programmes
1. Seven News – Sunday Seven 1.578
2. Seven News – Monday-Friday Seven 1.501
3. National Nine News – Sunday Nine 1.414
4. Today Tonight Seven 1.374
5. Seven News – Saturday Seven 1.329
6. National Nine News – Monday-Friday Nine 1.187
7. ABC News – Monday-Friday ABC 1.113
8. National Nine News – Monday-Friday Nine 1.064
9. ABC News – Sunday ABC 1.058
10. ABC News – Saturday ABC 0.954

Top 10 New Australian Programmes
1. Packed to the Rafters Seven 1.938
2. Find My Family Seven 1.803
3. Underbelly Nine 1.707
4. The Zoo Seven 1.688
5. Domestic Blitz Nine 1.497
6. So You Think You Can Dance Ten 1.491
7. The One Seven 1.451
8. Gladiators Seven 1.349
9. Battle of the Choirs Seven 1.300
10. Crash Investigation Unit Seven 1.255

Top 10 Drama Programmes (Aus / Int)
1. Packed to the Rafters Seven 1.938
2. Underbelly Nine 1.707
3. City Homicide Seven 1.621
4. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Nine 1.382
5. Sea Patrol II Nine 1.374
6. NCIS Ten 1.359
7. Doc Martin ABC 1.322
8. Criminal Minds Seven 1.309
9. Desperate Housewives Seven 1.287
10. All Saints Seven 1.245

Based on OzTAM results, Survey weeks 7-48 2008, excluding Easter, 5 metro cities.

25 Responses

  1. Very useful set of results. Do you also track total viewers, year on year? My expectation would be that FTA audience is declining as a total number, but I can’t find this number anywhere.

  2. Aussie drama has really had a sucessful year (we’ll pretend canal and strip didn’t happen). this is a really good sign because the american stuff is not doing it anymore.

    the logies will be interesting, there will be genuine competition. my money is on PTTR when it comes to voting people will have it fresh in their minds, and people have fallen in love with it. Underbelly is also good but doesn’t connect with audience in the same way.

    good to see fringe just scrape into the top 200

  3. god thats a lot of shows. Cant believe they have all graced our screens at some point during the year

    Well seven got plenty to boast about in their end of year wrap up/2009 promo.

    Nine would of been stuffed without underbelly and 2.5 men, shame about that ban in Victoria, happened at the worst possible time for them

  4. Wow… BB this year didn’t take too much of a hit – but last year it was 1.902 mill when the winner was announced as opposed to 1.427mill.

    Sure the finale was outside of the Top 25 shows for the year, and it’s average was a lot lower than last year – but given the disasterous year 10 had, it ended up being one of it’s better shows of the year…

    I think it’ll be interesting to see how Master Chef rates… Otherwise, BB will gain from the year off, SSE will work on getting Gretel back, go back to basics, and hopefully be back on in 2010…

    Signed, a big brother fan! haha

  5. I was comparing the 07 list to 08 and what a difference a year makes. House S3 and S4 were the top rated US programs, Greys and CSI right behind him. NCIS didn’t make the cut. Now CSI is back on top, NCIS a close 2nd and house nowhere to been seen. Top Aussie Dramas were City Homicide and Sea Patrol and it was good to see them stay up top along with new Dramas Underbelly and PTTR.

    As for Nines top shows dying, i think that it should be consider that Ramsay, David Attenborough and Wipeout all died after the Olympics. Where seven just took over. They have still got alot of strong shows, Domestic Blitz, 20 – 1, CSI, CSI Miami, Sea Patrol, Underbelly, 2.5 Men, The Mentalist, NRL (SOO and GF), RPA, MPU and The Footy Show. Some of these shows have got to be scheduled smarter next year though. As for Ten there stand out performers were Dance, TBL, Bondi and NCIS. SVU and CI were solid performers averaging 1mil viewers for the season. Im certain thoses figures for House were for every new ep aired. Its finale pulled 1.4 back in april, then bang….like everything else on ten, it was dead…shame cos i love house and alot of shows on ten. I must admit, Bondi Rescue and NCIS are my favourite shows on TV and are must watch for me

    As for 7, congrats on the win, alothough i will always wonder how they would of done without the olympics and the promotion they got out of it. Would series like PTTR have pulled more than 2mil if it was aired at the start of the year, i doubt it. I guess we’ll never know how the year would of played out if there were no games, but considering how nines suprise break out hist died post games, i would say it would of been a closer year without the influence the games had in the last half of the year.

  6. With the exception of the Top 25 of 2008 the results are based on averages of shows aired so while McLeod’s result is based on a handful of episodes, others are on far more, which is why Neighbours doesn’t make the cut. Similarly The Strip started well, but last week under 400,000 because of the timeslot. That drags its series average way down.

    The lists have been compiled by various networks -not me.

  7. good on PTTR, good to see all of the aussie dramas doing well and pushing the top american shows into moderate ratings.

    ch9 was really lacking in big hits (xcept underbelly), out of the the top 10 shows (which is usually what is published in newspapers ect.) the tally is ch7=9, ch9=1. their news wasn’t to good either 7 news in 15th and 9 news in 82nd,that is saying something, but i’m sure they’ll find a spin that says that they won. whats worse, alot of 9’s strong shows are either dead or dying; ramsay, wipeout, attenbrough, 2.5 men whereas 7’s success stories still have a lot in the tank.

    never realised how well ‘the one’ did also good to see rush make top 10 dramas

    if u ask me i think shows should be given special credit for episode and season length, shows like 60 mins that gets 1.5 most weeks of the year must be a bigger achievement than a half hour factual getting 1.7 for 10 weeks

  8. Earthquake: Gladiators got boned (no official final word on that but it does look likely) purely coz of cost of production vs revenue / financial justifiability. Shame coz was great fun.

  9. Good to see so many Aussies shows in the top lists. Thanks for all the effort you put into the list too David.

    Seven certainly had a great year, and well done to them. They had the least erractive programming of all the commercial networks. There obviously were some exception with Lost, Prison Break, Heroes, Ugly Betty, but these big US shows are slipping in the US too, and most people in AUS download them if possible, so Seven cant grab the viewers they would have had many years ago.

    This leads me to another point. Over 1m viewers should make a program last a long time on FTA. But with the amount of downloading and Foxtel options occuring, the average veiwership for shows may not be what it was 10 years ago, and the networks may need to consider a new ‘high’ to keep the show on air. Say 850,000 could be the new 1m to keep a show on air full season without rescheduling. These days it is tough to get over 1m for any non sport event shows with the few obvious exceptions this year with PTTR and Underbelly.

  10. Interesting the McLeod’s Daughters rated just above Rush in the top 10 Drama’s.

    So sad to see 2.5 Men rated in the top 3 spots for comedy, but not surprising. People there are better shows out there.

  11. Where’s Neighbours in all this? In the Winter the show was easily rating at 900k a week. McLeod’s only rated at 900k once and yet its inculded in the list and The Strip is also absent dispite premering with 1.4 mill.

  12. Mandy, agree re Gruen Transfer and Doc Martin.I watched all but one of Gruen but there again I don’t get one of those rating books (yes, i know it is people meters now)
    I just struggle to see how few folk (is it 200 households) decide what the average or all viewers see.
    Spooks,Fringe,Amazing Race,Bed of Roses, Bones were some of my regular viewing. Shows like 20-1.Domestic Blitz,TT,Better Homes and Ramsay probably got m attention for a max of 5 mins when changing over.

  13. Don’t know why but the CH average figure they released was actually different when you look at individual episodes rated (ie: when different states had different episodes). When you take that into account the actual average for the show was 1.644 million.

    But agree with the above, great to see Packed top the ratings like it did.

  14. Surely Neighbours would’ve been in the Top 10 Australian drama programmes? Is it absent due to lack of ratings postings or did it genuinely not average to the Top 10 in that list?

  15. God how depressing the comedy list was – it’s like a bestsellers list when a Harry Potter is released. A plague of Two &a half men(s). What have we become? Just compare it to last year’s – half aussie, and a real mix.

    Also am revolted that Doc Martin pipped Gruen Transfer (or any other show) for top ABC program – ewwwww. No wonder we ABC viewers get stereotyped as sitting at home on a Saturday night with a nice cup of tea and a cardy on, watching poor pretenders to the throne of Hamish Macbeth like this pap.

    Don’t get me wrong though David, very interesting! Thank you. As a Dr Who fan it was good to see not just the series but even the confidentials making the top 200, a well-deserved result in a competitive timeslot.

  16. Good job compiling the lists David.

    PTTR wholly deserves its outstanding results. Hope it continues to pull the same numbers consistently next year. Should be interesting to see how the Underbelly prequel rates next year with Melbourne included. And fingers crossed Rush picks up next year too.

    “Border Security 1.610″…

    Read a book. Watch something on Nine, TEN, ABC or SBS. Go outside for some fresh air. But please, Australia, don’t watch this crap that manifests and reinforces racist stereotypes amongst our society. Hopefully next year, Border bombs.

  17. How nice to see Packed do so well.
    7 had the same gold on their hands with Always Greener but the storylines
    became silly,Dr Love anyone?
    Please keep the scripts lighthearted,that’s what people want.

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