★★★★★ 0/5

Face the factuals. Seven rules the week.

Without any events or boosts from digital channels, Channel Seven won the ratings week -thanks largely to its factual slate underpinning consistent programming.

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hpAfter five straight losses, an aggressive Seven Network showed it wins on consistent programming and not events or boosts from digital shares. It dominated the week’s top shows, as its factuals continue to underpin the network’s schedule. Seven took 14 of the week’s Top 15 shows.

Seven won the week with 29.0% over Nine’s 26.5% and TEN’s 21.8%. The ABC had 17.1% and SBS 5.5%.

Seven also won two key demos 18-49 and 25-54 while TEN won 16-39.

GO! had 2.4%, ABC2 1.2%, ONE 1.6% and SBS TWO 0.4%.

Seven won Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Nine won Thursday. All cities were won by Seven except Melbourne which fell to Nine.

Packed to the Rafters resumed its mantle as the week’s #1 show with 1.84m viewers. Seven’s other top shows included Seven News, FlashForward, The Force, Border Security, Today Tonight, Highway Patrol, Destroyed in Seconds, Last Chance Surgery, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Better Homes and Gardens, and Medical Emergency. Its other local dramas, All Saints, Home and Away and City Homicide all hovered around 1 -1.18m. Deal beat Hot Seat -just- this week. Encouragingly, Beauty & the Geek improved in its second week. But Seven has dumped its late night fashion import Style by Jury which took 183,000. The V8 Supercars at Bathurst drove up the network’s figures helping to gain a big Sunday win.

Without events like Hey Hey the Reunion and NRL, Nine’s week was modest. It’s top audience was Nine News on Monday at 1.24m. Repeats of Two and a Half Men were the only other scorers to pass 1.2m -although 20 to 1 was close. Between 1 – 1.2m were Rescue: Special Ops. 60 Minutes, A Current Affair, Getaway,  CSI, The Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist. Both Secret Millionaire and The Apprentice Australia lifted last week -the latter by over 160,000. But just 604,000 watched a Spiderman movie premiere on Tuesday. RPA continues to deliver, lifting above its lead in, but Thursday’s ER plummeted to 356,000. Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s 1500th party rose to 164,000 -a cool 11,000 behind The Morning Show. Wipeout took 241,000 on GO!

It was a powerhourse 1.47m for NCIS this week on TEN, handing Lie to Me 1.17m. Celebrity MasterChef was third in its slot on 1.18m while NCIS: Los Angeles won its on 1.07m. The Simpsons returned to 934,000. Glee is holding well in its demographics but Rush may have lost some of the traction it had appear to gain. Australian Idol rose slightly but was defeated by three other networks. Three Rivers had a dire debut of just 499,000 and was subsequently dumped two days later.  On Friday The Spearman Experiment was only 525,000, behind a Love Actually replay which followed. Good to see The 7PM Project reach 786,000 on Monday.

Four Corners‘ profile on James Packer was the top drawcard on ABC, at 1.11m viewers. Other titles to perform included Spicks and Specks, Jonathan Creek, Media Watch, Australian Story, Hunter, The Bill, Heart and Soul and Ganges. Without Hey Hey competing, more viewers took time to sample Hungry Beast (719,000). The final United States of Tara took 732,000. On ABC2 Torchwood managed 135,000.

870,000 viewers watched Top Gear on SBS and 358,000 stayed for Man vs Wild. What a shame just 193,000 were there for the return of East West 101 a night later. SBS did it a disservice by programming it against the week’s top show. Why? At least its audience was loyal to Who Do You Think You Are? (402,000). Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam premiered as its top show for Thursday on 282,000.

Week 42

29 Responses

  1. I think that there are way too many factuals on television. There are people out there who want to be taken away from the real world and be able to find some enjoyable entertainment. That is why Hey Hey It’s Saturday did so well.

    The networks have to remember:

    Just because a show rates well, does not mean that all those people are liking the show. Maybe it’s the only thing worth watching and when you think about it that way, that really is sad.

    More variety and fun.

  3. @kubz, the numbers you are talking about are 6-10:30, which are useless. go to the week 41 ratings release to find all the year to date figures. but note they do not include ABC/SBS

    7 are still winning 18-49 and 25-54. 6-midnight.

  4. I enjoy the 7pm Project but it rates between 500-800K – well below the 1.2m ratings that repeats of 2.5 men gets.

    and these low ratings then affect the rest of their evening line up – because many viewers just leave the TV on the same station all night long.

    And seriously – the cost of screening the 7pm project 5 nights a week would be about double what it costs Nine to just show repeats of an unfunny sitcom.

    I applaud TEN for trying something different – but the viewers prefer repeats of an American sitcome over a fresh, funny news show!

  5. @ James
    ‘For the survey year 10 are 3rd in both 18-49 and 25-54. Seven leads Nine.’
    Incorrect. TEN are first in the 18 – 49 demographic year to date. Nine leads Seven in the 18 – 49 demographic and are Equal first with Seven in the 25 – 54 demographic

  6. well it’s good that 7 have 14 of the top 15 shows. but even better that 13 of them are Australian. this would be a good boost of confidence at 7 knowing that they can still be very strong in total people and demos without the 2nd digital disadvantage. a win of 2.5% is huge. even before GO! that is one of the biggest margins of the year.

  7. @Justin: I suspect factuals win for one main reason. They require no commitment from the viewer, either week-to-week or even within the half-hour, since they’re dumbed down to the point where endless recaps allow distracted viewers to keep up with what is going on.

    In other words, snack TV for people with short attention spans.

  8. Justin, Seven are 1.5% behind Ten on 18-49 fo the year, and are equal first with Nine in 25-54. Ten are flogging the competition in 16-39 though.

    I disagree that Seven are in a slump. Winning total people, equal first in 25-54 and competitive in 18-49. They’d be happy with that.

  9. I love Highway patrol, 1 20 minute episode each week is really no where near enough. This show surpasses other factuals like The Force: Behind the Line, Border Security: Australia’s Front Line, and Ten’s The Recruits. Last monday’s Highway Patrol was the funniest show I’ve seen in a while

  11. Everyone always talks about Ten winning key demos and thats all that matters …. blah blah… does anyone actually know who out of Ten, Nine and Seven wins more advertising dollars??

    If they do actually make more money then the others then I will accept this argument!!

    Does anyone know??

  12. @ Justin,
    Your comments below are deadset wrong.

    ‘You can also see why ten are winning the 16-39 and 18-49 demographics. Seven rely heavily on their old audience to give them wins.’
    ‘seven are far from ontop in the 2 most prized demographics; 16-39 and 18-49!’

    David stated that Seven won 18-49’s for the week, how is that far from top?
    For the survey year 10 are 3rd in both 18-49 and 25-54. Seven leads Nine.

  13. @ Justin: until the other networks that are beating Seven in these demos manage to obtain more ad revenue whilst still losing in total people to Seven, then Seven is clearly still winning. Seven’s small demo losses are offset by its huge audience in 55+ – so much so that advertisers still find them a more attractive proposition compared with their rivals.

  14. Ten don’t really have a lot of options if they get rid of the 7pm Project.

    The Old Now Long Gone American Sitcom Road has been done to death many times over.

    Another thing they could do a lot better than old Simpsons repeats that should have been killed off a long time ago as a 6pm programme but you know who are really to blame for that.People with Young Children who won’t accept change

  16. Who cares if seven wins in total viewers. The only thing that matters is those key demographics. And seven are far from ontop in the 2 most prized demographics; 16-39 and 18-49! Seven are in a slump this year – a big one!

  17. great to see 7 back on top after missing out with 9 and go with mixed audience shares that helped 9 win but with no more big events 7 should win the rest of the ratings weeks and they deserve it with hit shows and good programming.

  18. I’m still hoping that Ten stick with 7pm.. It’s improving, and they’re finding a really nice balance now. At least they’re playing it over the summer and giving it more of a chance. If it stayed at around the 700 mark, would that be good enough for them to keep? Or is it just that Ten don’t really have many alternatives?

  19. It’s nice to see Seven won almost exclusively with local shows, while Ten only rated well with overseas content.

    However, I like 7PM Project, and I think it will only get better as it cements its niche.

  20. You can also see why ten are winning the 16-39 and 18-49 demographics. Seven rely heavily on their old audience to give them wins. If seven was a network in the US they would be critised to death.

  23. The 7pm Project isn’t as bad as it used to be. Its no Daily Show but its better than H&A and 2.5 men.

    Neighbours has been crashing and burning, 560k in a prime 6.30pm slot isn’t good enough. They should axe those bloody Simpsons repeats like they were planning to earlier this year, and move Neighbours to 6pm. 7pm Project won’t last but it would probably be a good feature for a 10pm show. Or hell, just air The Daily Show at 7pm, then Australia could really see how its done.

  24. So glad to see Seven win again. Looking at Nine their top show of 1.2m being the news. It just goes to show how weak the network is without its specials. Seven have actually won most of the past 5 weeks if not all if they were calculated individually. But thats not the case. I am just glad Seven are back.

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