Nine’s reputedly big fee in hijacking Top Gear from SBS appears to have paid off with a huge 1.68m viewers tuning in for the new episode last night.
The show was the #1 programme for Tuesday, driving right across My Kitchen Rules (1.21m) and The Biggest Loser / Bondi Rescue (722,000 / 966,000).
With all the advertisements Top Gear fans are questioning whether the episode had been trimmed. The BBC delivers a 52 minute international version to its clients. Nine maintains it didn’t edit the show, but it certainly dumped the credits as it shifted gears to the Winter Olympics special which had already run twice on SBS. That episode drove home with 1.24m. Nine will need to be aware it could jeopardise the brand in moving it into the broad, middle lane of television’s highway. Attention to detail is one of the reasons the show became a hit in the first place.
Together with Vancouver Gold highlights (905,000) the night was easily won by Nine.
But TEN had cause to smile with NCIS winning its hour on 1.36m viewers although Bondi Rescue was seemingly dragged down from Loser’s lukewarm lead-in. Grey’s Anatomy sunk to 888,000 for Seven.
Hot Seat (620,000) had a comfy lead over Deal or No Deal (523,000) while Today (370,000) again beat Sunrise (344,000).
Kevin McCloud’s Grand Tour travelled with 746,000 for ABC1, much bigger than its Foreign Correspondent lead-in of 559,000. The highly-underrated Big Love was left with 139,000 on SBS ONE, but next week Insight returns.
Man, I’ve already seen these episodes!! Does this mean Nine is only repeating series that hve already played on BCC Knowledge and SBS?
Top Gear in the UK is shown in HD but Nine’s transmission looked upscaled (yes the in car camera’s are SD but the Helicopter shots were fantastic in HD … just not on Nine
After this little experiement expect the viewers to keep voting with their mice!
@ stan… nine will never hand over hbo programs…. dream on !
Top Gear was trimmed for sure. On BBC2 in the UK it is 58-59 mins without ads, this has been this way since I’ve been watching it from there. It’s a commercial channel, did we expect anything else from nine?
You all have too much time on your hands…….
888,000 Viewers for Greys Anatomy.What a Bore If anyone can sit through shows like that without changing the channel halfway through I will commend them.
I know they needed a temporary replacement for Packed to the Rafters but why not How I met your Mother or American Dad,Family Guy or any other 21st century comedies something laughable and family friendly for an 8:30pm Tuesday Timeslot.It would have been a lot cheaper for them to have retained All Saints than importing in some US Import at the expense of local actors and jobs.
It just goes to show that Top Gear is a perfect fit for Nine’s mainly bogan audience. I don’t want to see it again on SBS because it just brings down the overall tone of the network. I’m sure there was many station promos for Top Gear on programmes like the cricket, Two & A Half Men & ACA, so their potential audience would be reminded of Top Gear’s existence & tune in.
What would be fair is if Nine handed over what’s left of their HBO programming output deal to SBS so they have first rights on everything that comes with it. I could totally see a programmes like Six Feet Under fit in with the SBS schedule! I still can’t believe Nine managed to get through all of Six Feet Under on late Monday nights! It’s not like Nine broadcast much from HBO, but I know that comes with their Time-Warner contract that they’ve had for many decades. Anyway…
No doubt there was viewers watching Top Gear for the first time which will be good for Top Gear after all some people only watch programmes if its on channels 7,9,10 when some gems can be on ABC and SBS.
Viewers of Top Gear would have been disappointed with last nights showing and its the constant tinkering to fit into there own schedules.
Sadly, I watched my first full Top Gear episode on NIne, and I loved it! I knew about the show and how popular it was, just never got around to watching it! Wish I had watched it on a respectable broadcaster!
haha oh wow…
Problem is that, these “Top Gear Fans” (who probably seen the all the new episodes) will probably tune in to the next new episode on C9 only to come here and complain (again). Rinse and Repeat for the next 3 months
One solution could be that C9 could show one of the “extended” version of the show and have it run from 7:30pm – 9:00pm. Then have a comedy filler from 9:00-9:30pm or something like that
a chunk of the “new” viewers wouldn’t even know/care if the show was chopped up. they are probably just happy its on TV and on a channel with a good reception…..
JohnTV, the show is always around an hour long, often a few minutes longer. The international version is the one cut to around 50 minutes, generally the news is taken out, or sometimes the celebrity interview. Nine took that 50 minute version and hacked off another 10 or so minutes, taking parts out of virtually every single segment.
Interesting Greg that the iTunes copy is the same as the original UK one, I would have thought it would be the 52min International copy.
Nathan go to ninemsn.com and there is a “Your Say – Top Gear” to post comments/complains on their very own site.
If this isn’t proof that SBS and ABC are neglected by the idiots of Australia like vanilla ice cream (sorry for the atrocious simile), then I don’t know what is.
Like so many of you i was stunned by what 9 did to Top Gear last night, but there is an answer. itunes have season 14 now available to download, however they’re only releasing one episode a time it appears and i assume that means you have to wait for nine to show their cut down version first. still i’d rather wait one extra day and watch the full version without the constant commercial interuptions that nine pounded it with last night.
Just for the record the full version which i have downloaded from itunes is 61 minutes and 2 seconds long…. that should give you a good idea onjust how much 9 cut out last night!
Where do send complaints, I know it’s been said before but the Winter Olympics Special was edited, badly. People who hadn’t seen the Special were problem wondering why Hammond wasn’t around for the first few challenges, then cut to him in a shed in England trying to see who could hold out the car or him in the cold. And the references to day time telly in the ice hockey challenge. Why did they do and Why did they both to show the first episode then make us wait two weeks to see the rest of it? I agree with Shelly, get Top Gear back to SBS, atleast they showed the long Vietnam Special, Nine would take a hacksaw to it.
Nine may be telling the truth based on what version they brought. Whilst the show is 52 minutes, BBC International Sales can do the cut down prior to delivery, which means that Nine could have received a commercial break broadcast version. It might has still been seamless to allow for the broadcaster to insert their own breaks but it would have been a shorter duration.
Or Nine may have just decided to cut out 10 minutes to get it to 42 minutes themselves – which is a lot of work considering you are alleged to have paid $19m for 2 years.
It wasn’t just 17 minutes cut out of the version that most Top Gear fans watched months ago, it also wasn’t even in HD. Started 5 minutes late as well, which only served to show the massive difference between that horrible sitcom they have on before it, shown in HD of course, then suddenly cuts Clarkson’s head in poorly upscaled SD.
Even worse than Nine’s Olympic coverage.
@Jennie well the facts are they were send 52 minutes and aired 42 so unless the end credits ran longer than those for Avatar (in voice of Jeremy Clarkson) They were lying!
BTW for those who want to see the Winter Games one again (unedited by Nine) then BBC Knowledge is airing in March 7, check your guides.
So what are the facts? Did Nine edit it or not? Surely it can be proven one way or another? Nine caught out lying?
Hey mikeys
More people watch 2.5 men than the news. They are idiots.
I appreciate the advice but I rent and I’m not prepared to pay for a new antenna and to be honest almost anything I want to watch on SBS I can obtain elsewhere. Apart form world news they don’t have any local content I’m interested in. Most of the time it’s fine. It is annoying that with analogue the picture would get fuzzy but with digital it drops out all together. A few years ago I knew some people living two door from the Secret Life of Us flat in St. Kilda who couldn’t get channel 10! I know in the few times when all channels have played the same thing (probably Diana’s Wedding and/or funeral) or the odd significant event SBS still rates the lowest even though they have less adds than the commercials. People just don’t watch it for some strange reason.
Not happy Jan! Even with ads, the Winter Olympics Special part of the night started well before 8.30pm, which means a lot of the regular episode was cut. I knew we could not trust nine.
I would be happy to donate money to SBS to help them raise funds to get the rights back! Anyone want to join me in a fighting fund???
Surely now 9 have a confirmed monster on their hands, the way to take max advantage is to stop editing it to squeeze into an hour and run the full version over 90 mins. It maximises 9′s revenue and minimises compaints about editing. Top Gear is not just a TV show, it’s a religion to millions of fans around the world. Mess with it at your peril, 9.
@Seymor Smith: When you say you’re in Inner Melbourne, have you considered you might be in the range of the South Yarra/Como translator which might give you a better signal. Alternatively you might need to do what I had to do and replace my 40+ year old antenna for a new one to get a clear digital reception.
Having seen the current season in full I tuned in last night to see how badly it was butchered.It was worse than I was expecting.I certainly won’t be watching it on Nine again.
Craig says: And will they edit the 75 minute Bolivia Special later in the season?
We’ve already seen the Bolivia special here in Adelaide. I don’t know whether or not they cut any of it, but it was dragged out to 105 minutes with ads.
I have digital and my SBS drops out from time to time. I keep getting no signal before it will kick back in. A friend down the road can’t tune it in most of the time and my brother nearby doesn’t get it at all. I’m in inner city Melbourne. Yes we should have better boxes or antennas but I really think a lot of people having tuning problems. Growing up we never watched anything on SBS as the signal was too poor.
@ kathy the problem with fast tracking is people then go
“there’s only been 3 episodes and it’s already on repeats?! wtf?! why?! rage!” not understanding in the US, sporting events on carrying networks and rival networks will effect the broadcast of their shows, October and November sweeps, and Thanksgiving weeks, all cause TV shows to air reruns and stagger their airring dates. And then when a show’s first half of a season ends in December, people start raging again “where is ____, does Channel _ expect me to believe that episode 10 counts as the season finale!?” again not being able to grasp the fact that these TV shows cost between 2 and 5 million to produce, and they don’t get as much advertising revenue during the Christmas/New Years period when people are out shopping and such.
@tomothy – I agree, on average they are around 50 minutes on SBS and the same for BBC Knowledge, which would not edit their own series.
It will be interesting when this series comes to BBCK to see how much more they show, they are airing S12 now so it might be a while.
And will they edit the 75 minute Bolivia Special later in the season?
Well, if as reported, Channel 9 is saying they didn’t edit the 50 minute international version down to just under 42 minutes, then either the credits, which they didn’t show, ran for over 8 minutes or 1.6 million TV viewers had a very long “flash forward”.
Either way it’s time to call Ripleys
When do last weeks time shift ratings come out so I know when to do the time shift again, it’s just a jump to the left !!!!!!
Sorry got carried away, i guess i really do like show tunes, lol..
@timothy
The international version was edited by the BBC. SBS never edited it. It was over 52 minutes for some of the earlier series and when it was, SBS scheduled it in for 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Put it on 9 and they will sit there and watch it. You only have to look at the continued mesmerising sucess of 2.5 Men and anything that has Bert in it !!!!
@Johnson: I don’t think SBS can justify spending $20m of (predominantly) taxpayer funds just to get the show back. And if SBS offers $20m then Nine (or others) will just offer $21m so there’s no point in SBS trying to outbid anyone. A commercial network might get the ad dollars to justify such an expense but SBS surely can not.
“Grey’s Anatomy sunk to 888,000 for Seven”. Whatever happened to Fast tracking?
This current series is a great watch – very little of Issy.
The US are due to air Episode 15 and I am sure many Australians have already viewed Episodes 1 – 14. No wonder the numbers are down.
Jed says: Did 800,000 people just get televisions? I don’t get that, they all had access to SBS.
– Lasy people who havent got digital often get terrible SBS on analogue. Before I got digital (8yrs ago), I watched South Park through snow, random high pitched noise and the occasional drop out. Every other station was fine.
Gary says: You say the International version is 52 minutes long. Well I have copies taped from SBS that are only 49 – 50 minutes long, so they must have done some editing as well.
-The international version would be 52min maximum if this is the case. The standard one hour drama is 42 mins and 1/2 hour is 22 mins. If you are a fan of ‘obtaning from other sources’ you may notice that some shows actually often go for 39mins and 20 mins even with credits. It is more than likely that SBS didnt often have to edit if at all.
How can they say it was not edited, many people have recorded it and report it being around 10 minutes short of the 52 the BBC sends out.
The high numbers are understand able with the amount of promoting Nine has done in the last few weeks/months, will they hold? Also with the season being only 7 shows long will it make a huge difference for 2010 and how long will it take Nine to air the next series after the BBC airs it, and will we care?
I just checked out the comments on the Nine site and most hate the cuts and what Nine has done to TG.
Also next week no TG because of the cricket and Nine is promoting the new season in 2 weeks time, wasn’t last night’s show the 14th series opener? I hate when they bend the truth almost as much as the butcher job Nine did last night.
Sorry I will not be back in 2 weeks time!
The 1.68 million audience figure for Top Gear indicates there was a large number of people who tuned in just to find out how much editing Nine has done to the program. The real test will be in two weeks’ time (next week is Twenty/20 cricket from Sydney).
Herald Sun’s Colin Vickery writes in his TG review today that Nine paid $19 million for a two-year deal for the format. So if SBS can fork out at least $20 million it may be able to get the rights back.
SBS is the forgotten channel. If Top Gear had aired on ABC first it would have pulled in about 1.2 million viewers IMHO.
I doubt Nine will hold that many viewers, but it’ll always pull 1 million +
Now Top Gear Australia – that’ll bomb big time. Can’t wait.
“Last nights episode on Nine was only 41 minutes long. It was a full one-third ads”
What is the current limit of advertising that they are allowed in an hour? Although I guess that limit is irrelevant now that the networks can re-work advertising to disguise it as “non-program matter” so they will say “yes we comply with x limit of advertising” but ignore the elaborate sponsor boards and station IDs that are basically just ad content now. (Another free kick allowed to the networks by the government just quietly before Christmas)
At the end it said “back in two weeks” Anyone know why?
I’m a fan of Top Gear but as a matter of principle I won’t watch it on Channel 9.
Well done 9!
From what I remember of last night’s Top Gear episode when I saw it on the BBC, the “news” segment was chopped and I’m sure some of the banter between segments was gone too.
The length of the international versions has varied between 50 and 55 minutes depending on the series. Last nights episode on Nine was only 41 minutes long. It was a full one-third ads. Nine better not keep this up!
I think an extra 800,000 tuned into Top Gear last night to see what all the hoo-haa was about because I dont think many people knew Top Gear existed until Nine claimed it from SBS. SBS is known for showing absolute TV gems without the majority of us knowing.
I’m no fan of cars, but Ill be interested if Nine can sustain the ratings, and if they stay true to the show’s fans.
It did feel choppy in places – during the challenge there was one section where both myself and Mr Beckala said “definite edit there”. I thought it was supposed to be the latest special though (Bolivia? Some country beginning with B – sorry for lack of attention to detail but i’ve been at my computer writing reports since 6am…) so we were surprised (and annoyed) when the Winter Olympics came on – most people I know who watch TG have it on dvd…I get the cross promotion idea, but still, it was a bit shabby to already throw a repeat in.
“Grey’s Anatomy sunk to 888,000 for Seven”
Getting rid of All Saints wasn’t such a good idea now?
This just proves people are idiots, confined to the constrains of urbanised commercial station programming – the same show has been airing in more or less the same timeslot for years, and yet only once it gets to Nine does it rate so well…
I thought it looked very heavily edited compared to when it was on sbs when they went to new segments it just didnt flow
Amazing but not surprised Nine would get more viewers than SBS, better promo’s, ACA, ads in magazines, you would’ve thought this was the first time!
without ads the episode on nine was only 42 mins long.
Was obvious Nine has trimmed the episode. The ‘news’ section was obviously cut short. Further, when eric bana was interviewed clarkson referred to an earlier discussion on Bathurst that we never got to see.
Did 800,000 people just get televisions? I don’t get that, they all had access to SBS.
You say the International version is 52 minutes long. Well I have copies taped from SBS that are only 49 – 50 minutes long, so they must have done some editing as well.