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Footy wars talk-fest, first round to Nine.

Seven's return to a footy chat show, co-produced by Eddie McGuire's own company, loses round one to Nine's team.

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Footy ClassifiedLast night Seven revived its Talking Footy show fronted by Bruce McAvaney for the AFL finals season after a long absence.

Scheduled at 9:40pm in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, it was upstaged by Nine’s regular Monday show Footy Classified, airing at 9:30pm.

With strong interest in the ongoing Essendon saga, footy fans on Twitter were hooked on who was watching which show…

On the numbers front Footy Classified was 356,000 in 3 cities, with 239,000 in Melbourne. Talking Footy had 241,000 in 3 cities with 136,000 in Melbourne.

“Footy Classified is an established brand and proven destination for viewers seeking expert political analysis of football. As we’ve shown since the story broke, Classified has been programmed at short notice and whenever necessary to remain at the forefront of this extraordinary story,” said Tim Cleary, Nine Melbourne’s Head of Programming and Production.

“Footy Classified is produced in-house by a top-class production unit that puts out three quality footy shows a week which dominate their timeslot. As for last night’s ratings, we were delighted.”

Seven lucked out on Andrew Demetriou’s promised appearance but was happy with a 20% lift in the timeslot from the preceding week.

“It was an encouraging start – especially given Andrew had to withdraw due to the AFL commission hearing. The feedback on the show and the panel has been terrific,” a Seven spokesperson said.

It’s also worth noting that Talking Footy is a co-production between Seven and Jam TV, owned by McGuire Media, and includes Eddie McGuire’s TripleM co-presenter Luke Darcy. On radio McGuire was happy to talk up Seven’s, rather than Nine’s show, but was careful to include disclaimers about his interests.

Former Head of Entertainment at Nine, Cos Cardone is executive producer on Talking Footy for Jam TV along with Luke Tunnecliffe.

McGuire’s company also produces sports shows for Foxtel.

17 Responses

  1. @jonno

    If you did read my posts I did actually look for it. It just shouldn’t be so hard to do so. I’m surprised by so many people defending channel nine.

    It was a very good episode and interview and I have watched it on catch up tv.

  2. it would be nice to see these two shows (plus Ten’s Before the Game) air earlier in Sydney. Anything past 11.30pm on the digital channels is too late here. I would imagine that Brisbane be the same?

  3. @tvf – I think you are a bit harsh on Nine. They were the only network to do a show on the Essendon saga last night. Footy Classified has often done extra shows this year and a true footy nut would realize this and look for it. I went to Twitter and found out they were doing the show. I congratulate Nine for doing it, a great effort considering they don’t have the AFL rights. I thought 7 might of cranked up Talking Footy last night but seemed happy to give Nine a free kick. I am not normally a Nine lover but I give credit when it is due.

  4. @Dave R

    If you are a regular footy classified viewer you would realise that the timeslot for footy classified changes on a regular basis and it can be frustrating to keep track especially when you set the pvr.

    Unfortunately I’m not on twitter, wasn’t watching channel nine last night (no interest in big brother or GABO) and I checked the pvr prior to 7pm. This was after hearing news for a few hours that an outcome would be reached this evening. I understand it was breaking news but decisions to run an extra show couldn’t be that last minute surely. There is a reason why there are very few shows I watch on channel nine these days. Winners and Losers was good last night.

  5. I enjoyed Talking Footy on Seven although i would have liked it if it was Live on 7Mate around the nation. I also thought they would have just used the GameDay set which looked similar to their original format with the more casual setting. Footy Classified works well with a desk and a panel type setting/format but Talking Footy is supposed to be more casual in terms of the setting, didnt particularly like the desk. I also mentioned that it would be better if Mark Stevens was on the show and not Luke Darcy. Wayne Carey was OK, Tim Watson was good as always and Bruce was at his inquisitive best asking Tim for obvious reasons (essendon). On Monday Night i watched Talking Footy and last night i watched Footy Classified. For me Talking Footy by a nose.

  6. Footy Classified first tweeted about the Special Edition just after 7pm, followed by Channel 9 airing multiple on screen promos during Big Brother Nominations and ad Break promos with Gary Lyon every ad Break during the GABO and hyped by Peter Hitchner during the Nine “News Break”.

    I didn’t see exactly what time it changed, but the Special Edition was on my EPG when GABO actually started (delayed due to Press Conference)

    I’m not sure what more TVF expects from Nine with abreaking story?

    On the episode though, Amazing interview with Mark Thompson that kept going and going without commercial which was impressive

  7. Really annoyed that I missed footy classified. Simply didn’t know it was on. Had a suspicion it might be on but was too busy watching other stuff and completely forgot to check. I shouldn’t have to check. Channel nine need to do more about letting us know about last minute amendments. I know I checked the tv guide on the tv early in the evening and it was not updated. Not good enough channel nine. I hope they don’t take too long to update their catch up site. They are mightily slow at doing that. Just heard a bit on the Mark Thompson interview being replayed on SEN. Would like to see the whole thing.

  9. Fox Footy coverage amazing tonight with Gerard Wakely and Eddie McGuire on the AFL/Essendon result.. Just shows what an outstanding TV presenter Ed is…particularly being involved as he is as an AFL president…no bias shown…just reported the facts.

  11. I usually watch footy classified. I watched a bit of talking footy because Andrew Demetriou was supposed to be on but he wasn’t because of the Essendon situation. I wanted to hear his thoughts on the Essendon situation. It was boring and I didn’t last long. I thought Tim Watson was the wrong fill in because he is so close to the Essendon situation. Footy classified works because there are strong characters and opinions. I just would like there to be less speaking over each other so I could hear everyones view and make an informed opinion. I also enjoy watching offsiders. I thought they dissected the Essendon situation quite well on Sunday mornings episode.

  13. Enjoyed Talking Footy. Sometimes the “theatre” of Footy Classified is a little too strong. Will be interesting to see how the shows play out over the finals series.

  14. Much prefer Footy Classified. Seven has the AFL rights and all of 7’s commentators tip toe around the powerful AFL. Caroline Wilson on Footy Classified is a gutsy investigative journalist who is unafraid to lock horns with the AFL, coaches and players. She stands out against the boys club.

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