Shock! Horror! Stop the presses! Ten had a major win last night — for the first time in years it topped the main channels in metro TV, beating Nine and Seven (and the main channels are where the money is made in FTA TV). That win was thanks to an audience build for the new program Hunted (aka The Amazing Race with CCTV) and the very funny Have You Been Paying Attention, which is always better when Sam Pang is in his chair.
Ten also — for the second Monday night in a row — ran second in total people behind Nine but in front of Seven, which struggles on Monday nights when it can’t be saved by the AFL. Hunted’s second ep built on to its launch figures — 993,000 last night, up from 851,000 on Sunday night. It’s an audience builder — how long before Seven and Nine try a knock-off?
Nine’s Beauty and The Geek was 537,000 down from 615,000 on Sunday night — it’s a child of the BVOD generation. Seven gave us another Hey Hey special – this one The Very Best of the Best and Worse of Red Faces — 671,000 down from 994,000 on Sunday night. That’s one unnecessary trip to the nostalgia well for Seven.
A moment’s silence for Lisa Wilkinson, co-host of The Project, if you please. She has been missing from The Project since her unfortunate comments about the Brittany Higgins case. Now media reports say she is in the US on assignment, just when Ten is looking better than it has been for a while — especially on Monday nights, with Have You Been Paying Attention the real star with its continuing solid figures. No reflected glory for Lisa from afar.
In breakfast, ABC News Breakfast topped Nine’s Today nationally, and was second to Sunrise on Seven. News Breakfast also topped Today in the metros, which must be starting to concern Nine.
Network channel share:
- Nine (25.8%)
- Ten (24.6%)
- Seven (24.4%)
- ABC (17.7%)
- SBS (7.6%)
Network main channels:
- Ten (18.5%)
- Nine (18.2%)
- Seven (16.9%)
- ABC (12.8%)
- SBS ONE (4.1%)
Top 5 digital channels:
- 7TWO (3.2%)
- 7mate, Gem (2.8%)
- 10 Bold (2.7%)
- 10 Peach (2.6%)
Top 10 national programs:
- Seven News — 1.547 million
- Seven News 6.30pm — 1.453 million
- Nine News — 1.202 million
- Nine News 6.30pm — 1.195 million
- Hunted (Ten) — 993,000
- A Current Affair (Nine) — 980,000
- 7pm ABC News — 916,000
- Have You Been Paying Attention (Ten) — 900,000
- The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 883,000
- 7.30 (ABC) — 821,000
Top metro programs: none with a million or more viewers.
Regional Top 5: Seven News, 573,000; Seven News 6.30pm, 539,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 347,000; Nine News, 3186,000; Nine News 6.30pm, 298,000.
Losers: Beauty and the Geek and The Very Best of the Best and Worse of Red Faces.
Metro news and current affairs:
- Seven News — 975,000
- Nine News 6.30pm — 914,000
- Seven News 6.30pm — 897,000
- Nine News — 884,000
- ACA (Nine) — 690,000
- 7pm ABC News — 619,000
- 7.30 (ABC) — 585,000
- The Project 7pm (Ten) — 432,000
- Media Watch (ABC) — 374,000
- Four Corners (ABC) — 366,000
Morning (national) TV:
- Sunrise (Seven) — 354,000/200,000
- ABC News Breakfast — 292,000/195,000
- Today (Nine) — 272,000/189,000
- ABC News Mornings — 256,000
- The Morning Show (Seven) — 204,000
- Today Extra (Nine) — 146,000
- Studio 10 (Ten) — 36,000
Top 5 pay TV programs:
- AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 66,000
- Golf: British Open (Fox Sports 505) — 56,000
- The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 52,000
- Credlin (Sky News) — 50,000
- Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 49,000
