A couldn’t-give-a-damn week! 9th Nov 2008

National TV ratings: source David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

 The TV networks seemed to be in a carefree Melbourne Cup mood all week. As a result, they were taught a lesson about viewer loyalty. On Monday, Channel Seven rehashed its failed game show, The Rich List, and repeated its hit cop show City Homicide, with the result that Channel Nine won the night. On Wednesday, Nine showed a Will Ferrell movie instead of The Mentalist, and lost 400,000 viewers, while Ten replaced House with an extra episode of the cop show Life, and lost 200,000 viewers.

The most watched shows belonged to Seven: the Melbourne Rup race, Packed to The Rafters, Find My Family and The Zoo. Nine’s hits were Two and a Half Men, CSI and 60 Minutes. Ten scored with NCIS, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Australian Idol, while the ABC got a similar result for Spicks and Specks and its news. SBS gained from Seven’s collapse on Monday night, when Top Gear Australia enjoyed a resurgence to 653,000.

On Pay TV, the top scorers were the cricket in India (274,000 for Fox Sports 2), The Simpsons (200,000 for Fox 8), Family Guy (159,000 for Fox 8), Ice Road Truckers (155,000 for Fox 8 ) and America’s Next Top Model (148,000 for Fox 8).

The week ended with a fall in audiences and a rise in viewer resentment about being taken for granted. Seven averaged 30.1 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 26.3, Ten on 19.8, ABC on 18.3 and SBS on 5.55.

What Australia watched, week ending November 8
1 THE 2008 MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL: MELBOURNE CUP-THE RACE Seven 2,272,000
2 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 2,070,000
3 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,837,000
4 THE ZOO - TUE Seven 1,721,000
5 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,519,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,489,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,472,000
8 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,432,000
9 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,424,000
10 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Seven 1,387,000
11 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,372,000
12 CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION Nine 1,322,000
13 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,297,000
14 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,285,000
15 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,268,000

Posted under National TV Ratings, Television, Television Shows