National Ratings Blog 17 Nov 2008

The hottest names on television last week were Bianca Saez and Dawn French. Saez almost gave Channel Nine a ratings victory, and French showed why the ABC should have fought harder to keep Andrew Denton doing his interview program Enough Rope next year.

Saez is a former sufferer from Tourette syndrome, and renovating her home was the theme of a special edition of Domestic Blitz which attracted 1.7 million mainland capital viewers on Monday night. French is the star of The Vicar of Dibley, and her thoughts on life and weight brought 1.2 million to Denton’s program on Monday night.

Nine averaged a rare high of 28.5 per cent of the week’s prime time audience, while the ABC averaged 17.7 per cent, Seven got 29.1 per cent, Ten got 19.5, and SBS got 5.3. Seven’s top shows were Packed to the Rafters, Find My Family, and the final of Dancing with the Stars. Nine’s other hits were Two and a Half Men on Wednesday and 60 Minutes. Ten scored with Australian Idol and NCIS. The ABC’s other hits were Spicks and Specks and the 7pm news.

SBS had to be content with Top Gear Australia (622,000), a repeat of Inspector Rex (373,000) and the Ozcom Swift and Shift Couriers (368,000). And On Pay TV, the most watched shows included the cricket test in India (210,000 on Fox Sports 2), The Simpsons (201,000 viewers on Fox 8), and America’s Next Top Model (189,000 on Fox 8).

What Australia watched, week ending November 15
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,959,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,788,000 510,000
3 DOMESTIC BLITZ Nine 1,692,000
4 THE ZOO - TUE Seven 1,581,000
5 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Seven 1,457,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,436,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,425,000
8 60 MINUTES Nine 1,395,000
9 20 TO 1 Nine 1,339,000
10 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,336,000
11 TWENTY/20 -ALL STARS Nine 1,334,000
12 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,300,000
13 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,275,000
14 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,270,000
15 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,269,000

Posted under National TV Ratings, Newcastle Media, Television, Television Shows