Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

All combatants in any war think God is on their side, but last
week, Channel Seven could make this claim more strongly than Channel
Nine, because it was saved by The Vicar Of Dibley. Until Friday, Nine was winning the week, thanks to shows such as CSI, Sea Patrol and Domestic Blitz, which appeal to older viewers. But on Friday Better Homes And Gardens brought Seven neck and neck with Nine, and on Saturday the portly prelate pushed Seven’s nose in front.

The prime time audience shares were Seven 28.2 per cent, Nine on
27.7, Ten on 20.4, ABC on 18.1 and SBS on 5.6. See below for the most
watched shows of the week.

On Pay TV, the most watched were the World Cup soccer qualifier
between Australia and Iraq (Fox Sports 3) 330,000; NRL Wests Tigers v
Cowboys (Fox Sports 2) 291,000; Australia’s Next Top Model (Fox8) 232,000; and The Simpsons (Fox8) 221,000. The ABC triumphed with Spicks And Specks (1.37m) and The Gruen Transfer (1.27m) and SBS scored with a new season of Top Gear (786,000).

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Popularity: 1%

Source: Richard Clune, news.com.au

THEY are the measure of star quality that the television stations don’t want you to see.However, a rare glimpse of the Q Scores on our brekkie hosts shows why David Koch is the star of morning television.

The former finance guru turned host of Sunrise has what television executives call star quality, with a Q Score rating of 14.

The secretive scores are a system of consumer polling employed by television networks to determine how popular a celebrity is.

A score of 10 and above is deemed high, with a low score being three and an average score sitting at six.

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Popularity: 6%

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

Advertisements on the ABC were a big hit last week. The opening episode of The Gruen Transfer, a skeptical analysis of TV commercials, drew 1.29 million in the mainland capitals, making it second only to Spicks and Specks (1.31m)
as the ABC’s most popular show. SBS, the national broadcaster which
takes commercials seriously, could manage only 487,000 for its top
show, a repeat of Top Gear, and 427,000 for the Eurovision song contest final.

And while a defamation jury ruled on Thursday that Seven’s Today Tonight had
less credibility than the sister of Schappelle Corby, 1.4 million
people in the mainland capitals still considered it worth watching
every night, with another 1.3 million apparently trusting its rival A Current Affair.

Channel Nine won the week, with 27.7 per cent of the prime time
audience, closely followed by Seven on 27.5, while Ten got 20.9, ABC
17.8 and SBS 6.0. The most watched shows of the week were: 60 Minutes (9) 1.71 million; Seven news Sunday 1.71m; Border Security (7) 1.66m; Seven news Monday to Friday 1.54 m; Sea Patrol (9) 1.51m; Nine news Sunday 1.50m; Domestic Blitz (9) 1.48m; Surf Patrol (7) 1.47m; and Better Homes and Gardens (7) 1.42m.

Popularity: 1%

National TV ratings race. Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

The viewing habits of Australians last week evoked a very traditional
stereotype: a nation preoccupied with football, gardening, home
renovations and Dannii Minogue. Only a sudden passion for tigers showed
any deviation from decades-old norms.

Wednesday’s State of Origin rugby league match attracted 2.09 million
viewers (including a surprising 283,000 in Melbourne). It was the
highest figure for any program this ratings year and for any State of
Origin game this decade. The other most watched shows of the week were:
Australia’s Got Talent (7) with 1.60 m; Seven Sunday news 1.65m; 60 Minutes (9) 1.57m; Better Homes and Gardens (7) 1.52m; and David Attenborough’s Tiger — Spy in the Jungle (9) 1.54m

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Popularity: 1%

National TV ratings race. Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

The saddest news of the TV week was how far the once-mighty Lost
has fallen. Moved by Channel Seven to 10.30pm, the series that started
with nearly two million viewers managed just 392,000 in the mainland
capitals last Thursday. The mystery that intrigued us and then
infuriated us is being solved over the next two episodes, but like the
tree that keeps falling in the forest, will there be anybody there to
see it?

Big Brother is not quite in Lost‘s hole yet, but it’s
getting there. Do we blame the hosts — limp Jackie and loud Kyle? Or
the contestants, none of whom seems to provoke what Ten likes to call
"water cooler buzz", like previous inmates (pictured here)? Is it just
an idea whose time has gone?

BB stayed steadfastly under a million viewers for most of last week,
apart from a brief visit from style guru Carson Kressley, who put the
audience back up to 1.2 million on Wednesday, when Ten also scored by
bringing back fresh episodes of House.

The most watched shows were 60 Minutes (9) with 1.73m; Border Security (7) 1.57m; and Seven news Sunday 1.47m (see below for full details).

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Popularity: 1%

Source: Jane Schulze, Media editor, The Australian

TEN Network chief Grant Blackley expects rival Seven Network to lose the TV ratings crown this year after haemorraghing audience share, only a year after finally grabbing the title from Nine.

Four months into the official TV ratings year, Mr Blackley does not believe Seven has the programming firepower to reverse massive double-digit audience declines in key demographics this year.

"As far as we’re concerned, Seven’s demise is not an aberration and will continue throughout the year," he said.

In the ratings year to date, Seven’s share of total people viewing – which it won last year – has slumped 6 per cent while Ten’s has jumped 4.4 per cent and Nine’s 3 per cent.

Ten has now taken the lead in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic after lifting its audience share 2.5 per cent to 34.3 per cent. Nine has boosted viewing in that demographic by 12.5 per cent to 33.9 per cent while Seven, which won this demographic last year, has fallen 12.7 per cent to 31.7 per cent.

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Popularity: 1%

National ratings race. Source : David Dale Sun Herald Blogs

Sound the alarm and call out the bloodhounds — nearly half a million Australian viewers have gone missing.

Last year the premiere of Ugly Betty attracted 2.05 million in the mainland capitals. Last week Betty’s second season opened with 1.03 million.

Last year Sea Patrol averaged 1.6 million. Last week’s episode drew 1.2 million.

Last year the Logies broadcast held 1.7 million viewers for four hours. Last week it held 1.50 million.

Grey’s Anatomy managed 1.3 million against the Logies last year and this year 1 million.

At this point in 2007 Big Brother at 7pm was drawing 1.1 million. Last week it was lucky to get 900,000, despite the presence of Corey Worthington (who proves to be disturbingly bland).

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Popularity: 1%

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs

It was a week of fond farewells and lukewarm welcomes. Farewelling The Biggest Loser,
in which contestant Sam Rouen, 20, shed 46 per cent of his body weight,
Channel Ten got the biggest audience of any series this year — 1.89
million in the mainland capitals. This topped the 1.85 million who
farewelled Ten’s So You Think You Can Dance Australia on Sunday.

But only 1.51 million welcomed Big Brother on Monday — the
worst opening in the show’s history, although better than the welcome
afforded to Dannii Minogue and her two boobs on Tuesday, when Seven
managed only 1.36 million for Australia’s Got Talent. BB
had small audiences during the week and only 1 million saw the smallest
contestant, Rima, break her leg during the Friday night games. With her
in hospital, there will be even less reason to watch BB this week.

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Popularity: 1%

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

Nine’s hopes of recapturing the week with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Saturday were dashed when the ABC grabbed 1.4 million for Doc Martin, to Harry’s 1.3 million. And Seven’s last minute decision to replace Michael Palin’s New Europe with the thousandth repeat of Fawlty Towers proved justified, when John Cleese pulled 839,000 viewers — 100,000 more than his former Monty Python colleague.

By week’s end, audience shares in prime time were: Seven 29.0 per cent,
Nine 27.6, Ten 22.0, ABC 16.2 and SBS 5.3. The most watched shows of
the week were: 60 Minutes
(9) 1.73 m (apparently because it included a profile of Golden Ramsay);
Seven news Sunday (7) 1.68m; RSPCA Animal Rescue (7) 1.76m; Border
Security (7) 1.76m; and Bondi Rescue (10) 1.62m.

Popularity: 4%

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs
The embattled Channel Nine had good news and bad news during the week,
but there was enough of the former to suggest that Seven won’t have an
easy victory this year. Having axed the game show The Power of Ten because it pulled less than 800,000 viewers, Nine found that its replacement David Attenborough’s Life In Cold Blood charmed 1.3 million in the mainland capitals on Monday. Smart move.

Nine then felt confident in axing The Moment of Truth, which got only 741,000 on Tuesday, and replacing it this week with the venerable 20 To 1,
hosted by Bert Newton, a star of Attenborough’s vintage if not his
authority. Nostalgia may not be what it was, but it can attract more
viewers than public humiliation.

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Popularity: 5%