Nine ahead at half time

30Jun08

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald blogs 

It was the battle of the Australian icons, as Dannii Minogue took on
Schappelle Corby. And although Dannii scored a technical knockout,
Schappelle performed strongly enough to let Channel Nine win the week
and conclude the first half of the year with a higher audience share
than Channel Seven (Nine has averaged 27.8 per cent for the ratings
year so far, a rise of 1 per cent, while Seven averaged 27.7, a fall of
6 per cent).

The margin is so fine that Nine can’t take any risks for the second half, which is why it announced late on Friday it had axed Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune, which was providing a lead-in of only 585,000 viewers for Nine’s 6pm news. Its rival, Deal or No Deal, hands over 890,000 to Seven’s news, and sets Seven up nicely for the night. Wheel will be replaced by Antiques Roadshow, which may be an appropriate label for most of what we’ll be seeing this year.

The most watched shows of the week were Seven news Sunday 1.77m; 60 Minutes (9) 1.76m; Australia’s Got Talent (7) 1.73m; Schappelle Corby: The Hidden Truth
(9) 1.54m for part one and 1.28m for Part 2, when viewers realised they
were not going to learn Whodunnit (Top 40 programs below).

Nine averaged 28.8 per cent of the prime time audience for the week,
while Seven got 27.7, Ten 19.9, ABC 17.5 and SBS 6.0. The ABC’s hottest
hits were Spicks and Specks with 1.35m and the Sunday news with 1.21m. SBS scored with the Top Gear Botswana special (928,000) and The Passionate Apprentices (485,000). Pay TV’s top performers included Australia’s Next Top Model (Fox with 320,000, the Titans v Dragons rugby league match (Fox Sports 2)
295,000, the Australia vs China soccer qualifier (Fox Sports 3)
217,000, and Selling Houses Australia (Lifestyle) 180,000.

What Australia watched, week ending June 28

1 SEVEN NEWS – SUN Network 7 1,774,000
2 60 MINUTES Network 9 1,762,000
3 AUSTRALIA’S GOT TALENT Network 7 1,733,000
4 SCHAPELLE CORBY: THE HIDDEN TRUTH Network 9 1,589,000
5 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,564,000
6 BORDER SECURITY (R) Network 7 1,547,000
7 DOMESTIC BLITZ Network 9 1,506,000
8 SEA PATROL II – THE COUP Network 9 1,486,000
9 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,480,000
10 NCIS Network TEN 1,473,000
11 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Network 7 1,461,000
12 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,415,000
13 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S BEAR – A SPY IN THE WOODS Network 9 1,402,000
14 SURF PATROL Network 7 1,362,000
15 SEVEN NEWS – SAT Network 7 1,351,000

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