Nine Swindled by ABC

16Jul07

Global warming rocked the boat for the cops in Sea Patrol last week, not by causing freak waves but by tempting 300,000 of their viewers over to the ABC.

The documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle pulled 1.1 million in the mainland capitals on Thursday night, and the debate that followed held onto 969,000 until 11pm — an extraordinary result for the national broadcaster. Against it, Sea Patrol attracted 1.7 million, down from nearly 2 million the previous week.

It was a solid result for Nine but not enough to help it win the week, even with the 1.3 million who watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Saturday. The average prime time audience shares ended up as Seven 28.7 per cent, Nine 27.6, Ten 21.1, ABC 16.5 and SBS 6.1. SBS scored with Top Gear (753.000) and The Roman Empire (416,000)

Channel Ten began a Wednesday recovery when Thank Good You’re Here passed on a healthy audience to Dr House.

But Big Brother is suffering its worst season ever. At this nearly final stage, a BB episode should be at least in the ratings top 20. But BB’s best manifestation last week was the Friday Night Games, ranked at No 42 for the week, with 1.08 million.

Strangely, BB enjoyed a resurgence on Sunday. Whether because of the insertion of the talk jock Kyle Sandilands, or because, even with this boring bunch of housemates, there is some curiosity about the winner, the eviction show suddenly approached the kind of numbers it was getting back in the glory days.

Thanks to Midsomer Murders and The Worst Jobs in History, the ABC captured 20.1 per cent of the prime time audience, but Nine won the night with 28.2 per cent.

What Australia watched, week ending July 14

1 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,867,000
2 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,838,000
3 THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE 3 Ten 1,771,000
4 SURF PATROL Seven 1,694,000
5 SEVEN NEWS – SUN Seven 1,689,000
6 60 MINUTES Nine 1,677,000
7 SEA PATROL Nine 1,662,000
8 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,642,000
9 GREY’S ANATOMY Seven 1,567,000
10 HOUSE Ten 1,517,000
11 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,464,000
12 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,461,000
13 WHERE ARE THEY NOW Seven 1,391,000
14 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,387,000
15 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,369,000

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Popularity: 5%