The ratings race: Fading to grey

27Aug07

Source: David Dale, SMH

With all the bad publicity, and the nation thrown into terror and panic about the threatened departure of Ray Martin, Channel Nine should be doing far worse in prime time audience share than the 26.5 per cent it averaged last week.

Even though Channel Ten has three shows in the top ten, and Nine has only one, Nine can boast that it is Still The Two!

Ten could only average 23.2 per cent of the audience last week, while Seven scored 28.8 per cent (ABC 16.3 and SBS 5.3). That’s because Australians are loyal to programs, not networks, and Nine can still rely on Getaway, CSI, Temptation, and RPA to pull in the venerable viewers.

But Nine is now getting tough competion for the grey vote from the ABC. With viewers over 55, the most watched show of last week was Midsomer Murders (while Kath and Kim was only their number 4).

What Australia watched, week ending August 25

1 KATH & KIM Seven 2,511,000
2 THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE Ten 2,050,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,734,000
4 HOUSE Ten 1,698,000
5 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,697,000
6 SEVEN NEWS – SUN Seven 1,657,000
7 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,656,000
8 AUSTRALIAN IDOL – FINAL 24 Ten 1,563,000
9 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,477,000
10 SEA PATROL Nine 1,466,000
11 GETAWAY Nine 1,436,000
12 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC 1,428,000
13 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,421,000
14 AUSTRALIAN IDOL – TOP 100 Ten 1,415,000
15 MY NAME IS EARL Seven 1,388,000

Popularity: 1%