The ratings race: Strange days have found us

10Sep07

Source: David Dale, Sydney Morning Herald
I

t’s not a unique occurrence in the history of Australian television,
but it’s rare: all but one of the programs in the top 20 last week were
Australian. Equally rare is that the only non-Australian program is
British, not American, and that the ABC has more shows in the top 20
than Channel Ten (Seven has 11 shows, Nine four, ABC three and Ten two).

The explanation must be that this is an all round peculiar time of
year, as the nation splits geographically along faultlines of footy.
Channel Nine, with the help of rugby league, easily won the week in
Sydney, while Channel Seven, with the help of AFL (which it shares with
Ten), narrowly won the week across the nation.

In Sydney, Nine averaged 30.4 per cent of the prime time audience,
while Seven averaged 27.5.

The audience shares over the mainland
capitals were Seven 28.9 per cent, Nine 27.2, Ten 22.1, ABC 16.7, and
SBS 5.1.

What Australia watched, week ending September 8
1 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,904,000
2 THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE Ten 1,848,000
3 KATH & KIM Seven 1,817,000
4 THE FORCE – MON Seven 1,815,000
5 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,764,000
6 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,717,000 492,000
7 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,707,000
8 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,506,000
9 THE CHASER’S WAR ON EVERYTHING ABC 1,495,000
10 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC 1,468,000
11 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,432,000
12 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,417,000
13 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,410,000
14 RPA Nine 1,395,000
15 60 MINUTES Nine 1,394,000

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