Seven take 2008

As expected Channel Seven has won the 2008 ratings race as television switches to summer repeats and runs of failed programs. It was the second half of the year that took Seven to victory who finished the year with 29.5% of the audience share, followed by Nine with 26.8%. Ten finished third with 20.8%, ABC 17.4% and SBS 6.5%.

Packed to the Rafters was the year’s most popular television series which Seven launched after the Olympics and consistently captured around two million viewers every week. It will be back in 2009 and beyond judging by those figures.

Find My Family was the second most popular series followed by Underbelly. In fact all Top 10 most popular series were Australian productions which is a very good sign for our industry. Apart from Underbelly, Seven had all other nine places in the Top 10 with The Zoo, City Homicide, Border Security, The Force, Border Security (Rpt), Seven News and RSPCA: Animal Rescue rounding out the Top 10.

The figures do however not account for the fact that each production has a different number of episodes in a ‘season’.

Nevertheless this is an excellent result for Seven while Nine’s next best performing series was 60 Minutes followed by Two and a Half Men, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Domestic Blitz and the David Attenbrough Series.

If the Olympic figures are removed from the ratings figures then the result between Seven and Nine is much closer. Seven with 28.5% and Nine with 27.3%.

Interstignly Nine also finished ahead of Seven in the key demopgraphics. In the 25-54's category it was Nine 28.7%, Seven 28.0% and in the 16-39's demographic Ten 29.7%, Nine 28.4% and Seven 26.4%.

So will it be Nine in 09?

With promised local versions of Ladette to Lady and Wipeout as well as new seasons of local dramas Underbelly and Sea Patrol as well as new drama, Rescue Squad, the network will be hoping to win the year.

Seven are returning all of their successful shows and will be boosting the Sunday night dual commissioning a new current affairs program, Sunday Night which has all ready signed former Nine reporter Ross Coulthard and rumours have former Nine personality Mike Munro in the hosting chair.

Seven will want to assure their Sunday and Thursday night which lets the network down while Nine still searches for a popular news lead-in. The 5:30PM slot has been troubled the network with suggestions the network will be looking for an afternoon version of the ‘Today Show’ having all ready filmed a pilot for an entertainment magazine show with Richard Reid and Georgie Parker as hosts.

If Nine are to go ahead with these plans they would be smart to launch the show early in the new year perhaps up against the Australian Open Tennis on Seven in attempt to capture this audience and gain an advantage over Seven.

Ugly Pretty Breakfast Show

‘Ugly’ Phil O’Neil and Sami Lukis join forces from Monday morning to present Triple M’s new breakfast show. Following on from The Shebang’s failures and The Cage, Triple M desperately need a breakfast show to reignite the station.

O’Neil had been widely tipped by the op-inion for a number of months as the likely candidate to front Triple M’s breakfast show. Sami Lukis is perhaps the odd choice as co-host as she will be returning to Sydney after a stint with Triple M Brisbane’s The Cage.

Lukis previously partnered Merrick & Rosso on NOVA 969 as the newsreader/co-host during 2006 and 2007. O’Neill is an accomplished broadcaster having worked across a range of Austero syndicated radio stations and in the UK. His persona, however might not correlate with the Triple M listener.

Which begs the question, what is a Triple M listener? What sound will Triple M be trying to create?

The Spoonman finished up last night so it appears that from Monday, Triple M will be putting a line through what has been done and start a fresh.

Where will Peter Burner be? Will Paul Murray have a gig?

And what will happen to Anthony Maroon and Rob Duckworth who are two radio veterans whose voices would correlate with the old Triple M sound. If The Spoonman has been shown the door then will Maroon and Duckworth also be heading the same way?

Jamie Angel is being heard on air during the mornings, Alexis Saviddes has been tipped to move into the morning show and the younger voices of Drew, Fridgy and Lizzie Loveit have been heard on the station over the last couple of months.

Bianca Dye is still without a confirmed gig and could front a drive time team and another radio talent, Jabba has recently left NOVA 969.

With O’Neil and Lukis on breakfast, a new Triple M maybe introduced, targeting a younger audience and perhaps a little more female skewed.

Attacking a younger audience might be an odd strategic decision because Triple M would not necessarily want to steal listners from sister station 2 DAY FM but with rock genre not as clearly defined in 2008, a new direction is needed.

This still doesn’t answer the music charter question. Will it be rock? Will Triple M persist with “the awesome 80’s”? I think nostalgia is out of the question, especially if The Spoonman has been shown the door.

Ugly Phil and Sami Lukis get a free ride, starting Monday, December 1 during the Christmas non ratings period – good luck!

Does Triple M know what they are doing?

I might sound like a broken record but then again a broken, scratchy record might sound better than what we are currently hearing on Austero’s little brother, Triple M but where are they heading?

A decision was made to abandon ship and enter time machine in an attempt to wind back the clock and once again play the ‘Awesome 80’s’. So WSFM, I mean Triple M have decided that after finishing dead last in the latest Nielsen Media Radio Ratings they would immediately sack the troubled Shebang breakfast show and follow that up with the announcement that the Wil & Lehmo drive show is going to be axed after two years.

In a press release from CEO Michael Anderson, it was stated that Triple M are “allocating resources elsewhere”. Well once again I am miffed by this decision as the name Tony Martin and Get This spring to mind.

Theory 1

Wil & Lehmo were probably offered breakfast and refused, so they were shown the
door.

Theory 2

Triple M, the awesome 80’s and nostalgia are the new vogue, so the station will be relaunched as another WSFM in 2009? Maybe Andrew Denton or Doug Mullray might return or even WSFM might try and revive the ‘Jono & Dano’ show with Jonathan Coleman and Ian Rogerson.

In 2005-2006, Triple M was all about music and chat with variety like The Cage, The Shebang, Get This and Mick Molloy’s Tough Love. Then The Spoonman came back and Paul Murray was given his own show. It was kind of like the ‘AM’ of FM with talkback, news, entertainment and music.

But the traditional Triple M listener didn’t like hearing songs by Pink in between the segments – dilemma.

At least one can say they are running last so there is only one way to go but to sack there most successful show, Wil & Lehmo is a bizarre decision. Advertisers will be worried and in the current economic environment Triple M may have had to make the hard call but they are leaving what listenership they have in the dark.

I assume they will relaunch this nostalgic theme and try and compete with WSFM and Vega. If that is the case then they will need new presenters and they are obviously creating new breakfast and drive shows but the talent that is still signed to the station, namely Paul Murray and Phil O’Neill do not really fit with a nostalgic Triple M which leaves more questions unanswered.

If they are going down the nostalgic path then hopefully Tony Martin will be retuned to the airwaves in drive or breakfast – please Triple M bring back Tony Martin!

You are assured listeners with Martin. Otherwise the nostalgic cupboard looks quite bear unless Jono Coleman is unearthed from WSFM or Wendy Harmer, Paul Holmes or Peter Moon can be enticed to Triple M.

Alternatively if Triple M decide to back Murray and O’Neill there is still Bianca Dye who is unsigned at this stage and would be a great addition to a breakfast or drive show but they will still need to find that one wow factoring audience puller.

Triple M need to make some decisions and build a new ship because there last one has sailed.

2U-Wii

Now that’s one way to sell advertising space – by changing your station’s identity.

For the next three weeks, Sydney talkback radio station 2UE are running a promotional campaign with Nintendo’s Wii subsequently dropping the ‘E’ to be replaced by ‘Wii’.

It got me thinking about who else could do this?

Channel Naan perhaps could promote a brand of the Indian bread or WSFM could be renamed OPSM if they wanted to advertise glasses.

The radio station has really embraced the campaign changing their logo on the highway at St Leonard's are 'digitalising' the 2UE presenters profile pictures. Check them out! http://www.2ue.com.au/

2UE and Nintendo’s Wii promotion is a very clever marketing strategy for Wii and highlights the creativity from 2UE’s management.

Charlie Sheen Channel

Just when too much Charlie Sheen is not enough… now Nine are giving us more.

Not only can we see the sex addict five times a week for half an hour but now Nine are screening Two and A Half Men more often than the news.

Monday’s 7-8PM (two episodes)
Tuesday’s 7-7:30 PM and 7:30-8:30PM (three episodes)
Wednesday’s 7-8:30PM (three episodes)
Thursday’s 7-7:30PM (one episode)
Friday 7-7:30PM (one episode)

That makes 10 episodes a week and only seven nightly news bulletins!

But it is working as Two and A Half Men is very competitive and occasionally beating Home and Away (Seven) and the Wednesday hour from 7:30-8:30 has been Nine’s most popular show of the week.

Strange isn’t it that this sit-com couldn’t rate for Nine in it’s first six seasons until the network took a gamble and scheduled the comedy for the 7pm slot, weeknights over summer and the show has survived ever since.

It’s genuinely funny and I for one have been converted to Charlie Sheen’s dead pan humour.

Let’s just hope Nine have learnt their lesson from ‘over-exposing’ too many products and shows. Gordon Ramsay appears to have all ready been killed off after being a star at the start of this year seeing two new instalments of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares axed after only one episode – after the Olympics and where is the millionaire, Eddie McGuire?

Sheen and Two and A Half Men have grown from strength to strength – if only Nine could get Sheen to read the news or A Current Affair, they might be winning the ratings.

Sunday swings back to Nine

Will he or won’t he? The man on everybody’s lips, Peter Costello helped 60 Minutes and Channel Nine win Sunday night. It was a big win for Nine who relegated Seven to third place with Nine dominating the News (1.638 million), Battlefronts (1.286 million) and 60 Minutes (1.7 million) to win the night.

Jamie Durie’s The Outdoor Room was softened, with only 1.187 million viewers and Outback Wildlife Rescue had just over the million but it is Seven’s decision to move Dancing with the Stars to Sunday night’s that will have the network most concerned.

Once hosted by Daryl Summers, the show pulled on average two million viewers per week but on Sunday’s with Daniel McPherson the show last night only captured 1.167 million viewers. Still far from a failure but not competitive enough to challenge Nine’s 60 Minutes or Ten’s Australian Idol which itself had 1.224 million viewers.

Encore episodes, in other words, repeats of Thank God You’re Here are rating extremely well for Ten, last night claiming 1.136 million viewers itself, helping Ten to finish second but makes you wonder why Working Dog are not producing a series this year.

The night looked like this:
Nine: 29.8%

TEN: 22.8%

Seven: 22.5%

ABC: 19.6%

SBS: 5.3 %

OzTam

ABC’s Midsummer Murders finished in the Top 10 with 1.233 million viewers and so did Doctor Who with 1.169 million viewers.

Seven’s problem came with Private Practice which in its series return, bombed at 9:30PM only able to hold 722 000 viewers. It must be remembered that Nine had CSI: Miami in all states except Victoria who finally screened the first two episodes of Underbelly.

Despite most Victorians had allegedly all ready seen Underbelly illegally, the blockbuster series was still able to capture almost 600 000 viewers in Melbourne alone.

With Nine’s impressive start to the week, it should be a closer race this week but Seven will still win Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday could be more competitive if Fringe lives up to its expectations.

Paul B Kidd has bladder cancer

Paul B Kidd announced to his audience today a little after 1PM that we would not be hearing him on 2UE for at least the next six weeks as he fights cancer.

Kidd thanked his partner, son and good friend and co-host George Moore as he embarks on fighting cancer, starting with his operation this Wednesday.

Since joining George Moore in 2001, the very popular George and Paul Show has won many listeners across New South Wales and the ACT and is 2UE’s most profitable show.

Kidd and Moore have some of the best synergy as co-hosts, a lot of laughs and fun is heard from the two of them each and every week.

We all wish Paul all the best for the operation and hope he has a speedy recovery.

Game, Set and Match... Seven

Unless Nine can pull the metaphoric rabbit out of a hat and find a bunch of new shows that will somehow miraculously make everyone switch over from Seven to Nine, then we can call it now, Seven will win 2008.

The only other way Nine might win the year is if Seven’s television transmitter burnt down and we could no one could get any signal on their television. The likelihood of that happening is well…

Why do we bother to speculate?

Packed to the Rafters, City Homicide, Criminal Minds, Border Security, The Force, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Medical Emergency, Find My Family, Crash Investigation Unit, Seven News, Today Tonight, All Saints, The Outdoor Room and even Dancing with the Stars produced very good and winnable results last week for Seven.

Seven have the formula and it doesn’t look like changing while Nine’s start to 2008 couldn’t have been better with Underbelly and Gordon Ramsay showing the network the way a long with David Attenbrough.

Now Ramsay’s latest instalment of Kitchen Nightmares has been bumped after only one episode and the Attenbrough specials appear to run out of steam.

McLeod’s Daughters has also been relegated to summertime as Nine is turning to new sci-fi series Fringe this Wednesday to hopefully be the saviour. It may not work with their last sci-fi series being The Sarah Connor Chronicles and that didn’t work out.

Seven won last week with 29.9% of the audience share from Nine (25.4%), Ten (20.6%), ABC (18.9%) and SBS (5.3%).

Seven had all of the first nine of the weeks most watched tv shows with Two and A Half Men being channel Nine’s best. Domestic Blitz and 60 Minutes which have dominated for Nine to date returned softer ratings against the The Outdoor Room and Dancing with the Stars, plus don’t forget Australian Idol.

Another week, another win for Seven while Nine remain upbeat about Fringe this week. Will it be the first new American drama to reverse the trend of the other ailing US dramas?

Tune in and check it out yourself, Wednesday 8:30PM on Nine.

Talk radio shines as 2GB grow thanks to the Olympics, even without Alan Jones

Jason Morrisson (15.7%) has continued to grow Alan Jones audience (up 1.1%) whilst Jones has been absent battling prostate cancer. Thanks to the Olympics, 2GB remain Sydney’s Number 1 radio station with 13.4% of the commercial share with 2DAYFM (12.1%) second, up 1.3%.

ABC 702 (9.0%) held onto third despite dropping 1.6% to be just ahead of NOVA (8.6%) and 2UE (7.3%).

Triple M (5.2%) continued to head southwards (down 0.4%) and VEGA (4.4%) decided to join them (down 0.9%) for this survey as the trend was reversed for WSFM (6.7%) who grew by 1.3% and MIX (7.0%) who increased 0.2%.

Tony, Bec and Mikey on VEGA’s Breakfast is in trouble with only 3.4% of the share while Mix Mornings with Sonia and Todd are performing as poorly as the all ready axed Shebang, both 4.7%, so is the writing on the wall for Sonia and Todd?

2DAY FM’s Kyle and Jackie O (12.1%) held onto second in breakfast followed by ABC 702’s Adam Spencer (10.2%), NOVA’s Merrick and Rosso and Kate Ritchie (9.7%) and 2UE’s Mike and Sandy (7.3%).

Drive was all 2DAYFM’s Hamish and Andy (15.9%) with ABC 702’s Richard Glover (9.9%) second. NOVA’s The Wrong Way Home (8.8%), 2GB’s Phillip Clark (8.7%) and MIX 106.5’s Lars Peterson (8.2%) also did well.

Nights were understandably belonging to 2GB (18.1%) with the coverage of the Olympics followed by the Love God, Richard Mercer (9%) on MIX and 2UE’s Stuart Bocking (8.5%).

With Alan Jones back to work on Tuesday morning it will be business as usual for 2GB who continue to dominate the Sydney Radio Market while 2DAY FM continue to ‘own’ the FM band.

Rafters stays relative while Rush starts to slide

Packed to the Rafters was again Australia’s most popular show with just under two million viewers, a similar result for lead in Find My Family.

Seven had all the momentum last night with RSPCA: Animal Rescue capturing almost 1.8 million viewers thanks to high ratings from Seven News, Today Tonight and Home and Away which just accounted for Two and Half Men, again Nine’s most popular show.

Nine News, A Current Affair and Wipeout were all around the 1.2 million mark, which is not a bad result but well behind all of Seven’s shows from 6-8:30 and in the 8:30 slot Two and A Half Men finished third in its slot beaten by Rafters and NCIS who had 1.2 million viewers.

Rush didn’t capitalize on last week’s figures or the lead-in from NCIS dropping about 200 000 viewers to finish third at 9:30PM with 912 000 viewers behind All Saints with 1.3 million and 20 to 1 who had 941 000 viewers.

Last night’s episode of Rush was not as sharp as its debut and was a bit of a let down. If the show continues to slide, we may, unfortunately have another Canal Road on our hands. A great shame when Rush looks like it could promise so much but perhaps this is why Ten are hiding the show in the 9:30 slot.

Tuesday’s ratings saw Seven (34.6%) win by almost 10% from Nine (25.5%), Ten (20.2%), ABC (15.4%) and SBS (4.3%)

Seven steal Sunday and maul Monday

Jamie Durie’s offensive comments about Nine’s Domestic Blitz didn’t damage his show in fact The Outdoor Room won its time slot which overall helped Seven steal Sunday from Nine.

With 1.356 million viewers, Durie’s newest show just defeated Blitz who itself had 1.349 million viewers nationally. The 7:30PM battle was just as close but 60 Minutes accounted for Dancing with the Stars with 1.349 million viewers while Dancing had 1.334.

Nine lost Sunday on the poor performance of Nine News which was thrashed by 500 000 viewers from Seven News and CSI: Miami which dropped to 1.028 million.

Idol was ten’s best show with 1.193 million and the repeat of Thank God You’re Here was also on the good side of 1 million but Rove wasn’t.

Sunday’s are the most competitive night for television and it will be interesting to see if Nine’s latest backyard show, Battlefronts can be as successful as Domestic Blitz has been and challenge The Outdoor Room.

If there was one poor performance by Seven it was the soft ratings that Outback Wildlife Rescue returned which was still on the good side of one million but dropped almost 300 000 viewers from The Outdoor Room.

Are there now perhaps too many versions of rescues, animals and a combination of the outback?

There are not too many other options avialable to the networks as we have follwoed police, firmmen, ambulance officers, doctors, nurses, vets, coast guards so what is left? Security Guard Dogs would be an entertaining show or maybe we can follow garbage collectors on their rounds around the suburbs and discover all the weird, wild and whacky pieces of garbage they find.

Sunday ended up like this:

Seven: 27.3%
Nine: 24.8%
TEN: 21.4%
ABC: 20.9%
SBS: 5.7%

OzTam

As for Monday, it was Seven, Seven, Seven...

City Homicide was the nations most popular show with almost 1.8 million viewers whilst The Force and Border Security had 1.6 million viewers. Seven News beat Nine News by 300 000 viewers (slightly closer this Monday) but there was only 100 000 viewers difference between Today Tonight, which beat A Current Affair.

New Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares: USA bombed for Nine as the celebrity chef was unable to cook up a much needed ratings storm for Nine in the 8:30 slot. Ramsay only 732 000 viewers which was beaten by Ten’s new teen drama 90210 which for its first episode had 837 000 viewers before bottoming out in episode two with only 666 000 viewers.

Ten was even defeated by the ABC last night as Idol only returned 1.1 million viewers and Taken Out should be taken off air, only recording 656 000 viewers. For the ABC its News and the 7.30 Report had more than one million viewers while Media Watch and Denton were just under one million viewers.

Two and A Half Men was Nine’s most poplar show and even defeated Home and Away by 27 000 viewers.

It was however, another big win to Seven which saw the network thrash its competitors, reading:

Seven: 33.4%
Nine: 21.8%
ABC: 19.7%
TEN: 17.8%
SBS: 7.3%

Oz Tam

It's all about Seven

Another week and another victory to Channel Seven (29.4%) but as the op_inion predicted the gap was closed by Nine (26.7%). Seven’s domination is led by Australian dramas Packed to the Rafters and City Homicide as well as all their factual documentary programs which have become synonymous with Seven’s brand.

Find My Family, Medical Emergency, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Border Security, The Force, Crash Investigation Unit are winning Seven the key 7:30-8:30PM slots Monday-Wednesday.

The reality television genres bubble has definitely now burst with Dancing with the Stars only debuting with 1.3 million viewers last week and Make Me A Supermodel failing to fire for Seven.

It’s all Australian drama and factual entertainment that is putting bums on seats for Seven and the formula is working.

Nine’s most popular program was 60 Minutes but Nine News and A Current Affair are continually thrashed by Seven News and Today Tonight amidst rumours that Eddie McGuire may soon be permanently in the ACA hot seat as Tracy Grimshaw may find herself on 60 Minutes.

Seven wins the week with their Monday-Wednesday schedule where Nine struggles but they will be banking on Gordon Ramsay to save them when a new season of Kitchen Nightmares: USA launches tomorrow night at 8:30PM.

Tuesdays have always been a problem for Nine who use to surrender the night when Seven screened Dancing with the Stars. Wipeout started to reverse that trend and the Two and A Half Men does OK but does not impact Rafters or NCIS.

At the moment Nine is surrendering Wednesdays by showing movies but that will change when Fringe launches this month, a gamble that the network needs to take.

Other notable performances last week were Domestic Blitz which defeated The Outdoor Room, The Strip debuting with 1.45 million viewers and Rush who had 1.1 million viewers of their own.

And they’re off… but is there room for three?

The Strip, Australia’s newest drama by two days was launched last night with 1.45 million viewers tuning into the Gold Coast cop drama helping Nine to win the slot and win the night. This comes off the back of Ten’s new cop drama, Rush which debuted on Tuesday night and Seven’s Packed to the Rafters which was launched last week.

After seeing all three dramas, Rafters has appealed to the most number of people reflected with their two million plus viewers watching on Tuesday night while Rush claimed 1.1 million themselves.

Each drama is led by recognisable Australian actors and introduces a number of new and fresh faces but will each drama have a second season?

The early indication is that Rafters will get the green light for series two after growing their audience in the first two episodes with over two million viewers, Seven look to all ready look to be backing a winner here.

Rush’s debut was softer but also expected against All Saints and in a 9:30PM time slot, there are not as many people watching TV as there are at 8:30. It’s disappointing that Ten has not scheduled Rush at 8:30 on Wednesday or Thursday night although the latter might hurt The Strip.

The op_inion wrote on Wednesday that Rush is the dark horse of the bunch but after seeing The Strip last night, I wish to reiterate my comments that Rush is the darkhorse but The Strip may struggle.

Setting the drama in the Gold Coast has given The Strip some fabulous visuals and Aaron Jeffery plays a stone cold police detective opposite some obvious onscreen (and rumoured off screen) chemistry with Vanessa Gray but this drama was harder to get in to.

Possibly the scripting had something to do with it with some of the dialogue delivered by Bob Morley really made you think about changing the channel. Luckily, The Strip has next to no competition in its schedule because Seven never does well on Thursdays and Ten has Law & Order which should see The Strip complete its first season unless Seven or Ten become more competitive on Thursday nights or the stories improve, you wouldn’t be rushing to commission a second series.

And excuse the pun because Rush should get a boost next week and hopefully by the end of the year we see Ten, like Seven announce that there will be a second series for Rush and Rafters respectively.

I am not writing off The Strip just yet, I hope that I am proved wrong and the storylines pickup next week and The Strip also gets a second series otherwise viewers may choose with their remote control to go elsewhere.

Rafter's rating through the roof

Packed to the Rafters lifted its ratings in the second episode which aired last night, eclipsing the magical 2 million viewer mark to win the night’s most popular show with 2.05 million viewers.

These enormous figures for Rafters are even more impressive with Ten screening a brand new episode of NCIS and Nine had their ‘Adult’s Only’ hour of Two and A Half Men.

Channel Ten’s new drama, Rush debuted with 1.16 million viewers, beaten by All Saints which had 1.3 million viewers also paying respect to deceased actor Mark Priestly.

Rush’s figures are OK for the new Australian drama in a program that had another take on policing. John Edwards’ influence is obvious with a Police Rescue-esque feel but the team are involved in more than just rescue operations.

Perhaps the show may be a bit of a dark horse with the number of new Australian dramas being launched, this one has not had the same push as Seven and Nine’s new shows but I think it definitely has legs and I was most impressed with the show. Rodger Corser leads the cast well and Catherine McClements is an obvious strength while Callan Mulvey and Nicole de Silva also impressed. Expect to see Rush’s ratings improve next week.

Tuesday is still owned by Seven with 34.4% of the audience share, thrashing Ten who finished second on 23.7% and Nine finished third with 23.1% of the audience share.

Seven has really struck a chord with audiences by scheduling RSPCA: Animal Rescue (1.7 million), Find My Family (1.6 million), Packed to the Rafters (2.045 million) and All Saints (1.3 million) on Tuesday night.

Nine’s best show was the Two and A Half Men repeat at 7pm (1.2 million viewers) but was beaten by Home and Away (1.4 million).

A huge night for Seven and a great night for Australian drama with the three products all rating above 1 million and for Rafters, the magical 2 million plus. Isn't it good to see that Australian television drama is back and we don't have to rely on American imports for ratings... now it's to The Strip

Nine wins Sunday

In possibly the most competitive and anticipated Sunday night in Australian television history, Nine came out on top with 60 Minutes defeating Dancing with the Stars as the evenings most popular television show.

Almost 1.6 million viewers tuned into 60 Minutes with Domestic Blitz (1.46 million) also defeating The Outdoor Room (1.3 million) in the coverted 6:30PM slot.

Seven News (1.526 million) narrowly defeated Nine News (1.507 million) with a major boost for Sydney’s Nine News (402 000) audience which defeated Seven News (389 000) with weeknight presenter, Mark Ferguson in the newsreaders chair.

Dancing with the Stars was still competitive with 1.33 million viewers but down on its previous highs which almost toppled the 2 million mark. Seven will be disappointed with that result with the new series receiving criticism for some of the deemed ‘inappropriate music’ and ‘raunchy costumes’ according to entertainment reporter Peter Ford this morning on 2UE’s Steve Price Morning Show.

Australian Idol was also strong claiming 1.3 million viewers while telemovie Scorched which was screened on Nine managed 1.1 million viewers.

The night was close but Nine still managed to defeat Seven by 2.7%, the figures looking like this:

Nine 27.7%

Seven 25.0%

Ten 23.5%

ABC 19.4%

SBS 4.4%

Olympic momentum continues Seven's Gold medal haul

Not surprisingly Seven finished first again in Week 35 (Week 27 of the Official Television Ratings) with Gold Medals going to The Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony, Packed to the Rafters, City Homicide, Border Security, The Force, Home and Away, Find My Family, RSPCA: Animal Rescue, Medical Emergency, Criminal Minds, Crash Investigation Unit, All Saints, Today Tonight and Seven News.

There were some forgettable performances as well namely Alan Sugar: The Apprentice and Ugly Betty while Make Me A Supermodel picked up bronze.

Gold medals were few and far between for the Nine Network surprising everyone when Doug Mullray’s Naughtiest Home Videos won its race, Getaway and The Footy Show but the much hypes series Wipeout and Hole in the Wall fought off for silver.

Ten had no gold medals this week but Australian Idol put up a good performance and maintained a healthy silver, there best Gold medal chances are to come this week launching Taken Out and Rush.

Seven won the week which looked like this:

SEVEN: 32.1%
NINE: 24.5%
TEN: 21.7%
ABC: 16.7%
SBS: 5.0%

OzTam

Tonight’s results will be most interesting in the key battles:

6:30PM
Jamie Durie’s The Outodoor Room (Seven) V Scott Cam’s Domestic Blitz (Nine)

7:30PM
Dancing with the Stars (Seven) V 60 Minutes (Nine) V Australian Idol (Ten) V Doctor Who (ABC)

8:30PM – 10:30PM
Dancing with the Stars / Criminal Minds (Seven) V Scorched (Nine) V Australian Idol/Rove (Ten)

Such good Australian shows on one night is making a viewers choice very difficult. I think Nine will win the night with a very narrow margin because of their choice to have Lauren Huxley on Domestic Blitz and three very interesting stories on 60 Minutes plus an Australian tele-movie should win them the night unless the Dancing with the Stars juggernaut works on Sunday.

As for the rest of the week:

Seven News and Today Tonight will dominate the news war with Nine but the 7PM slot could get interesting with Ten attempting to challenge with new dating series, Taken Out. Viewers may be pulled away from Seven’s Home and Away and Nine’s Two and A Half Men making the 7PM slot very competitive.

Monday will go to Seven with Border Security, The Force and City Homicide edging between 1.6 – 2 million viewers

Tuesday will go to Seven with RSPCA Animal Rescue, Find My Family and Packed to the Rafters but expect Ten’s new drama Rush, which will air at 9:30PM to beat All Saints. Nine may pick up some later viewers with it’s raunchy new series, Secret Diaries of A Call Girl debuting in the 10:30PM slot.

Wednesday will again be won by Seven with Medical Emergency and Criminal Minds but the hour of Two and A Half Men from 7PM could beat Crash Investigation Unit and Hole in the Wall may challenge Medical Emergency. Don’t forget there is good TV on the ABC with Spicks and Specks and The Hollowmen from 8:30.

Thursday is Nine’s with Getaway and hopefully somewhere close to 2 million viewers for the debut of The Strip.

Friday should, as per usual go to Seven with Better Homes and Gardens plus the first round of the AFL Finals.

Saturday could go to Ten with their screening of the AFL Finals in primetime while Seven show the movies Freaky Friday and Pretty Woman and Nine screen Australia’s Funniest Home Videos followed by Zathura: A Space Adventure and Hellboy.

The week should be won by Seven but not by the same gap as last week, expect about a 2-3% gap between Seven and Nine. My picks of the week is Rush on Ten and The Strip on Nine and it will be interesting to see if Packed to the Rafters can retain it's huge audience, almost 2 million viewers tuned in last week, but will they be back?

It's not all peaches and cream for Seven

Mediocre, moreover a disappointing result for Seven’s much hyped Make Me A Supermodel last night only returning 936 000 viewers but what is more of a worry, is the once dominant Ugly Betty is in trouble only attracting 536 000 viewers last night in it’s new 9:30PM time slot.

It won’t be long before Betty is bumped to 10:30PM or pulled from the schedule. Another American series that has had a difficult year on Seven in 2008 along with Heroes, Prison Break and Lost plus the failure of new series, Lipstick Jungle, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money, none of which have had the same impact that returning series Grey’s Anatomy or Desperate Housewives have and continue to have.

Luckily Seven have invested money into their Australian dramas like the stunning debut of Packed to the Rafters this week and City Homicide continues to rate well, both near the 2 million viewer mark while All Saints consistently rates above one million viewers.

Last night more people found their remote controls which had been stuck on Seven since the Olympics also seeing the gap close between Home and Away and Two and A Half Men which were only separated by 20 000 viewers.

The news and current affair hour was again dominated by Seven with Seven News still capturing 400 000 viewers more than Nine News but the news is a little better for A Current Affair which trails Today Tonight by 300 000 viewers.

Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos was the biggest shock of the night winning the 8:30PM slot and being rewarded as the evenings highest rating show and Nine’s largest audience share last night. Kerry Packer may have axed the show mid-screening in 1992 but in 2008 almost 1.4 million people tuned in to see what was so bad about it.

Could Nine now turn this into a regular series?

Let’s hope not but the one-off special helped Nine win their first night this week and their first night since August 6 and the Olympics. Getaway also had more than 1.3 million viewers while The Footy Show ticked over the million mark to give Nine 30.4% of the audience share compared with Seven’s 25% and Ten’s 23.6%.

Despite Seven losing they will win the week and you would expect executives will not be too concerned that Thursday’s are a weak night but Nine are launching their new Australian drama, The Strip at 8:30 next Thursday which now has the opportunity to do big numbers. Next week will be more competitive – stay tuned.

Alan Sugar: You're Fired

In what has so far been a blockbuster week for Channel Seven, a slight hiccup was revealed last night when the highly promoted Alan Sugar: The Apprentice bombed. Surely Seven must now give the British version of Donald Trump the Jessica Rowe boning treatment, “You’re Fired”.

Despite Sugar bombing and bombing in a big way with only 583 000 viewers nationally, Wednesday still belonged to Channel Seven with strong performances from Seven News, Home and Away, Today Tonight and Criminal Minds which all attracted around the 1.4 million viewer mark, as well as new series, Crash Investigation Unit and the return of Medical Emergency. Nine’s one hour of Two and A Half Men from 7-8pm returned strong figures with 1.4 million viewers as well.

Hole in the Wall was down on its previous attempt where the game show debuted on August 6 with 1.6 million viewers but after the Olympics the show only attracted 1.2 million viewers in its second outing. These numbers are still healthy but indicate that the shows novelty may all ready be wearing thin like Wipeout’s series return this week which softened with 1.1 million viewers, down since the shows previous new episode on Tuesday July 29 with 1.5 million viewers.

People hurting themselves on obstacle courses or trying to bash through walls unsuccessfully being subjected to a pool has its shelf life. Although Hole in the Wall and Wipeout are genuinely funny, could these similar, novelty series screening in the same scheduele be overkill?

Australian Idol was again Ten’s strongest show with 1.2 million viewers but the network still finished third for the night overall with 22.5% beaten by Seven with 27.9% and Nine with 26.5% of the audience share.

Packed to the Ratings

Seven’s new Australian drama Packed to the Rafters debuted with a huge audience capturing 1.95 million viewers last night, 50 000 viewers shy of the magical 2 million mark.

Rafters continued Seven’s domination of the television landscape winning the night with 37% of the audience and by another huge 15.5% margin from rival Nine with 22.5%.

Find My Family also debuted with huge numbers, 1.74 million people in fact tuned in plus the new series of RSPCA Animal Rescue had almost 1.7 million viewers as well.

On Monday Seven owned the top 6 shows of the night but Tuesday it was seven as Seven News, Today Tonight and Home and Away were all around the 1.5 million viewer mark and All Saints had 1.3 million viewers, winning its slot at 9:30PM.

Nine News (1.13 million viewers) was beaten by ABC News (1.3 million viewers) while A Current Affair (1.1 million viewers) still had 400 000 less viewers than Today Tonight (1.5 million viewers).

Seven would be most impressed with last night’s result of Packed to the Rafters, continuing the resurgence of the Australian drama genre.

With new episodes of Ten's NCIS against Rafters, the series may be challenged but the biggest test will be next week, to see if Rafters can maintain its large audience.

Seven still riding on that Olympic success

It appears that perhaps TV audiences have forgotten how to change the channel because last night Seven flogged it’s competition without the Olympics.

Seven owned 34.1% of the total audience share with Nine languishing behind with 22% and Ten with 20%.

The Top 6 shows of last night were owned by Seven with City Homicide topping the night’s most popular shows amassing almost 1.9 million viewers. New series of Border Security and The Force were also around the 1.8 million viewer mark while Seven News and Today Tonight each realled in over 1.6 million viewers thrashing Nine News and A Current Affair by 400 000 and 600 000 viewers respectively. Home and Away also bit back at the competition Two and A Half Men had been providing with 1.5 million viewers as opposed to Men’s 1.1 million viewers.

It is no surprise that Seven were all guns blazing last night and comprehensively beating Nine and Ten because these networks are providing no compeition, instead Nine screened two movies and Ten also scheduled the out of favour Burn Notice. Australian Idol’s figures were however soft but OK with 1.2 million viewers tuning in.

Expect Seven to dominate tonight as well when they launch Packed to the Rafters. 2 million may be on the cards.

Let the Games begin

As the athletes party the night away in Beijing, so do Channel’s Nine and Ten, so they can resume (almost) normal programming and challenge Seven in the heated ratings war.

The heats have been run, the semi-finals and final to come but the true indication of how the post-Olympic schedule is shaping up won’t be known until next week.

Ten has jumped the gun, getting out of the blocks early by launching Australian Idol on the night of the Closing Ceremony but Nine on the other hand has been a little more cautious this week schedueling a whole swag of movies with snippets of their new schedule to start a fresh next week when all the competitors will be at the same start line.

Tonight’s closing ceremony will undoubtably win the week for Seven and the momentum is set to continue with cliff-hangers needing to be resolved on Home and Away, plus all new Border Security and an Australian version of Crash Investigation Unit starting tomorrow night. Add City Homicide to that mix and Seven will have little trouble defeating Nine’s screening of two movies and Ten with Idol.

Find My Family and Packed to the Rafters is Seven’s Tuesday night plus Alan Sugar is among the networks new shows being launched this week.

Despite Nine and Ten largely conceding the week, they are also handing Seven the momentum giving them a free-run to launch a bunch of new shows which may very well find themselves and audience before Nine and Ten pick up the slack next week.

The competition may be over at the Olympics but it’s starting to reach boiling point on TV.

Quiet for the start…

Three new drama’s on three different networks

Australia’s three commercial television networks have announced where each of their much anticipated new dramas will be scheduled.

Tuesday’s at 8:30 will be the home of Seven’s Packed to the Rafters and at 9:30 over on Ten, the brand new cop drama Rush will air.

Nine’s Gold Coast based cop drama, The Strip will screen at 8:30 on Thursday’s.

Rafters and The Strip have picked sensible and winnable slots and Rush has probably as well with NCIS as lead-in but it is disappointing to see Ten schedule a brand new Australian drama at 9:30.

Makes you think that Rush may in-fact embody its name, being rushed in production. Have Ten produced their own Canal Road?

Rush will also have to compete with Seven’s All Saints which has recently seen a deserved upward trend in the programs ratings, which is another reason why not to scheduele Rush at 9:30 because it is Australian drama against Australian drama. Commercial television is overloaded with foreign content, so to see two Aussie dramas competing against each other, in the same slot is poor scheduling and a slap in the face to the Australian audiences, making them choose which Australian drama they want to watch, not both, so one will get the axe.

Rafters starts next Tuesday with Rush and The Strip debuting the following week.

It’s great to see Aussie drama back and the networks investing money into producing new shows. Let’s hope each series has a successful season and they all are commissioned for a second series.

Fire up Bruce!

Seven Sport ace Bruce McAvaney has come under heavy criticism from fellow race callers and the general public because of his ‘underwhelming’ calling of the swimming at the Beijing Olympics.

His commentary has been described by Channel Nine sports commentator Andrew Voss, as “to cool for school” on 2UE’s Mike and Sandy Breakfast Show. Voss’ comments have summarised what the general public are feeling.

McAvaney is an excellent commentator and was Channel Seven’s face of the Olympics until this year when his younger, fresher faced colleague, Matthew White replaced him. Bruce is synonymous with the Australian broadcast of the Olympic Games, his knowledge is unrivalled and Billy Birmingham even created a special tribute to the Olympic voice under the guise of The Twelfth Man’s “Bruce 2000”. McAvaney calls the Athletics brilliantly but his lack of animation is not doing swimming any justice.

Arguably swimming would be one of the most animated and exciting sports to watch on television or live, second to the 100M athletics final. Channel Nine’s Ray Warren has been the voice of swimming for the Commonwealth Games and the Australian Championships as well as being heard on Foxtel but with the Olympic Games on Seven, we cannot hear the best caller in the business call the sport.

We barely knew that Stephanie Rice broke the world record, won GOLD and became the Olympic Champion in the 200m and 400m individual medley because of McAvaney’s hapless call.

Poolside interviewer Daniel Kowalski has also disappointed by forgetting important facts about the person he is interviewing, like the fact that the interviewee, Stephanie Rice or Eamon Sullivan just broke the world record.

Overall Seven’s swimming commentary has been poor. Luckily Duncan Armstorng is a member of the team but he and McAvaney have not developed a good synergy and he is also not the most animated character.

Swimming commentary needs to compliment the visual excitement by getting you sitting on the edge of your seat and raising the hairs on the back of your neck but this is not happening with McAvaney’s call. The network has obviously left incumbent, Dennis Cometti at home to call the AFL. He has called the swimming for Seven at previous Olympic Games and does an excellent job, so why is he at home?

At least the next Olympics will be on Nine so swimming can be called by Ray Warren. Having said that, Warren commented at the Olympic Swim Trials earlier this year that he is no guarantee for London 2012 as he is not the best traveller.

Come on Rabs... Go for Gold. You know you want to be there – just push through. At least Nicole Livingstone and Gian Rooney will be able to lend a hand and hopefully Armstrong returns to that team because they are the best swimming callers in the country.

But for Bruce, it is time to fire up and call the 100M freestyle in about an hour’s time because this will be fast and it will need a champion call. You can do it Bruce...

If you’re not confident in Bruce McAvaney however then you can hear Nicole Livingstone as she is partnering Ray Hadley and they can be heard on 2GB and the Macquarie Radio Network, now there is a good race caller who is excited and animated.

TV on the Radio

Each week you can hear me talking TV news and gossip on Sydney's FM 99.3

At 8:35AM I will be talking TV with Andrew "The Bear" Reynolds.

This week we discussed:

• The Olympics - opening ceramony figures, Seven showing the AFL, Bruce McAvaney's call of the swimming which was so unenthusiastic we had no idea that Stephanie Rice had broken the world record, yet alone won the race and was the Olympic Champion - we need Ray Warren.


• Whilst on the Olympics we chatted about all the cross-promotion Seven is doing with their new shows such as Alan Sugar, Packed to the Rafters, The Outdoor Room and the like


• Two and Half Men's success and how the show is becoming very popular and funny, the Bear also likes it.

Tune into FM 99.3 and have a listen to TV on the Radio, Tuesday's at 8:35Am. More information found at their website http://www.fm993.com.au/

It's all Seven

It is no surprise that Seven took the week with a massive audience tuning into Friday night’s opening ceremony capturing more than 50% of the televised audience with more than seven million people nation wide tuning into the start of the Beijing Olympics.

Seven beat Nine by 10% last week, thanks to the Olympics which saw the figures:

Seven 34.8%
Nine 24.8%
Ten 18.4%
ABC 16.7%
SBS 5.3%

OzTam

Throughout the Games, Seven will be heavily promoting the new batch of shows which are set to launch after the Olympics. All ready Packed to the Rafters is being heavily pushed and a sexed-up Dancing With the Stars promotion has also aired, bringing the show into 2008.

Jamie Durie will be back on our screens with The Outdoor Room, a new series of Border Security plus the UK’s own version of The Apprentice. I hold my breath as the US version failed to excite viewers on Nine, the UK one looks no different however an Australian version might go down well with John Singleton perhaps?

If your sick of the Olympics then think again because Nine and Ten are screening a summer-esque line-up of repeats, failed programs and C-Grade movies.

All eyes will be on Seven and SBS as the Olympic action takes place over the next two weeks.

You cannot beat this television.

The Shebang she-bung

The future of Triple M’s poor performing breakfast program, The Shebang has been made for them with the announcement that co-host Fifi Box will be joining Channel Seven’s Sunrise program as weather presenter in 2009.

Box’s move to television has also forced Marty Sheargold to announce he will leave Austereo to pursuit other interests while Paul Murray will remain at Triple M is some capacity meaning there will be a new breakfast show in 2009.

Current Drive host Wil Anderson from the syndicated Wil & Lehmo show has indicated he has no desire to move into the cut-throat breakfast slot, a job he used to do with Adam Spencer on Triple J.

Phil O’Neill’s arrival mid-year could be the answer. O’Neill is currently familiarising himself with the Sydney audience again in the early evening and is an accomplished host who is more than capable of handling the breakfast slot.

Bianca Dye is an obvious co-host for O’Neill seeing as she is currently without a radio job and has recently been reported to have a few options on the table. Should Dye be offered breakfast and team up with O’Neill they would take on a new type of breakfast show that might be more like Kyle & Jackie O rather than a comedic based program.

Lizzy Lovette might also be a contender for a greater on-air role. Lovette recently filled in for Jackie O on sister station 2DAY FM and is now heard during afternoons on Triple M. Despite not having Breakfast or Drive time hosting experience, she could become an outside chance to partner O’Neill.

Management’s decision to axe Get This seems even more bewildering now that The Shebang has also been left out to dry. When Tony Martin, Richard Marsland and Ed Kavalee were shown the door, management said that despite the shows success it was not enabling listners to stay with Triple M.

In other words, non-traditional Triple M listners would tune in for Martin’s two hours of genius and then go somewhere else. So mamangements thinking was strategic… but the listner lost the best radio show on air.

Get This should have been retained and Get This should have been given there chance to do Breakfast. Now Triple M have to axe The Shebang which unfortunately failed when transferred from Drive to Breakfast.

Triple M Sydney has now axed The Shebang, Mick Molloy’s Tough Love, Get This and The Cage over the last three years. The station has struggled to find its identity attempting to combine music and shows and talk.

Unfortunately the Rock music genre is, at the moment not as popular as it has been over the previous few decades. Tastes and interests change and Triple M will find it’s place again in the market but until that happens it is a shame when quality radio programs are axed.

It’s Thumbs up for Two and A Half Men and Hole in the Wall

Commercial television gauges its success by ratings and this morning Nine would be smiling with the news that last night, Wednesday 6th August a brand new episode of Two and A Half Men was the nations most watched television program with 1.64 million viewers and their new gameshow, Hole in the Wall finished third and won it's slot capturing 1.56 million viewers nationally.

This is a big win and a strategic victory for Nine who had competition from Seven, Ten and the ABC with the Seven launching Make Me A Supermodel hosted by the glamorous Jennifer Hawkins but the program finished at Number 13 for the night with only 1.07 million viewers narrowly beating two hours of So You Think You Can Dance (American version) with 1.05 million viewers.

Nine won the night which read:

Nine 28.4%
Seven 27%
Ten 20.1%
ABC 19.7%
SBS 4.8 %

OzTam

Earlier this year, the op-inion questioned Nine’s decision to continually try and find Two and A Half Men a home after many attempts and poor ratings. Well I conceed and I become a johnny-come-lately because over the past few months this show has grown on me and I also find it very funny.

It’s no Seinfeld or Friends but it is a close substitute and the best American comedy on our television screens. Give it a go and obviously more people are giving the show a go with the 7PM weeknight repeats providing strong opposition to Seven’s Home and Away with Men winning the timeslot a few nights a week.

Home and Away has been forced to seen a number of new characters enter the Bay after the departure of Kate Ritchie, Mark Furze and Indiana Evans. After Sally’s estranged brother Miles (Josh Quong Tart) joined the show, he was followed by a raft of new faces including, Roman (Conrad Coleby) who brought daughter Nicole (Tessa James), new police woman Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson), her sister Ruby (Rebecca Breeds), their father occasionally appears on the show with new wife, Home and Away veteran Morag (Corneilla Frances) plus Phuket refugee Jai (Jordan Rodrigues).

With six new regular cast members in six months, audiences have had to watch new characters and new story lines develop whilst Two and A Half Men has slowly been stealing some of the audience. Ten has also provided little challenge in the 7PM slot since So You Think You Can Dance and The Biggest Loser finished, now placing repeats of Friends against winning repeats of Two and A Half Men.

Last nights success of Hole in the Wall is not a surprise given the high ratings that Wipeout has been receiving. The shows objective is quite simple, get through the obscure and difficult holes in the wall or be subjected to falling in the pool.

Sounds simple enough but entertaining when you place attractive women in figure hugging space suits up against men who make the suits look far to small and the holes impossible to fit through so when contact is made the wall breaks and they are subjected to falling in the pool.

Nine will be excited by the success of Hole in the Wall and Two and A Half Men last night as the network gears up for a post-Olympic stampede in order to finish the year as well as they started.

VEGA starts to shine

Survey 5 of the latest Nielsen Media Radio Ratings has been released this morning with talk station 2GB (12.3%) holding it’s crown as Sydney’s Number 1 radio station up 0.7% despite losing Alan Jones for most of the survey. 2DAYFM (10.8%) remain Sydney’s Number 1 FM station whilst reclaiming the second spot overall as ABC 702’s (10.6%) ratings dropped 0.1%.

Its good news for 2GB that Jason Morrison (14.6%) has been able to hold Jones’ audience as the station would have been worried when Alan Jones was forced to take time off after her was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Morrison has in fact grown the audience by 0.8% although the full affect of Jones’ temporary departure will be witnessed in Survey 6.

The biggest winner is VEGA 95.3 FM (5.3%) who is slowly but surely finding their way in the market place, stealing (0.8%) ratings from WSFM (5.4%) and Triple M (5.6%). WSFM has taken the biggest hit, losing 2.1% while Triple M dropped a further 0.2%. Jen Oldershaw’s VEGA afternoons is the stations highest rating with 7.2% of the audience share.

MIX (6.8%) is also doing a VEGA increasing 1.2% during the latest survey but it was not Mix Mornings with Sonia and Todd (4.9%) that increased, in fact they shed 0.9% of their audience. Afternoons and Drive anchored by Lars Peterson grew by 2.5% propelling the station’s figures.

NOVA (8.2%) lost 0.4% of it’s audience but Merrick & Rosso & Kate Ritchie (9.0%) grew 0.3% but still trail 2DAYFM’s Kyle and Jackie O (10.8%) who extended their lead by 0.6% which is the same margin that sister station Triple M’s breakfast show, The Shebang (5.1%) grew by.

2UE (6.7%) increased slightly by 0.1% but Breakfast with Mike and Sandy (6.5%) lost ground, losing 0.4% and so did Drive with John Stanley (5.6%). Mornings with Steve Price (7.1%) and Afternoons with Tim Webster (6.2%) both increased, Price by 1% and Webster 0.3% while Stuart Bocking (9.6%) also grew his audience by 0.1%.

Weekends (10.5%) are 2UE’s strongest schedule with the decision to move The George and Paul Show to 8AM paying off and forming a new afternoon duo, Kearns & Robertson combining Chris Kearns with Clive Robertson have made 2UE Number 2 on Weekends only behind 2GB.

Unfortunately four of the five ABC stations took a dip in the ratings. ABC 702 (10.1%) only lost 0.1% as Adam Spencer (12.1%) is still Number 2 in Breakfast behind Morrison but Deborah Cameron (10.1%) increased her Mornings audience by another 0.7% only trailing 2GB’s Ray Hadley (13.7%) who grew his audience by 0.7%.

So after another survey, 2GB is still Sydney’s Number 1 station, followed by 2DAYFM, ABC 702, NOVA and MIX FM.

Seven News personnel changes?

Today Tonight host Anna Coren is rumoured to be leaving the Seven network at the end of the year after trialing with CNN’s Hong Kong headquarters last month.

Now Crikey reports that Sunrise co-host Melissa Doyle is unhappy with her current contract and may in fact be over Sunrise, so Seven maybe about to embark on a game of musical chairs.

Doyle may return to host Today Tonight if Coren were to leave meaning Sunrise would be on the look out for a new co-host, breaking up the successful “Mel and Kochie” formula that has come to represent Seven’s success over the last five years.

Current Sunrise newsreader Natalie Barr would be itching at the opportunity to anchor the early morning show. While other contenders might include former Nine personality Sharyn Ghidella, Samantha Armytage or Chris Bath.

Monique Wright may be a chance, Sonia Kruger wouldn’t look out of place but surely Seven wouldn’t give Jessica Rowe the gig she failed at on rival, Nine.

Kruger would be my choice. Not the obvious choice but her warmth and personality shines through on Dancing with the Stars and the stories she files for Today Tonight. Kruger has so far been under untilised in her television career and has the talent to provide a lot more.

Chris Bath would be Choice 2 but she has her eyes focused on Ian Ross’ job when he vacates the Sydney newsreaders chair but The Australian’s Mark Day last week wrote in Media and Marketing that a certain Nine employee who has just announced his retirement, will in the next few years have the “right amount of grey hair” to do exactly what Ross did when he joined Seven from retirement, a few years back.

Could Mike Munro end-up anchoring Seven News? Anything is possible… which would free up Bath to form a new Breakfast duo, “Kochie and Chris… which has a nice ring to it.

Sharyn Ghidella is Choice 3 and would also not look out place hosting breakfast television. Currently hosting the Weekend News in Brisbane and the news on Weekend Sunrise, Ghidella also use to read the news on Nine’s Today Show and has filled in as co-host on many occasions.

Assuming that Coren leaves Seven then the network may, like Nine be about to undertake their own shake-up of their Newsroom.

Daniel’s Dancing With the Stars on Sunday’s after Packed to the Rafters?

Daniel McPherson has been announced as the new host of Seven’s popular series, Dancing With the Stars.

Season’s 1-7 have been hosted by Daryl Summers who quit the show at the end of last year. While McPherson has had experience hosting similar formats, the ill-fated Channel Ten, X-Factor, he seems a shock selection after Larry Emdur, David Koch, Ray Martin, Andrew O’Keefe, Tom Williams and Grant Denyer had been mooted as potential replacements for Summers.

McPherson currently appears on Channel Seven’s top-rating drama, City Homicide so will have to juggle his commitments as will co-host Sonia Kruger who now has her own Breakfast radio gig with Judge Todd McKenny and as a reporter for Today Tonight.

Dancing has also been rumored to move from Tuesday’s to Sunday nights but not head-to-head with Australia’s most popular program, 60 Minutes. The role of 60 Minutes challenger maybe reserved for Seven’s new comedy drama, Packed to the Rafters starring Michael Caton, Eric Thompson and Rebecca Gibney.

Kath & Kim have previously succeeded against 60 Minutes but will Rafters have the same affect?

Moving Dancing to 8:30 protects the program from 60 Minutes and also with a younger host and cast for this series, takes the challenge to Rove, although one would imagine the ‘traditional’ audiences of Rove what not be interested in ballroom dancing?

With the appointment of McPherson, one of television’s most converted hosting roles has been filled and starts after the Olympics, stay tuned and good luck Daniel.

Blanda's Back

Sydney’s best commercial news reader Steve Blanda has returned to 2UE this morning after not being heard since the start of June.

Replacement Robert Spicer did a very good job filling the void but it's good to hear Blanda's voice again and, to even see his face.

He returns the morning before the latest Nielsen Media Radio Ratings are set to be released at 10AM tomorrow morning.

Has Jason Morrison been able to hold Alan Jones' audience at 2GB or will we see a new King of Sydney Breakfast radio, 702's Adam Spencer may now be Sydney's most popular breakfast presenter?

Seven fires up for the Olympics

With only four days until the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Seven carry the second half of the year momentum with another weekly ratings victory.

Week 31 (Week 23 of the Official Television Ratings) 2008 saw Channel Seven, take the overall lead as Australia’s leading network. Only 0.05% separates the 2007 victor, Seven from the resurgent Nine in 2008 with last week’s figures reading:

Seven 29.4%

Nine 27.0%

Ten 20.0%

ABC 18.1%

SBS 5.5%

Oztam

Nine’s 60 Minutes continues to be the nations most popular show but along with Nine News Sunday and Domestic Blitz, these were the only three programs the network had in last week’s Top 10 most watched shows and all screen on Sunday night.

Of the other seven shows in the Top 10 they were from Seven including The Force, Border Security, RSPCA: Animal Rescue, Seven News weeknights, Seven News Sunday, Better Homes and Gardens and City Homicide screened across every night of the week, except Saturday.

Whilst there is not much in it between Seven and Nine, the Olympics will swing the year to Seven, you cannot trump those ratings. If excluded, however, the year is still in the balance and could go either way, as a lot depends on the scramble to capture the audiences for the post-Olympic rush.

New programs are set to be launched with Seven and Nine experimenting with new formats, new dramas and new game shows. Expect to be bombarded with advertising about Seven’s new shows during their Olympic coverage.

This week Seven are launching a sneak-peak, of the Jennifer Hawkins hosted Make Me A Super-Model by screening the auditions. Seven are aiming this show squarely at the younger demographic, capturing what might be considered, a Channel Ten audience while Nine is also screening a sneak-peak of their new game show, Hole in the Wall.

Hey Nine, Stick with Fergo!

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford yesterday suggested that Peter Overton is rumoured to takeover hosting National Nine News Sydney from Mark Ferguson.

Speaking on The Steve Price Morning Show on 2UE, Ford said that Overton was originally promised the job after Jim Waley and to keep Overton happy, he is paid the highest salary of the four 60 Minutes reporters.

With Mike Munro’s retirement, Nine now have to find a new person to fill the weekend newsreader’s chair from November. The seat must be reserved for former Nightline anchorman, Michael Usher with Ferguson therefore continuing to anchor the weekday News.

Overton enjoyed some success hosting National Nine News over summer and the op_inion highlighted this in January when Overton read the news for two weeks, he actually beat Seven on a few occasions.

At the time, I jokingly remarked that Mark Ferguson may have to watch his back but could this now eventuate into reality?

Unfortunately for Ferguson, he is beaten every night by former Nine newsreader, Ian Ross who fronts Seven News. Last night for example Ross had 480 000 viewers for Seven News and Ferguson had only 316 000 viewers.

Despite these ratings, Nine should stick with Ferguson as the anchorman for the news. He has the opportunity to front Nine news for the next twenty to thirty years and become the next Brian Henderson.

He is likeable, a family man and has a terrific television persona which comes across in his delivery and presentation and Ian Ross is not going to be fronting Seven News in five years.

Ferguson is still building up trust, loyalty and a relationship with his audience, since fronting the news in December 2004 and at the age of 42 he has a long career ahead of him.

Nine’s news figures are a concern for the network but Ferguson is not the problem.

The Sydney newsroom has had its share of controversy over the last twelve months with the ‘boning’ of weather girl Majella Wiemers and United States correspondent, Christine Spitteri. Nine has also seen Brad Schmitt, Adam Walters and Dale Paget depart Nine to become media advisors to the NSW Government and crime reporter Shawn Fewings has recently left the network.

With the departure of these six senior reporters, Nine has had to make changes to introduce new journalists which will take some time for the audience to develop a rapport with the new faces and voices.

Nine is tweaking its News and Current Affairs department with the axing of Nightline and Sunday, the latter program to be replaced with Sunday Morning News at 8AM, hosted by 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown.

Might this decision to appoint Brown as host of the Sunday Morning News, be hinting at some more changes at the network?

Brown also presents The Gift so she may have to cut-down on her involvement with 60 Minutes or maybe she is leaving 60 Minutes?

With her first child due shortly, Brown might not have the time to travel around the world to report for 60 Minutes, so her role maybe reading the Sunday Morning News and fronting The Gift. With the solid ratings of 60 Minutes, news executives would not want to lose Brown and Overton which is why they would be reluctant to move Overton.

Nine should leave Peter Overton on 60 Minutes, appoint Michael Usher to the weekend news and retain Mark Ferguson as the Sydney anchorman because he is the best in the business.

Nine News personnel changes

Television veteran Mike Munro has today announced he will be retiring from television and leaving the Nine Network at the end of October

Munro’s announcement comes only three days after Nine decided to axe Nightline and Sunday in a rationalisation of the network’s news and current affairs department.

Munro has been hosting Sydney’s National Nine News on Weekends, This is Your Life whilst fronting Missing Person’s Unit. Perhaps Munro could have the buck passed from him to the next This is Your Life presenter by having the roles turned...

But who would that presenter be?

Bert Newton is an obvious chat show host that the network is not completely utilising but no other names from within the network spring to mind.

Missing Person’s Unit could be fronted by another member of Nine’s News department with Michael Usher now out of the Nightline hosting chair who also appears to be Munro’s obvious replacement on the Sydney Weekend edition of National Nine News.

Munro’s decision may have been made by the axing of Sunday and Nightline as Sunday’s host, Ellen Fanning may also find herself without a role at Nine.

Fanning might now regret not jumping ship at the start of the year to front 2UE Breakfast with Mike Carlton, which oddly is where she and Munro could end up, on talkback radio.

Fanning and Munro are both very talented journalists who would be more than capable of presenting programs on radio and the Sydney AM networks should enquire about their availability, if Munro is interested and Fanning does not have another role at Nine after this Sunday.

Nine will also be on the look out for a temporary replacement for 60 Minutes Tara Brown whilst she is on maternity leave. Peter Harvey, Ray Martin and Ben Fordham have been doing the occasional story for Nine’s flagship current affairs program.

Fordham would be the frontrunner for the gig unless the network wants to replace Brown with another female such as Fanning or A Current Affair’s Amanda Paterson.

With the closure of Nightline and Sunday there will be a number of staff that will be repositioned at the network. It is a shame that they have been axed but understandable in the current television climate and the pressures of commercial television.

Audiences can now access news on demand through Australia’s own dedicated news channel, Sky News which also now screens and AM, PM and Weekend version of Agenda, their Political Report meaning by the time that Sunday airs, only, once a week, some of the news is stale.

Internet savvy Australians are also accessing their news online and watching videos on-demand, choosing their own news and accessing it as they want it.

Of most importance now is Public Broadcasting. The ABC is still committed to cutting edge, hard and objective journalism which must be retained as commercial television is driven by profits and ratings, unfortunately Nightline and Sunday could no longer be justified by these measurements, they were no longer rating and no longer profitable.

RIP Nightline & Sunday and Au Revoir Mike Munro.

Nine's advertising with balls

Nine might have won the first half of the year and as the old ‘still the one’ theme song is being warmed up the network has also launched an aggressive advertisement that ensures the networks balls are back in today’s Media and Marketing section of The Australian newspaper.

The clever four page or double sided broadsheet wraps around the Media and Marketing liftout with the cover saying, “In 2008 we’re Australian television’s leading network” accompanied by their results across all the demographics. Gordon Ramsay, Vince Colosimo, Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkison, Shelly Craft, Charlie Sheen and Liz Hayes grace the cover in the circular balls that reflects Nines “we heart tv” 2008 campaign.

The front page also boasts about Nine’s success with 60 Minutes, Domestic Blitz, State of Origin, Underbelly, Two and A Half Men, The Today Show and Gordon Ramsay.

On the inside Nine previews the shows that the network is still to launch in 2008 which we expect to see after the Olympics. The new shows include the “fast-tracking” of The Mentalist starring Australian Simon Baker and Fringe, starring fellow Aussie Anna Torv.

There are also new episodes of Two and A Half Men and a second series for Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA plus Hell’s Kitchen and The Chopping Block minus Catriona Rowntree to round-out Nine’s obsession with Ramsay and food.

Two new Australian dramas will screen on Nine, Scorched starring Vince Colosimo, Georgie Parker, Les Hill, Rachael Carpini and Cameron Daddo plus Gold Coast based cop-drama The Strip.

On the lifestyle front a new gardening show titled Battlefronts is set to debut with Gian Rooney as host. This show will see neighbours competing against one and other with time and budget constraints in attempt to transform their garden whilst What’s Good For You has been given the green light for another series with Lisa Wilkinson taking over as host from Sigrid Thornton.

Hole in the Wall is hosted by Jules Lund with a swag of celebrities trying to shape their bodies into peculiar positions in order to get through the wall. This is rumoured to appear AFL and NRL stars in a battle of the codes. Whilst Temptation will be back on air, possibly as the new news lead-in?

Or are Nine developing a new show for the end of the day? Confidential reported earlier this month that Nine are considering a show to possibly be in the mix as a news-lead in or post news show with more of a focus on entertainment and celebrity. Could this be the rumoured Five Live? Or are we going to see a sort of Today Show at the end of the day, before the news which combines news, current affairs, lifestyle, entertainment and segments.

Richard Wilkins and Georgie Gardner are two names that spring to mind, more than capable of hosting possibly their own version of a Afternoon Show or perhaps if Sonia Kruger could be poached from Seven, she or Sarah Murdoch could front this type of program.

Nine’s daytime scheduele is also about to get a makeover, removing the midday movie to be replaced with The View and Ellen, two American talk/chat shows previously used by Foxtel’s W Channel or Ellen appears on WIN with Susie in place of Mornings with Kerrie-Anne.

The advertisement in The Australian also advises of new series of RPA, Primeval, 20 to 1, Rugby League World Cup, Summer of Cricket as well as more Domestic Blitz, Crime Investigation Australia, The Gift and The Waiting Room.

The back page of the advertisement has been reserved for The Strip featuring lead cast members Vanessa Gray flanked by Aaron Jeffery, Frankie J. Holden, Bob Morley and Simone McAullay. Nine will be hoping this show reseructs the previous failure of Canal Road so it can ad the program to Young Doctors, the Underbelly prequel and Sea Patrol III to be screened in 2009.

Media and Marketing also reports that The Block will be returning in 2009 which has been a previous success for Nine. Jamie Durie is no longer contracted to Nine, so there will be a chance for a new host with Gian Rooney possibly on trial with Battlefronts but Hole in the Wall Host Jules Lund would have to be the frontrunner for this one. Possibly Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune and Celebrity Singing Bee host Tim Campbell or Domestic Blitz' Scott Cam might be in for a run as host unless someone new is picked to front the show.

Local versions of Wipeout and Ladette to Lady are going to be produced and aired this year. Nine is calling for contestants by simply going to www.ninemsn.com.au and registering with a host yet to be announced, Jules Lund may perhaps front Wipeout.

Nine’s advertisement in Media and Marketing matches their current television campaign which is powerful and states “the best is yet to come”...

We will see Nine as the network is getting in early, before the Olympics at which time most people will switch over to Seven to watch the games whilst being bombarded with Channel Seven advertising for their post-Olympics schedules which we all ready know will feature Packed to the Rafters, Make Me A Supermodel to be hosted by the glamorous Jennifer Hawkins and Dancing With the Stars will be back with Larry Emdur rumoured to be the new host.

Ten has a new Aussie drama themselves, Rush starring Underbelly’s Rodger Corser and Callan Mulvey plus former Water Rats star, Catherine McClements. Actually Corser joined Water Rats in the last episode of the drama as Detective George Newhouse to replace the departing Steve Bisley. McClements is no stranger to acting as a cop and neither is Corser who played Detective Steve Owen in Underbelly whilst Mulvey changes character as he previously has played criminal roles in both Underbelly and Home and Away.