News

The greatest nature stories ever told will air on ABC1 following the conclusion of a significant content deal with BBC Worldwide Australia.

Life (10 x 50) is a natural history blockbuster, shot in HD, and the definitive exploration of the diversity of life on Earth. Life stars a cast of ‘box-office’ wildlife characters, filmed on every continent and in every habitat across the world. With each drama-filled episode entirely dedicated to one of the planet’s ten most important wildlife groups, this is truly life and death on an epic scale.

Yellowstone (3 x 50) follows the intertwining stories of the inhabitants of one of the world’s last and most spectacular wildernesses. The BBC/Animal Planet and Discovery co-production reveals the grandeur of this unique place as its animals struggle to survive over the course of three vividly changing seasons.

Nature’s Great Events (3 x 50), a BBC/Discovery Channel co-production in association with Wanda Films, unveils the spectacular power of nature as it witnesses the planet’s most breathtaking natural events, and follows the dramatic wildlife stories behind them.

The fascinating factual series Human Journey (5 x 50) undertakes five epic journeys across the globe and explains how humans conquered the planet. Tracing the ancient routes of our early ancestors it reveals the extraordinary and brutal challenges they faced. Human Journey is a BBC/Travel Channel co-production in association with France 5.

The third series of hit drama series Robin Hood (produced by Tiger Aspect) has also been acquired. 

BBC Worldwide has licensed additional premier content to digital channel ABC2. Two series of the eclectic studio music show Later…with Jools Holland (9 x 60 and 7 x 60) will air, bringing live music, a relaxed studio audience, a peppering of celebrity guests and an upbeat, jovial host.  And striking new Canadian drama series Being Erica (13 x 45) stars Erin Karpluk (The L Word) as Erica, a thirty-something failure who finds herself flung back into her teenage past in full possession of her adult mind. Being Erica is a Temple Street Productions production for CBC and BBC Worldwide.

“The strength of this slate reflects the creativity and talent of the independent production sector, as well as that of the BBC” said Amber Knight, BBC Worldwide Australia’s Head of Television Sales. We are proud to bring this line-up to the ABC and to help make it a success for them.”

“Given the quality and the range of this line-up, I know it will play well to ABC audiences,” added Marena Manzoufas, ABC TV’s Head of Programming. “The natural history slate in particular will be a huge draw card for our viewers.”

Network Ten Total Commercial Share:

Network Ten Total win Sunday night with a prime-time (18:00 – 22:30) network commercial share of 35.0%.[1]

TEN Commercial Share:

TEN wins Sunday night prime-time in all key demographics: 18-49 (39.3% CSHR), 16-39 (44.3% CSHR) and 25-54 (36.2%).[2]

Merlin wins its timeslot in all key demographics and total people (38.9% CSHR), with an audience of 1.50 million viewers; highest audience of the season, so far.

MasterChef Australia – Challenge easily wins its timeslot in all key demographics and total people (40.0% CSHR); draws its highest audience of the season, with 1.67 million viewers; #1 show of the night in all key demographics.

Rove wins its timeslot in all key demographics, with an audience of 1.19 million viewers; best audience of the season, so far

The Biggest Loser US wins its timeslot in 18-49 (36.7%) and 16-39 (44.3%).

TEN scores the top 3 shows in 18-49 and 16-39
#1 MasterChef Australia – Challenge
#2 Rove
#3 Merlin

TEN scores the top shows in 25-54
#1 MasterChef Australia – Challenge

ONE Total People:

Across the day, ONE has 24 hours of unique programming.[3]

ONE draws its best audience of the year, so far.  

FIA Formula 1 World Championship 2009 (Round Six Monaco) draws an audience of 200,000 viewers; higest rating program on ONE so far.

FIA Formula 1 World Championship 2009 Pre-race (Round Six Monaco) draws an audience of 150,000 viewers.

ONE has 6 of the top 10 programs on sports channels. [4]

Any reference to or reporting of ratings data in this release must be sourced OzTAM.

[4] Top programs are based on ONE, ESPN, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 and Fox Sports 3.

Here are how shows performed on Tuesday, May 26^th, 2009 between 5.00 and 10.30pm. This is week 22 of the official 2009 ratings period.

10 wins another Tuesday night with the success of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation and NCIS. The final episode for this season of Lie to Me also performed well, also winning its time slot. This means that 10 won all time slots from 7pm until 10.30pm.

7 remains not far behind sitting 2^nd behind 10 from 7.30 onward. 9 came in 3^rd, which is typical of their Tuesday night line up. Its not really a bad idea to show movies as an alternative, but on a weeknight, they really should be starting at 8.30, not 9.30 as an 11.45 finish is just to late and too much of a commitment.

A first to free to air movie could actually rate very well (Wedding Crashers was a repeat), as has been proven before with the Devil Wears Prada earlier this year. Maybe its time they move Two and a Half Men (so called adults only hour) out of Tuesday night and revamp the whole line up from 8.30 onwards. Wedding Crashers came 4^th for its first half hour, and was not shown in Melbourne. They had Gordon Ramseys’ Kitchen Nightmares on instead which also would have been 3^rd in its 9.30 timeslot in Melbourne.

1^st ch 10 Ten News. 2^nd ch 7 MASH. 3^rd ch 9 Antiques Roadshow

1^st ch 10 Ten News. 2^nd ch 7 Deal or No Deal. 3^rd ch 9 Hot Seat

1^st ch 7 News. 2^nd: ch 9 News. 3^rd ch 10 Simpsons

1^st: ch 7 Today Tonight. 2^nd ch 9 A Current Affair. 3^rd ch 10 Neighbours

1^st ch 10 Masterchef. 2^nd ch 9 Two and a Half Men. 3^rd Ch 7 Home and Away.

1^st ch 10 Talkin Bout Your Generation. 2^nd ch 7 The Zoo. 3^rd: ch 9 HomeMADE

1^st ch 10 Talkin Bout Your Generation. 2^nd ch 7 Find My Family. 3^rd ch 9 HomeMADE

1^st ch 10 NCIS. 2^nd ch 7 All Saints. 3^rd ch 9 Two and a Half Men

1^st ch 10 Lie to Me. 2^nd ch 7 10 Years Younger. 3^rd ABC1: Mumbai Calling

1^st ch 10 Lie to Me. 2^nd ch 7 10 Years Younger. 3^rd Ch 9: Movie – Wedding Crashers (started 9.30)

1^st ch 10 29.5%. 2^nd ch 7 27.8%. 3^rd ch 9 23.8% 4^th ABC 14.6%. 5^th SBS 4.3%

Equal 1^st ch 7 27.6%. ch 10 27.6%. 3^rd ch 9 25.1%. 4^th ABC 14.9%. 5^th SBS 4.9%

The Mentalist should do well for 9 tonight as it’s the 2^nd last episode and has been well promoted this week. But its time slot will be won by the ABC with Spicks and Specks and the return of the Chaser – expected to attract over 2 million viewers. If you do miss the Chaser, you can catch a repeat on ABC2 on Thursday night.

Thank God You’re Here and Criminal Minds will ensure a 7 win tonight. ABC may well be 3^rd instead of the usual 4^th.

Unless the program changes at short notice, ch 9 have Miss Congeniality 2 slated as their 9.30 movie after the Two and a Half Men hour. With the current season Lie to Me now finished, 10 have scheduled in a repeat of NCIS at 9.30. History has shown than NCIS repeats can attract a large audience share, so its like that 10 will win next Tuesday as well. And, despite very poor performance, there’s no change to HomeMADE. I note also, this weekend, there is not a HomeMADE encore.

Raw data sourced from TV Tonight and Media Spy and is based on 5 city metro ratings. Positions are only shown for times when ratings figures are available for at least 3 networks in order. Outside of 5.00 – 10.30pm, this is not the case so cannot show detail in this format for those hours. The week so far is the progressive network shares starting from Sunday and ending on Saturday.

Network Ten Total Commercial Share:

Network Ten Total has a prime-time (18:00 – 22:30) network commercial share of 27.2 %.[1]

TEN Commercial Share:

MasterChef Australia wins its timeslot in all key demographics; draws an audience of 1.15 million viewers.[2]

Rules of Engagement wins its timeslot in 16-39 (39.4% CSHR).

ONE Total People:

Across the day, ONE has 24 hours of unique programming.[3]

ONE has 8 of the top 10 sports program on sports channels, with Thursday Night Live drawing an audience of 59,000 viewers.[4]

Any reference to or reporting of ratings data in this release must be sourced OzTAM.

[4] Top programs are based on ONE, ESPN, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 and Fox Sports 3.

From Monday next week (June 1^st), 7HD is extending its weekday afternoon break away programming by an extra 90 minutes. 7HD therefore will be showing break away programming from 12 midday until 4.30pm where 7HD resumes simulcast ing the main channel.

Programming from 12-3pm varies from day to day, but the additional shows after 3pm for next week are:

3pm: Oban Star Racers – children’s show

3:30pm: Super Rocket Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! – children’s show

4pm: New Idea TV – a repeat of the same show airing at 3pm on the main channel.

Break away programming also continues after midnight week nights, usually for just over 2 hours. This programming brings 7HD closer to the hours that 9HD currently offer. 9HD’s break away programming includes Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me, Without a Trace, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and starts at 11am on weekdays, also finishing at 4.30. 9HD’s break away is believed to be a trial run of their new digital channel rumoured to be called “GO99”.

Ironically, it was 7 who had the most HD break away prior to 10’s launch of ONE. The move to extend the break away to 4.30 simply re-instates what their daytime break away was before they cut back earlier this year.

In my opinion, 7HD should offer programming not for children at least from 3.30pm to offer fre to air viewers greater alternatives.

From Monday next week (June 1^st), 7HD is extending its weekday afternoon break away programming by an extra 90 minutes. 7HD therefore will be showing break away programming from 12 midday until 4.30pm where 7HD resumes simulcast ing the main channel.

Programming from 12-3pm varies from day to day, but the additional shows after 3pm for next week are:

3pm: Oban Star Racers – children’s show

3:30pm: Super Rocket Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! – children’s show

4pm: New Idea TV – a repeat of the same show airing at 3pm on the main channel.

Break away programming also continues after midnight week nights, usually for just over 2 hours. This programming brings 7HD closer to the hours that 9HD currently offer. 9HD’s break away programming includes Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me, Without a Trace, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and starts at 11am on weekdays, also finishing at 4.30. 9HD’s break away is believed to be a trial run of their new digital channel rumoured to be called “GO99”.

Ironically, it was 7 who had the most HD break away prior to 10’s launch of ONE. The move to extend the break away to 4.30 simply re-instates what their daytime break away was before they cut back earlier this year.

In my opinion, 7HD should offer programming not for children at least from 3.30pm to offer fre to air viewers greater alternatives.

From Monday next week (June 1^st), 7HD is extending its weekday afternoon break away programming by an extra 90 minutes. 7HD therefore will be showing break away programming from 12 midday until 4.30pm where 7HD resumes simulcast ing the main channel.

Programming from 12-3pm varies from day to day, but the additional shows after 3pm for next week are:

3pm: Oban Star Racers – children’s show

3:30pm: Super Rocket Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! – children’s show

4pm: New Idea TV – a repeat of the same show airing at 3pm on the main channel.

Break away programming also continues after midnight week nights, usually for just over 2 hours. This programming brings 7HD closer to the hours that 9HD currently offer. 9HD’s break away programming includes Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me, Without a Trace, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and starts at 11am on weekdays, also finishing at 4.30. 9HD’s break away is believed to be a trial run of their new digital channel rumoured to be called “GO99”.

Ironically, it was 7 who had the most HD break away prior to 10’s launch of ONE. The move to extend the break away to 4.30 simply re-instates what their daytime break away was before they cut back earlier this year.

In my opinion, 7HD should offer programming not for children at least from 3.30pm to offer fre to air viewers greater alternatives.

Network Ten’s post-Easter line-up is hitting the mark, with newly commissioned local shows, new international series and returning favourites dominating their timeslots and winning in all key demographics.

Year-to-date, the Network’s more diverse and expanded program line-up has delivered great new shows, targeted demographics and strong audiences.

Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation is Australia’s favourite new comedy, drawing an average weekly audience of 1.62 million viewers. Your Generation takes the crown as the highest rating Australian comedy series premiere. Ever.

TEN delivers Australia’s favourite US dramas. NCIS draws an average year-to-date audience of 1.45 million viewers. Year-to-date, NCIS is Australia’s most watched US series in all key demographics. Lie To Me is Australia’s favourite new US drama with an average year-to-date audience of 1.10 million viewers.

TEN delivers the best new international drama series of the year to date. Merlin draws an average audience of 1.36 million viewers every Sunday night, consistently winning its timeslot in all key demographics.

TEN delivers a new hit reality series, with Recruits premiering to an audience of 1.23 million viewers, adding to TEN’s Logie winning Bondi Rescue and new favourite, Bondi Vet.

Weeknights, TEN dominates the 5pm timeslot with TEN News at Five drawing an average audience of 936,000 viewers, year to date.

TEN cements its position as the home of big event TV with The Biggest Loser – The Winner Announced the top big event TV moment of 2009, drawing an audience of 2.09 million viewers.

Year-to-date TEN is No 1 in 16-39, with 9 of the top 10 shows in 16-39:

#1 The Biggest Loser – The Winner Announced TEN 940 k
#2 The Biggest Loser – Finale Night TEN 764 k
#3 Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities Nine 746 k
#4 Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation TEN 671 k
#5 Dance Australia – The Winner Announced TEN 614 k
#6 MasterChef Australia – Audition 1 TEN 580 k
#7 The Biggest Loser – The Final Weigh In TEN 575 k
#8 Dance Australia TEN 571 k
#9 MasterChef Australia – Challenge TEN 569 k
#10 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala TEN 550 k

Year-to-date TEN is No 2 in 18-49, with 6 of the top 10 shows in 18-49:

#1 The Biggest Loser – The Winner Announced TEN 1.31 m
#2 Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities Nine 1.12 m
#3 The Biggest Loser – Finale Night TEN 1.06 m
#4 Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation TEN 935 k
51st Annual TV Week Logie Awards #5 Nine 846 k
#6 Dance Australia – The Winner Announced TEN 822 k
#7 MasterChef Australia – Challenge TEN 819 k
#8 TV Week Logie Awards Arrivals Nine 806 k
#9 MasterChef Australia – Audition 1 TEN 804 k
#10 Packed To The Rafters Seven 798 k

TEN is No 1 in daytime, with TEN News at Five the top regular daytime program year to date.

Seven won Wednesday night with 28.7 per cent primetime viewing share.

THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE (491,000) was the centre of attention and the number one show in Melbourne. Ten’s ‘Masterchef Australia’ (400,000), ‘The All New Simpsons WED’ (332,000), and Nine’s ‘What’s Good For You’ (285,000) didn’t even come close – ranking 5th , 12th and 18th respectively.

SEVEN NEWS (468,000) was the number one news bulletin. ‘Nine News’ (396,000), ‘Ten News at Five’ (292,000) and the ‘ABC News-EV’ (281,000) were knocked out. Nationally, SEVEN NEWS (1.738 million) was the number one program.

At 8:30pm, Melbourne loved CRIMINAL MINDS (369,000), outwitting the final episode of Ten’s ‘House’ (328,000) and ‘The Mentalist’ (311,000) on Nine.

MY NAME IS EARL (300,000) was up 63 per cent on Ten’s ‘Numb3rs’ (184,000).

DEAL OR NO DEAL (267,000) crashed ‘Hot Seat’ (233,000).

MELBOURNE

1 THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE Seven 491,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 468,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 410,000
4 SPICKS AND SPECKS-EV ABC1 401,000
5 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA Ten 400,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 396,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 382,000
8 THE GRUEN TRANSFER-EV ABC1 371,000
9 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 369,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 359,000
(Share: ABC: 16.5%; Seven: 28.7%; Nine: 26.1%; Ten: 23.1%; and, SBS: 5.5%)

NATIONAL

1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,738,000
2 THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE Seven 1,685,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,516,000
4 SPICKS AND SPECKS-EV ABC1 1,405,000
5 THE GRUEN TRANSFER-EV ABC1 1,312,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,296,000
7 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA Ten 1,291,000
8 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,288,000
9 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,217,000
10 RPA Nine 1,158,000
(Share: ABC: 18.0%; Seven: 29.2%; Nine: 25.6%; Ten: 22.2%; and, SBS: 5.0%)

Here are how shows performed on Monday, May 25th, 2009 between 5.00 and 10.30pm. This is week 22 of the official 2009 ratings period. I added 5pm, as figures show that MASH usually beats Antiques.

7 won last night, mostly off the back of its news and current affairs, with 9 very close behind.

Masterchef has become the powerhouse show of the moment attracting over 1.4 million viewers last night for its one hour elimination challenge Monday night show. Last night, 3 of the major players so far in the series went up against each other to see who would be eliminated. As it turns out, the judges decided to keep all 3 of them in. This result maybe because of the chef who left on his own will a few weeks ago, meaning so far they were one down, having a “non-elimination” would have balanced the numbers up again.

Sea Patrol won its time slot for ch 9, but is not even coming close to giving 9 the figures they used to have on Monday nights with Underbelly. 7 is winning 9.30. Masterchef dominated the 7.30 slot as well, keeping a solid audience for 8pm. 10’s shows after 8.30pm prevented them from winning the night, with the network dropping to 4th for the 9.30 timeslot, but they are not that far behind, and are coming second for the week so far behind 7. It is likely that 7 will win the week.

5.00 – 5.30pm
1st ch 10 Ten News. 2nd ch 7 MASH. 3rd ch 9 Antiques Roadshow
5.30 – 6.00pm
1st ch 10 Ten News. 2nd ch 7 Deal or No Deal. 3rd ch 9 Hot Seat
6.00 – 6.30pm
1st ch 7 News. 2nd: ch 9 News. 3rd ch 10 Simpsons
6.30 – 7.00pm
1st: ch 7 Today Tonight. 2nd ch 9 A Current Affair. 3rd ch 10 Neighbours

7.00 – 7.30pm
1st ch 10 Masterchef. 2nd Ch 7 Home and Away. 3rd ch9 Two and a Half Men
7.30 – 8.00pm
1st ch 10 Masterchef. 2nd ch 9 Two and a Half Men. 3rd: ch 7 How I Met Your Mother
8.00 – 8.30pm
1st ch 10 Recruits. 2nd ch 7 Scrubs. 3rd  ch 9 Missing Pieces

8.30 – 9.30pm
1st ch 9 Sea Patrol. 2nd ch 7 Desperate Housewives. 3rd ch 10 Good News Week
9.30 – 10.30pm
1st ch 7 Brothers and Sisters. 2nd ch 9 Eleventh Hour. 3rd ABC Spooks

Overall:
1st ch 7 26.8%. 2nd ch 9 26.5%. 3rd ch 10 23.9% 4th ABC 16.9%. 5th SBS 5.5%
The week so far:
1st ch 7 27.4%. 2nd ch 10 26.6%. 3rd ch 10 25.7%. 4th ABC 15.1%. 5th SBS 5.2%

Raw data sourced from TV Tonight and Media Spy and is based on 5 city metro ratings.  Positions are only shown for times when ratings figures are available for at least 3 networks in order. Outside of 5.00 – 10.30pm, this is not the case so cannot show detail in this format for those hours. The week so far is the progressive network shares starting from Sunday and ending on Saturday.