Who We Are

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Programming in the national interest

This blog is now a heritage item - worth studying but not current. To join a daily discussion of Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale.
A wonderful precedent has been set by the ABC's decision to postpone its miniseries about East Timor in order to maximise the audience for Channel Nine's interview with the Beaconsfield miners. In future, we can expect all networks to play their most boring material whenever a competitor is showing something that Australians really ought to see.

The ABC's Director of Television, Kim Dalton, rationalised his act of anti-capitalism thus: "To place these two stories up against each other is to do a disservice to Australian viewers; therefore by holding back the premiere of Answered by Fire, ABC TV is giving people the opportunity to choose both -- a win for Australian audiences.'"

So the ABC replaced Answered By Fire with Agatha Christie A Life In Pictures, which duly got 355,000 viewers to the miners' 2.8 million. In the timeslot, the ABC was beaten by SBS, which refused to play the patriot game and was rewarded with 459,000 viewers for the Eurovision final.

Channel Nine is morally obligated next Sunday to recompense the ABC by showing something so dreary at 8.30 pm that viewers will be driven to the national broadcaster (assuming Seven and Ten also recognise the necessity for Australians to learn how our representatives in East Timor were let down by their own government).

It will not be enough for Nine simply to put on a repeat of CSI rather than a fresh episode. Viewers have demonstrated in the past they they can't tell the difference between old and new episodes of CSI. Just to make sure nobody is tempted to watch, Nine had better show old episodes of the Today show with Jessica Rowe -- a proven alienater of viewers. At the same time, Seven should show repeats of Let Loose Live from last year, while Ten shows repeats of The Hothouse.

For decades, viewers have been complaining about the antisocial way the commercial networks go about the business of competing with each other. Why are the shows we most want to see all on at the same time? This year's prime example is Seven putting Prison Break up against Ten's House. On Wednesdays, this column is forced to watch House until the first commercial break, to see the week's mysterious symptoms, then shift to Prison Break until its next commercial break, to see what obstacles will prevent the escape this week, then back to House for a few minutes of URST (UnResolved Sexual Tension), then back to PB for some gratuitous sadism, and finally back to House for the sudden inspiration that brings a cure.

Other viewers have doubtless devised a similar technique on Monday night for simultaneously getting the gist of Desperate Housewives and Cold Case. We should all give thanks that most series are made to predictable formulas.

But this channel flipping is irritating and unreliable. Now that the ABC has moved television from the age of competiton to the age of cooperation, we can appeal to the better natures of the networks. Nine will happily cancel the State of Origin football on the grounds that competing with House does a disservice to Australian hypochondriacs. Seven will shift Lost from Thursday because competing with Medium does a disservice to Australians who like to see dead people. Ten will reciprocate by shifting Friday Night Games to avoid doing a disservice to Australians learning to renovate their gardens. (We'd be interested to hear your suggestions for other non-competitive programming, below.)

And once Answered By Fire is over, the ABC will continue to do its patriotic duty by showing nothing likely to interest any viewers of commercial television -- in other words, business as usual.

This week the staff at Channel Nine are wondering how much longer Eddie McGuire will be allowed to steer The Titanic, after his expensive stunt of flying a bunch of bogans to Germany for a special edition of 'The Footy Show' ended up as number 42 program for the week, and Nine ended up number two network. Despite a disaster with '24', Channel Seven won the week with 27.7 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Nine with 26.8, Ten with 23.0, ABC with 15.3 and SBS with 7.3.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). His latest book is Soffritto -- A delicious Ligurian memoir. To join a daily discussion of Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 12:44 PM
Comments (91)

Monday, May 29, 2006

Great moments in Australian TV comedy

To discuss Australia's greatest TV comedies of all time, go to Who We Are
By David Dale
How we laughed, decade by decade ...

The 1950s
'In Melbourne Tonight', with Graham Kennedy , starts in 1957 and smashes the Tonight Show mould before it is set. Bert Newton joins in 1959, and 'The Graham Kennedy Show' goes national in 1960.

The 1960s
'The Mavis Bramston Show' (64-68) brings satirical revue from stage to screen, offends the prudes, and starts our addiction to sketch comedy .
'My Name's McGooley, What's Yours' (66-68), with Gordon Chater as the "dirty old man", is our first successful sitcom.

The 1970s
'The Aunty Jack Show' (72-75) Australianises Monty Python weirdness.
'The Paul Hogan Show' (73-81), a series of specials born from skits performed on 'A Current Affair', launches a legend.
'The Norman Gunston Show' (75-79, and 93) mocks Tonight Show hosts and creates a dag superstar.
'The Naked Vicar Show' (77-78) revives Mavis Bramston style revue.

The 1980s
'Kingswood Country' (79-84) is a slapstick sitcom born from a sketch in 'The Naked Vicar Show'.
'Hey Dad' (84-94), with stereotyped family characters, becomes our longest running sitcom.
'Hey Hey It's Saturday' (71-99) starts as a morning kids' show and becomes an evening variety show in the 80s, when it continues the Kennedy larrikin tradition.
'Mother and Son' (85-94) is a sitcom about ageing that walks the line between laughter and pain.
'The Gillies Report' (84-85) is a rare return to savage political satire.
'The D-Generation' (86-89) launches the writing/acting/directing team that comes to dominate TV and movie comedy.
'The Comedy Company' (88- 91) celebrates suburbia and inserts Con The Fruiterer and Kylie Mole into the national vocabulary.

The 1990s
'Acropolis Now' (89-92) is a sitcom born from the stage show Wogs Out Of Work, launching the unstoppable Effie.
'Fast Forward' and 'Full Frontal' (89-98), Seven's answers to Ten's Comedy Company, specialise in satirising other TV shows.
'Frontline' (94-97) is a Working Dog creation that savages the sensationalism of 'Today Tonight' and 'A Current Affair'.
'The Games' (98-00) lets John Clarke loose on the bureaucracy.

The noughties
'All Aussie Adventures' (01-03) mocks outback travelogues with slapstick gags.
'Kath and Kim' (02-?) features more suburban satire from more D-Generation graduates.
'The Chaser Decides', 'CNNNN' and 'The Chaser's War on Everything' (02-?) revive political parody and prove that not all creativity comes from Melbourne.
'Thank God You're Here' (06-?) challenges a new generation of comedians.
Newstopia (07-?) reintroduces the brilliant and strange Shaun Micallef.

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 06:31 AM
Comments (36)

Sunday, May 28, 2006

The ratings race: week 21

This blog is now a heritage item -- worth reading but not current. To discuss the latest trends in television, click here.

Nine won last week with 31.6 per cent of the prime time audience, thanks to the escape artists and the biffo boys, followed by Seven on 25.9, Ten on 22.2, ABC on 13.1, and SBS on 7.1.

What Australia watched, week ending May 27
1 The Great Escape (9) 2.79m
2 60 Minutes (9) 2.04m
3 Border Security (7) 1.88m
4 State of Origin rugby league (9) 1.88m
5 Nine news Sunday (9) 1.84m
6. Medical Emergency (7) 1.79m
7. Thank God You're Here (10) 1.69m
8. Where Are They Now (7) 1.64m
9. Soccer- Aus v Greece (SBS) 1.64m
10. Desperate Housewives (7) 1.60m
11. 20 to 1 repeat (9) 1.59m
12. Cold Case repeat (9) 1.55m
13. Today Tonight (7) 1.55m
14. Seven news (7) 1.54m
15. Seven news Sunday (7) 1.54m
(OzTAM mainland capitals)
(The Bill on Saturday got 883,000 across the capitals and 251,000 in Melbourne; on Tuesday, 897,000 and 258,000)

Updated 10 am Friday May 26.
The Greeks came bearing gifts for SBS last night -- a soccer match against the Australians turned into the most watched program of the year for the multicultural broadcaster, giving SBS an unheard-of audience share of 19.2 per cent (to Seven's 26.5, Nine's 24.9, Ten's 20.3 and the ABC's pathetic 9.1).

The match, which did almost as well in Sydney as in Melbourne and was huge with viewers under 40, stole audience from Seven's 'Lost' and Nine's 'Hello Goodbye', as well as decimating the ABC. If that's what a "friendly" game can achieve, what might a real game do? Nine must now be thinking of The Other Kind Of Football as an alternative next year to the AFL, which it is losing to Seven.

Meanwhile, Seven was cheered to find its news and Today Tonight were back to beating Nine's news and A Current Affair in every capital. The miner afterglow can only last so long.

What Australia watched, Thursday.
1. Seven news (7) 1.55m
2. Today Tonight (7) 1.55m
3. Soccer- Aus v Greece (SBS) 1.52m
4. Nine News (9) 1.27m
5. Lost (7) 1.22m
6. A Current Affair (9) 1.17m
7 The Amazing Race (7) 1.14m
8. Home and Away (7) 1.12m
9. Missing Persons Unit (9) 1.11m
10. Medium (10) 1.09m.
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preliminary figures)

What viewers aged 16-39 watched
1. The Amazing Race (7)
2. Soccer: Aus v Greece (SBS)
3. Lost (7)
4. Big Brother (10)
5. Las Vegas (7)
6. Neighbours (10)
7. The Footy Show (9)
8. American Dad (7)
9. Medium (10)
10. Family Guy (7)

Updated 11.45 am Thursday May 25.
Channel Ten's decision to show Thank God You're Here on Tuesday in Sydney and Brisbane and on Wednesday in the other capitals paid off. The total audience was 1.69 million. Channel Seven's decision to show Prison Break only in the non-rugby league cities attracts a giant question mark. That episode won't be shown in Sydney and Brisbane till Wednesday of next week (as part of a double), and that will confuse the ratings boffins. It totalled 765,000 last night.

The strong results for repeats of House and NCIS show that there are plenty of people, even in Sydney and Brisbane, who will watch anything in preference to biffo. But of course, Nine won the night with 36.5 per cent of the prime time audience (ABC 12.5, Seven 23.1, Ten 24.6, SBS 3.3).

What Australia watched, Wednesday.
1 State of Origin rugby league(9) 1.91m
2. Seven news (7) 1.60m
3. Today Tonight (7) 1.52m
4. Nine News (9) 1.40m
5. A Current Affair (9) 1.37m
6. Temptation (9) 1.37m
7. House repeat (10) 1.26m
8. Big Brother (10) 1.26
9. Home and Away (7) 1.23m
10 NCIS repeat (10) 1.2m.
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preliminary figures)

Updated 10 am Wednesday May 24.
What a difference a day makes, and what a difference geography makes. If you compare the rating charts below, you'll see that Sydney must have been more convinced than the rest of the country by the promos about Nine's current affairs coverage during the miners' interview. So Nine won Sydney and Seven won the rest of the nation.

And Ten did better in Sydney than elsewhere because it showed Thank God You're Here (while Melbourne has to wait till tonight, while the northerners watch biffo).

Nationally, Seven made a big comeback, with 31.2 per cent of the prime time audience (Nine 28.9, Ten 22.1, ABC 13.3, SBS 4.5). But in Sydney, Nine won the night, with 30.2 per cent (Seven 28.4; Ten 23.1; ABC 13.1; SBS 5.2).

Click here to discuss how Channel Nine should recompense the ABC for postponing its miniseries 'Answered By Fire' and thus maximise the miners' audience.

What Australia watched, Tuesday.
1 Border Security (7) 1.89m
2 Medical Emergency (7) 1.79m
3. Seven news (7) 1.59m
4. Today Tonight (7) 1.56m
5. Nine News (9) 1.54m
6. All Saints (7) 1.43m
7. CSI repeat (9) 1.40n
8. A Current Affair (9) 1.39m
9. Temptation (9) 1.35m
10. Home and Away (7) 1.35m
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preminary figures)

What Sydney watched, Tuesday.
1. Border Security (7) 549,000m
2. Medical Emergency (7) 480,000
3. Nine News (9) 441,000m
4. All Saints (7) 434,000m
5. A Current Affair (9) 433,000
6. CSI repeat (9) 428,000
7. Temptation (9) 403,000
8. Today Tonight (7) 378,000m
9. Thank God You're Here (10) 366,000
10. Seven news (7) 365,000.

Updated 10 am Tuesday May 24.
Many viewers must have been impressed by those promos during the miners' interview on Sunday which touted the virtues of Nine's news coverage and poked poop at Seven's. Nine news was the most watched program of last night, reversing Seven's usual dominance in the 6-7pm current affairs hour. It led Nine to a rare Monday victory, with 30.6 per cent of the prime time audience, while Seven got 28.3 per cent, Ten got 20.6, ABC got 15.1 and SBS got 5.5.

What Australia watched, Monday.
1 Nine News (9) 1.6m
2. Today Tonight (7) 1.6m
3. Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m
4. A Current Affair (9) 1.6m
5. 20 to 1 repeat (9) 1.6m
6. Seven news (7) 1.5m
7. Home and Away (7) 1.4m
8. Cold Case repeat (9) 1.3m
9 Temptation (9) 1.3m
10 Big Brother (10) 1.2m
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preminary figures)

You can find past Tribal Mind columns at www.smh.com.au/tribalmind. This ratings blog is updated every weekday. David Dale is the author of 'Who We Are -- A miscellany of the new Australia' (Allen and Unwin).

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 06:30 PM
Comments (127)

Thursday, May 25, 2006

How the dvd conquered Australia

by David Dale.
Aussies love a new gadget. We're known around the world as a nation of Early Adopters. It's often said that the symbol of this is the mobile phone, which was bought by 80 per cent of us in just 15 years. Or is it the iPod, with a million sales in two years? No, there's a better candidate for the supreme symbol of Who We Are: the Digital Versatile Disc. David Dale reports ...

EARLY in March this year an odd thing happened. A DVD called 'Crash' suddenly jumped into the number 4 spot on the national weekly sales chart produced by the research agency GFK marketing. 'Crash' had been released on DVD back in October last year, but never even made the top 50 at that time. Now it stayed in the top 10 through March and April. What was going on?

The answer is another example of how the silver disc has transformed the way Australians live. Over the first five years of the 21st century, we became a nation of scholars and collectors -- connoisseurs of film instead of consumers of flicks. And in March we wanted to collect and study the small film which had astonished the world by being voted Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards.

When Crash was shown in Australian cinemas back in June of 2005, it sold $1.9 million worth of tickets. This year, it will make its distributors twice as much on DVD. And that's typical of how, in the entertainment business, the tail is wagging the dog.

Lets look at a few statistics that show how Australia's way of entertaining itself has changed in recent years, and then I'll take a stab at explaining what the figures mean.

1. In 1999, Australians bought 310,000 DVDs and 8 million VHS tapes. In 2005, Australians bought 48 million DVDs and 760,000 VHS tapes.

2. Australians spent $986 million on DVDs last year, and $818 million on cinema tickets. As DVD buying has grown, cinema attending has declined -- we bought 82.2 million movie tickets in 2005, compared with 92.5 million in 2001 and 2002.

3. We've bought 8 million DVD players since they came on the market in 1999 (of which half a million can also record), and 70 per cent of Australian homes now have at least one player. The average player-owning household buys nine discs a year. Back in the 90s, when the video was king, the average VCR-owning household bought two tapes a year.

4. And what sort of stuff do we enjoy on disc? The Australian Film Commission tried to categorise our purchases, and concluded that in 2005, 25 per cent of the discs we bought could be called comedies, 18 per cent action, 15 per cent drama, 11 per cent animated, 7 per cent family, 7 per cent science fiction, and 5 per cent thrillers. If you compare this with 2000, the last year of the golden age of videos, you find that 29 per cent of VHS tapes bought then were animated, 13 per cent comedy, 12 per cent science fiction, 10 per cent drama, 10 per cent action, and 9 per cent family.

This seems to suggest that adult tastes are more influential in our current DVD buying than they were in our past video buying. But I have some reservations about the categories here. Surely animated movies tend also to be comedies and also for the family. Aren't most action movies also thrillers and dramas? And how often do you get science fiction that is not also an action movie and a drama?

6. A more scientific way to compare past video buying with current DVD buying might be to look at the censorship classifications of the tapes in the 90s and the discs these days. Back in 2000, 54 per cent of videos sold were rated G, 26 per cent were PG, 16 per cent were M15+, 3 per cent were MA15+ and 1 per cent were R18+. In 2005, 19 per cent of DVDs sold were rated G, 27 per cent were PG, 28 per cent were M15+, 19 per cent were MA15+ and 3 per cent were R.

So what can we conclude from all this?

Australians are buying rather than renting DVDs.
In the 90s, adults tended to rent movies for themselves and buy videos for the kids, who like to see their favourites many times. In this DVD-dominated decade, adults are doing it for themselves. That's partly because the little silver discs are easier to store than bulky VHS tapes, but it's mainly because we have started to build collections the way people used to create libraries of the books they wanted to read again and again.
Of course adults still buy G- and PG- rated material for the kids, but they buy much more M- and MA- rated dramas and comedies, because the extras on DVDs allow them to analyse what's behind the movies they love.

We're using dvds as an alternative to television.
Viewers tired of having their favourite shows interrupted by commercials or played out of order or rescheduled to late at night or stopped halfway through a season can now cut out the annoying middle man and buy the missing episodes in boxed sets. The top selling DVDs so far this year have included Charmed Season Six, Scrubs Season Three, The OC Season Two, The Simpsons Season Seven, and Gilmore Girls Season One.
While pay TV has reached only 25 per cent of households in ten years, DVD players reached 70 per cent of households in seven years. It makes sense, since a good DVD player costs $200, while a subscription to Foxtel costs at least $600 a year.

We're turning our homes into cinemas.
Along with our recordable DVD players, we buy big screens and superior sound systems. We still go to the multiplex to be first with the latest blockbuster, but we're happy to wait for most other movies because the gap between cinema screening and DVD release is less than six months. Thus the 50 top selling DVDs of 2005 included The Notebook, Team America World Police, Princess Diaries 2, and Phantom of the Opera, which had been only moderate moneymakers in cinemas. And we're also keen to see the blockbusters again at home, with bonus features.

This shift to DVDs is no surprise, as cinema tickets approach $15 for only one showing of a film with no option to pause, rewind, and hear the director's commentary. It may be upsetting for the people who own cinemas, but it doesn't worry the people who make movies, since they earn their money anyway. Or, in the case of Crash, they get a chance to be born again.

Tell us your experiences: which DVDs make best use of the possibilities in the technology? And what's next for the early adopters?

Top selling discs so far in 2006
1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2. The Chronicles of Narnia
3. Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Wererabbit
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Batman Begins
6. King Kong
7. Mixed Wave 2/3
8. Crash
9. Underworld Evolution
GFK Marketing (to May 30)

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 11:00 AM
Comments (6)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The ratings race: week 20

This blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but not current. To discuss the latest trends in television, click here. If you want news on how Australians responded to the miners' interview and The Da Vinci Code, read on.

Mary Magdalene (aka Mrs Jesus) seized the hearts and minds of Australians. In its first four days in cinemas, The Da Vinci Code sold $8.6 million worth of tickets -- way better than the openings of Mission: Impossible 3 ($3.9m), Ice Age 2 ($5.3m), or The Chronicles of Narnia ($6.5m), but less than the opening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($12.4m).

In this column's contest to predict the box office for DVC, the entry closest to this figure came from Owain, who thought it would make $7.8 million in its first four days. If Owain would send an address to ddale@fairfax.com.au (using the same email from which the original comment came), a copy of 'Who We Are - A miscellany of the new Australia' will be on its way.

And those who did not win this time may care to register an entry in our next challenge -- to predict the final box office total for The Da Vinci Code. (Remember that Narnia went on to make $35m in 12 weeks, Potter made $36m, and Ice Age 2 made $24m). Once again the prize, awarded in about 12 weeks from now, will be a copy of 'Who We Are'. To see the list of Australia's highest grossing films of all time, click here.

Now back to television. It seems that Australians love miners more than dancers, but not as much as we love our athletes. Channel Nine says the Beaconsfield interview was watched by 2.8 million people in the mainland capitals between 8.35 pm and 10.25 pm on Sunday. By comparison, 3.47 million watched the opening of the Commonwealth Games and 2.66 million watched the finale of Dancing With The Stars.

Click here to discuss how Channel Nine should recompense the ABC for postponing its miniseries 'Answered By Fire' in order to maximise the miners' audience.

Between 9pm and 9.15pm, the interview attracted 2.95 million viewers, but this dropped to 2.27 million between 10.15 and 10.30. The average was 2.796m.

That means the winners of our predicting contest are Downloader (who guessed 2.8m) and Lido Shuffle (2.81m). If they would kindly send their addresses to ddale@fairfax.com.au (using the same email address their original comments came from), they'll each receive a copy of 'Who We Are -- A miscellany of the new Australia'.

The audience was smaller than Nine hoped, but big enough to justify the price Nine was charging for commercials -- although the number of station promos suggests that relatively few new advertisers signed on. (Click here to see where the interview ranked among the most watched shows of all time).

Naturally, Nine won the night, with 40.3 per cent of the prime time audience, but SBS was also a winner, with a rare 7.3 per cent rhanks to the Eurovision cheese festival. Ten attracted 22.5 per cent, Seven got 19.5 per cent, and the ABC, which usually does well on Sunday nights, was the biggest loser, with 10.3 per cent.

What Australia watched, Sunday
1. The Great Escape (9) 2.80m
2. 60 Minutes (9) 2.03m
3. Nine news Sunday (9) 1.84m
4. Where Are They Now (7) 1.62m
5. Seven news Sunday (7) 1.52m
6. Big Brother Eviction (10) 1.37m
7. Backyard Blitz (9) 1.32m
8. Ghost Whisperer (7) 1.20m
9. Law and Order (10) 1.16m
10. Sunday football (9) 1.12m
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Sunday May 21.
Channel Nine narrowly won last week, with a prime time audience share of 28.1 per cent, followed by Seven on 27.3 per cent, Ten on 24.9, the ABC on 14.6 and SBS on 5.0. If Seven doesn't come up with a couple of blockbusters to replace Dancing With The Stars, it won't win the year.

Recently this column accused Nine of paralysis in its programming. That disease seems now to have spread to Seven. Instead of jumping in and launching the new US shows it was boasting about earlier in the year, Seven has taken off Prison Break this Wednesday night to avoid competing with Nine's State of Origin football. An uncharacteristic display of cowardice.

What Australia watched, week ending May 20
1. Border Security (7) 1.78m
2. Desperate Housewives (7) 1.72m
3. CSI: Sunday (9) 1.71m
4. 60 Minutes (9) 1.70m
5. Thank God You're Here (10) 1.70m
6. House (10) 1.61m
7. Medical Emergency (7) 1.60m
8. Cold Case (9) 1.59m
9. Nine News Sunday (9) 1.58m
10. Seven weekday news (7) 1.56m
11. Big Brother Intruders (10) 1.52m
12. 20 to 1 repeat (9) 1.51m
13. Seven News Sunday (7) 1.51m
14. Today Tonight (7) 1.48m
15. Lost (7) 1.44m
16 All Saints (7) 1.44m
17. Where Are They Now (7) 1.43m
18. Missing Persons Unit (9) 1.42m
19. Better Homes and Gardens (7) 1.39m
20. Big Brother Eviction (10) 1.36m
21 Getaway (9) 1.36m
22. Movie: Love Actually (10) 1.35m
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

The Bill, Tuesday 931,000 and 253,000 in Melbourne; Saturday 916,000 and 248,000. Daniel or Sarah, please tell us what pattern is emerging. Statistics are useless without interpretation.

Updated 10 am Friday May 19.
The most interesting characters in 'Lost' are Kate and Sawyer, so it's no surprise that an episode concentrating on them was the most watched program on Australian television on Thursday night. What is surprising is that even with the top two shows, Channel Seven didn't end up with the highest audience share. Over the whole of prime time, Nine won with 30.8 per cent of the audience (and will win the week), with Seven on 30.3 per cent, Ten on 22.4, the ABC on 11.1 and SBS on 5.4.

What Australia watched, Thursday
1. Lost (7) 1.44m
2.Today Tonight (7) 1.43m
3. Missing Persons Unit (9) 1.43m
4. Seven News (7) 1.43m
5. Getaway (9) 1.36m
6. Nine News (9) 1.32m
7 Hello/Goodbye (9) 1.25m
8. The Amazing Race (7) 1.25m
9. A Current Affair (9) 1.24m
10. Las Vegas (7) 1.19m
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 11 am Thursday May 18.
Here's your challenge: demonstrate how well you can read the mass mind by predicting the average audience in the mainland capitals for Channel Nine's Beaconsfield show on Sunday night. Is Australia already over the miners, convinced they'll be inarticulate, or looking forward to a thrilling tale of life in the dark?

Nine needs to attract at least 2 million viewers to justify the $100,000 per half minute it wants to charge for advertising during the two hour program. Could it approach the 4 million Seven gained for last year's Australian Open tennis final, the most watched show of the decade? Register your prediction via the comments below before midnight Friday, and the nearest to correct figure will win a copy of 'Who We Are'.

(While you're at it, you might care to register a prediction on the box office for the first four days of 'The Da Vinci Code'. For purposes of comparison, 'Mission Impossible 3' -- with lukewarm reviews -- sold $3.80 million worth of tickets in its first four days, showing in 449 cinemas. 'The Da Vinci Code' -- with lukewarm reviews -- opens today in 559 cinemas. Will Tom Two seize the hearts and minds of Australians more firmly than Tom One? We'll announce both winners on Tuesday.)

The ABC is doing its best to help Channel Nine's ratings by announcing that it will postpone its new miniseries about East Timor, 'Answered By Fire', to avoid clashing with the miners on Sunday night. The ABC's Director of Television, Kim Dalton, said: "The events of Beaconsfield are a remarkable story of survival and something that Australians are keenly interested in at this current moment. 'Answered by Fire' is also the story of a major chapter in Australia's recent history -- where Australians put their lives on the line to help a neighbour. To place these two stories up against each other is to do a disservice to Australian viewers; therefore by holding back the premiere of Answered by Fire, ABC TV is giving people the opportunity to choose both -- a win for Australian audiences.'"

What Australia watched, Wednesday
1. Thank God You're Here Ten 1.64m
2. House Ten 1.63
3. Seven News Seven 1.56
4. Today Tonight Seven 1.44
5. McLeod's Daughters Nine 1.33
6. National Nine News Nine 1.31
7. Home and Away Seven 1.28
8. NCIS Ten 1.27
9. A Current Affair Nine 1.23
10. Prison Break Seven 1.17

Network prime time shares last night:
ABC: 14.8 per cent; Seven: 25.2 per cent; Nine: 26.1; Ten: 30.5; SBS: 3.4.

Updated 10 am Wednesday May 17.

By this column's calculations, Australia is 11 per cent less paranoid than it was 12 months ago. Around this time last year, when many Australians were convinced we were about to be overrun by boat people, Channel Seven's show 'Border Security' attracted 2.00 million viewers in the mainland capitals. On Tuesday night, when Seven launched a new series of BS to replace 'Dancing With The Stars', the audience was 1.78 million -- healthy but not spectacular.

If the prime minister wants to help Seven win its current ratings war with Channel Nine, he'll need to whip up another children overboard scare. Sydney was the most relaxed and comfortable city on the night, with a much lower proportion of its citizenry watching Border Security than in Perth, which apparently still considers itself to be on the front line.

Channel Ten grabbed younger viewers away from Seven with its insertions of a flamboyant gay man and two flirtatious women into the Big Brother house -- a process that stretched over several programs and several hours. Inserting an intruder during Rove Live worked brilliantly, with Rove's audience jumping 350,000 to 1.1 million (though he was still beaten by CSI:NY on 1.27 m).

Channel Seven won the night but only just -- 28.6 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 26.7, Ten on 26.4, the ABC on 13.3 and SBS on 5.0.

What Australia watched, Tuesday.
1. Border Security (7) 1.8m
2. Seven news (7) 1.6m
3. Medical Emergency (7) 1.6m
4. BB Intruders Go In (10) 1.5m
5 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m
6 All Saints (7) 1.4m
7 Nine News (9) 1.4m
8 Home and Away (7) 1.4m
9 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
10 Temptation (9) 1.3m
11 CSI repeat (9) 1.3m
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preminary figures)

As evidence of how the TV audience split along generational lines, here is Tuesday's chart for viewers aged 16-39, who seem to have no border paranoia:
1) Big Brother - Intruders (10)
2) Big Brother (10)
3) Rove Live (10)
4) The OC (10)
5) Neighbours (10)
6) All Saints (7)
7) CSI (9)
8) Home and Away (7)
9) The Simpsons (10)
10) CSI: NY (9)

Updated 10 am Tuesday May 16.
A particularly funny episode of 'Desperate Housewives' and a particularly suspenseful episode of 'Commander-in-Chief' helped Seven to a narrow victory on Monday night. But the margin between Seven and Nine showed how precarious is Seven's current lead for the year. Seven got 27.8 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 27.4, Ten on 22.0, the ABC on a healthy 17.4 (thanks to Australian Story), and SBS on a healthy 5.4 (thanks to Mythbusters).Without Dancing With The Stars on Tuesdays, Seven is gambling that Australians retain the interest in immigration that made 'Border Security' a surprise hit last year. And next week, Nine starts the State of Origin rugby league season, which will pull male viewers away from 'Prison Break' on Wednesday nights.

What Australia watched, Monday.
1. Desperate Housewives (7) 1.7m
2. Seven news (7) 1.7m
3. Cold Case (9) 1.6m
4. Today Tonight (7) 1.6m
5 Nine News (9) 1.5m
6. 20 to 1 repeat (9) 1.5m
7 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
8 Home and Away (7) 1.3m
9 Temptation (9) 1.3m
10 Big Brother Nomination 1.3m
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preminary figures)

Click here for a discussion on whether movielovers and tellylovers are warring tribes.

Updated 10 am Monday May 15.
As this column has noted before, the age of the Sunday night movie is over. Broadcast movies stopped pulling in the crowds when the majority of Australian households got DVD players. But once in a while they make a comeback -- like last night, when 'Love Actually' drew 1.4 million viewers in the mainland capitals and helped Channel Ten to knock off Channel Seven for number two spot in audience share. Why is 'Love Actually' a special case?
This column suspects it's the Hugh Grant factor (click here for that discussion).

Channel Nine won the night with 30.5 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Ten on 28.7, Seven on 25.0, the ABC on 11.7 and SBS on 4.2. Clearly Seven must do something urgently about its Sunday night lineup, because only 'Where Are They Now' is working, and that is finishing next week. Seven's solution so far is to program the talent quest 'It Takes Two' (aka Singing With The Stars) on Sundays. And still we are left to speculate on where Seven will put 'Grey's Anatomy'.

What Australia watched, Sunday.
1. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (9) 1.7m
2. 60 Minutes (9) 1.7m
3. Nine News Sunday (9) 1.6m
4. Seven News Sunday (7) 1.5m
5. Where Are They Now (7) 1.4m
6. Movie: Love Actually (10) 1.4m
7. Big Brother Eviction (10) 1.3m
8. CSI: Miami (9) 1.26m
9. Sunday Football - AFL and NRL (9) 1.2m
10. Big Brother - 6:30pm (10) 1.1m
(OzTAM mainland capitals, preminary figures)

How viewers aged 16-39 watched, Sunday
1. Big Brother Eviction (10)
2. Big Brother 6.30 (10)
3. Love Actually (10)
4. CSI (9)
5. 60 Minutes (9)
6. X Men II (7)
7. CSI: Miami (9)
8. Nine News Sunday (9)
9. The Simpsons (10)
10. Where are they Now (7)

You can find past Tribal Mind columns at www.smh.com.au/tribalmind. To join a discussion on whether the host is more important than the chef, click here. David Dale is the author of 'Who We Are -- A miscellany of the new Australia' (Allen and Unwin).

Updated 10 am Sunday May 14.
The never to be repeated combination of a heroic rescue, fancy footwork, fabulous frocks, and a federal budget brought huge audiences back to the box last week. Whatever Eddie McGuire ends up paying for the Beaconsfield miners' story, he's already had his money's worth.

In a normal week, the top ten ratings chart begins with a show that gets around 2 million viewers in the mainland capitals, and tapers off to a show that gets around 1.3 million. Last week, every program in the top ten got more than 1.6 million viewers, and five got more than 2 million.

Australians were desperate for every detail about Beaconsfield -- right through to Nine's Footy Show concert on Thursday night, averaging 1.5 million viewers and peaking at 1.9 million. But they also gave 'Dancing With The Stars' on Tuesday the biggest audience it has ever achieved - 2.7 million. And on Sunday, Richard Carleton's final story gave '60 Minutes' its best figure for the year, while more than two million stayed with Nine for one of the dullest Logies ceremonies in history.

Nine won the week with 30.9 per cent of the prime time audience, with Seven on 29.0, Ten on 22.0, the ABC on 13.6 and SBS on 4.5. But these were shares of a much bigger pie than usual.

Tuesday was the most watched weekday of the year. Australians tuned in from early in the morning, when the release of the two miners finally found an audience for Nine's much-criticised 'Today' -- 529,000, the best figure it has ever had. But against it, Seven's 'Sunrise' averaged 839,000, the best figure IT'S ever had. It peaked at 1.04 million at 7.30am.

At 5.30 pm on Tuesday, the beleaguered Bert Newton got his best ever figure for 'Family Feud' -- 770,000, only to find his competitor, Deal Or No Deal, getting 1.04 million. At the same time, Ten's News At Five got 1.16 million viewers.

Peter Costello suffered from the intense competition. His budget speech, on the ABC at 7.30, drew just 798,000. Between 6pm and 10.30 pm on Tuesday, a total of 5,026,600 people in the mainland capitals were watching free to air TV, divided up thus: Seven 2.269m; Nine 1.095m; Ten 880,000; ABC 587,000 and SBS 194,000. On the equivalent Tuesday last year, the total was 4,613,400.

The big numbers continued throught the week, diverting to Ten on Wednesday with 'Thank God You're Here' and 'House', and then flowing back to Nine on Thursday and Friday. Its new locally made shows, 'Missing Persons Unit' and 'Hello Goodbye', performed strongly against Seven's 'Lost' at 8.30 on Thursday.

Australians finally managed to leave their homes on Friday, so that Nine's football matches (with Beaconsfield segments) totalled a relatively disappointing 1.2 million. We all need a break from the box sometime.

What Australia watched, week ending May 13
1 Dancing With The Stars final (7) 2.66m
2 Nine news Sunday (9) 2.48m
3 Logie arrivals (9) 2.26m
4 60 Minutes (9) 2.06m
5 Logie awards (9) 2.03m
6 Thank God You're here (10) 1.66m
7 All Saints (7) 1.66m
8 20 to 1 (9) 1.60m
9 Seven news (7) 1.65m
10 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.61m
11 Cold Case (9) 1.60m
12 Today Tonight (7) 1.60m
13 House (10) 1.53m
14 Missing Persons Unit (9) 1.47m
15 The Footy Show Thursday (9) 1.46m
16 Nine News (9) 1.44m
17 Getaway (9) 1.42m
18 Prison Break (7) 1.42m
19 Lost (7) 1.41m
20 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.41m
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

Seven news beat Nine news in every capital. The Bill on Tuesday got 802,000 across the capitals and 238,000 in Melbourne, and on Saturday 827,000 and 213,000 in Melbourne. Are you noticing any trend yet, Daniel?

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 09:22 AM
Comments (358)

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Why cynicism doesn't sell

By David Dale.
It's a mystery which, if solved, could reveal much about the psychology of Australians. Here's a highly-publicised movie with shootings and explosions, so it should appeal to young males, plus a love story, which should add a female audience, a political subtext to encourage the more thoughtful filmgoer, and one of our favourite international stars, whose track record includes six flicks that each made more than $16 million at the Australian box office. And yet it's a flop. What went wrong?

The movie is, of course, American Dreamz. Oh, did you think we were talking about something else?

American Dreamz stars Hugh Grant as the judge in a TV talent quest not unlike American Idol or its Australian clone. His bitchy turn of phrase is reminiscent of the US judge Simon Cowell or the Australian judges Dicko or Kyle Sandilands. Mandy Moore plays the slightly chubby blonde who might win. Dennis Quaid plays a US President whose adviser thinks he'll regain popularity by becoming a guest judge on the Idol show.

Showing in 150 cinemas, it made just $1.4 million in two weeks, while the less entertaining Mission: Impossible 3 made $5 million in one week. We know that cinemas are currently going through a slump, but that result is ridiculous. Here, from least to most probable, are some theories on why American Dreamz flopped:

5 Australians don't want to see mockery of George Bush and jokes about suicide bombing.

4 Australians don't want to see Hugh Grant as a sleazy opportunist, preferring him as the sweet bumbler of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Two Weeks Notice.

3 The kind of people who enjoy Australian Idol don't want to see its formulas exposed, and therefore find the approach of American Dreamz offensive.

2 The kind of people who go to clever movies don't watch Australian Idol, so they find the subject matter uninteresting. (There have been very few great movies about television -- Goodnight and Good Luck, Broadcast News, Network, and To Die For come to mind. And only one film about television has been a hit: Tootsie. This suggests there's a kind of cultural Berlin Wall between devotees of the big screen and devotees of the small screen).

1 Australians are uncomfortable with unrelieved cynicism. Even the most savage satire needs somebody the audience can identify with. The movies we've liked best over the years have been about irreverent idealists and innocent enthusiasts.

In American Dreamz, the only sincere character is the singer's boyfriend, who volunteers to fight in Iraq when she puts her career ahead of their love. But he's also an idiot. And whatever else Muriel Heslop, Mick Dundee, Babe, and the Scottish bloke in Moulin Rouge may have been, they were not stupid. To drag Aussies out to the flicks, you need both hearts and smarts.

Last weekend's box office
1 MI-3 $2.3 million (total $7.3m)
2 The Benchwarmers $765,000 ($765,000)
3 Ice Age 2 $420,000 ($23.6m)
4 Eight Below $383,000 ($4.4m)
5 Final Destination 3 $283,000 ($2.2m)
6 World's Fastest Indian $283,000 ($5.4m)
7 Two for the Money $263,000 ($263,000)
8 Kokoda $233,000 ($2.5m)
9 Failure To Launch $208,000 ($5.3m)
10 American Dreamz $190,000 ($1.4m)
(MPDAA)

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 05:53 PM
Comments (79)

Friday, May 12, 2006

The ratings race: week 19

This blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but not current. To discuss the latest trends in television, click here.

Updated 10 am Friday May 12.
Footy, sentimentality, and two new shows with strong appeal to people over 40 gave Channel Nine a victory last night. It drew 35.3 per cent of the prime time audience, with Seven on 29.9, Ten on 21.1, ABC on 10.3 and SBS on 5.3.

What Australia watched, Thursday
1 The Footy Show (9) 1.6m
2 Today Tonight (7) 1.6m
3 Seven news (7) 1.5m
4 Missing Persons Unit (9)1.5m
5 Getaway (9) 1.4m
6 Lost (7) 1.4m
7 Hello Goodbye (9) 1.4m
8 Nine News (9) 1.4m
9 A Current Affair (9) 1.2m
10 Home and Away (7) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Thursday May 11.
The panicky comedians and the grumpy doctor gave Ten a win on Wednesday, with 28.5 per cent of the prime time audience, closely followed by Seven on 28.3 per cent, Nine on 25.3, the ABC on 14.1 and SBS on 3.8.

What Australia watched, Wednesday
1 Today Tonight (7) 1.7m
2 Seven news (7) 1.6m
3 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.6m
4 House (10)1.5m
5 Prison Break (7) 1.4m
6 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.4m
7 Nine News (9) 1.3m
8 NCIS (10) 1.3m
9 Home and Away (7) 1.3m
10 Temptations (9) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Wednesday May 10.
Peter Costello's budget speech on the ABC at 7.30 attracted 798,000 viewers in the mainland capitals on Tuesday night -- a strangely small audience for such an important national event. Apparently a few Australians were distracted by some sort of dancing show on Channel Seven, which pulled in 2.66 million viewers. There were also newsbreaks about some sort of mining story.

Australians had tuned in from early in the morning, when the release of two miners finally gave an audience to Nine's 'Today' -- 529,000, the best figure it has ever had. But against it, Seven's 'Sunrise' got 839,000, the best figure IT'S ever had.

Seven got 44.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 21.6, Ten 18.2, the ABC 11.2, and SBS 3.7. To put it another way, between 6pm and 10.30 pm on Tuesday night, a total of 5,026,600 people in the mainland capitals were watching free to air TV, divided up thus: 7 2.269m, 9 1.095m, 10 880,000, ABC 587,000 and SBS 194,000.

On the equivalent Tuesday last year, a total of 4,613,400 were watching, divided up thus: 7 1.235m, 9 1.393m; 10 1.050m; ABC 736,000 and SBS 199,000.

So if you want to pull a crowd, don't even think of using Peter Costello. Try Todd Russell or Grant Denyer.

What Australia watched, Tuesday
1 Dancing With The Stars final (7) 2.7m
2 Seven news (7) 1.9m
3 Today Tonight (7) 1.7m
4 All Saints (7) 1.7m
5 Nine News (9) 1.6m
6 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
7 Big Brother (10) 1.3m
8 Ten News At Five (10) 1.2m
9 Deal or No Deal (7) 1.0m
10 ABC News (ABC) 997,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The next update of this blog will be Saturday May 12.

Updated 10 am Tuesday May 8.
Monday was a huge viewing night, in which 18 shows drew more than a million viewers. The pale cop beat the tarty wives again, but it was the latest on the miners that the viewers really craved, and they were more inclined to trust Nine to give it to them than Seven. Nine's news and 'A Current Affair' had a rare victory over Seven's news and 'Today Tonight' in every city but Perth. Ten's early news at 5pm got 1.1 million, as did the ABC's 7pm news (both up 200,000 on their usual performance).

Nine won the night with a prime time audience share of 29.9 per cent, followed by Seven on 26.8, Ten on 21.6, ABC on 17.3 and SBS on 4.5.

What Australia watched, Monday
1 Cold Case (9) 1.7m
2 Seven news (7) 1.7m
3 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m
4 A Current Affair (9) 1.6m
5 20 to 1 (9) 1.6m
6 Nine news (9) 1.6m
7 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m
8 Big Brother nomination (10) 1.3m
9 Temptation (9) 1.3m
10 Home and Away (7) 1.3m
11 Big Brother (10) 1.2m
12 Ten news at five (10) 1.1m
13 The Great Outdoors (7) 1.1m
14 ABC news (ABC) 1.1m
15 Enough Rope with Andrew Denton (ABC) 1.0m
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 11.30 am Monday May 8.
The expectation of the release of trapped miners, and the discovery that a journalistic icon had died on the job brought a record audience to Channel Nine's news on Sunday night -- 2.48 million viewers in the mainland capitals. Most of them stayed around for 60 Minutes, the cleavage and cosmetics parade, and four hours of nostalgia and award presentations.

Nine won the night with an amazing 45.6 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Seven with 21.6, Ten with 19.3, the ABC with 10.2 and SBS with 3.3. And even with the Logies, the Big Brother Eviction still managed to attract 1.3 million for the chance to see the removal of Tilly and Elise.

What Australia watched, Sunday
1 Nine news Sunday (9) 2.5m
2 Logie arrivals (9) 2.3m
3 Logie awards (9) 2.1m
4 60 Minutes (9) 2.1m
5 Where Are They Now (7) 1.4m
6 Sunday football (9) 1.3m
7 Big Brother eviction (10) 1.3m
8 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.3m
9 Ghost Whisperer (7) 1.1m
10 Big Brother (10) 1.0m
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Sunday May 7.
This week, Channel Nine begins its fightback. Beaten by Seven or Ten in seven of the ten ratings weeks so far this year, and squeaking to victory last week mainly because of its Friday night football, Nine has finally decided to return fire.

On Thursday it launches two new shows to compete with Seven's fading hit 'Lost' and Ten's rising hit 'Medium' -- 'Hello Goodbye', a tearjerker reality series about Sydney airport, and the police documentary 'Missing Persons Unit'.

Nine has been surprised and delighted by the resurgence of its crime show 'Cold Case', which was thrown in as a replacement for 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and managed to beat Seven's blockbuster 'Desperate Housewives' last Monday. Cold Case attracted 1.71 million viewers in the mainland capitals, to the Housewives' 1.62 million.

Seven won Tuesday night, thanks to 2.3 million viewers for 'Dancing With The Stars'. Ten won Wednesday night, thanks to 1.8 million viewers for 'Thank God You're Here', the most successful new Australian program of 2006, and to Big Brother audiences which are better than last year.

As of Friday morning, Seven was ahead for the week, but after the AFL and NRL matches on Friday night totalled 1.8 million viewers, Nine won the week with a prime time audience share of 29.4 per cent, followed by Seven on 28.1, Ten on 23.8, The ABC on 14.0 and SBS on 4.7.

Australia's most watched shows, week ending May 6
1 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.30m
2 Nine news Sunday (9) 1.95m
3 Friday night football (9) 1.76m
4 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.75m
5 CSI (9) 1.72m
6 Cold Case (9) 1.71m
7 60 Minutes (9) 1.66m
8 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.62m
9 20 To 1 (9) 1.61m
10 All Saints (7) 1.59m
11 Big Brother Fake Eviction (10) 1.59m
12 House (10) 1.54m
13 Seven News (7) 1.53m
14 Today Tonight (7) 1.52m
15 Getaway (9) 1.48m
16 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.46m
17 Prison Break (7) 1.47m
18 Lost 1.45m
19 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.41m
20 Big Brother nomination (10) 1.39m
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

The Bill on Tuesday got 820,000 across the mainland capitals and 263,000 in Melbourne, and on Saturday 858,000 and 245,000. Seven news beat Nine news in every city except Brisbane.

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 10:36 AM
Comments (262)

Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Creatures of the light

by David Dale.
Daytime is another country. They do things differently there. So let us make an anthropological journey to a land we might call The Sunshine State, except the name is already taken and anyway, the Daytimers shun the sun and stay inside to watch the box.

The citizens of Daytime are not like you and me. They are neglected by the gods they worship. The TV networks are preoccupied with prime time (6pm to 10.30pm -- click here for the latest prime time ratings). And when they're not obsessing about that, they fleetingly mention the feud between Bert and Andrew at 5.30, or the giggle contest between Kochie and Jessica at breakfast.

You'd think nobody watched between 9am and 4pm, but on average, nearly a million people a day in the mainland capitals tune in when the rest of us are working. Lets dispose of a few stereotypes about the Daytimers:

"They are suckers for soaps and sob stories." Days of Our Lives and The Young and The Restless attract up to 200,000 viewers each, but they don't win their timeslots. Nor does The Oprah Winfrey Show. What Daytimers love as they slice their lunch is a good movie -- or even a bad movie. That's why Channel Seven, which specialises in midday movies, has the biggest daytime audience share (31 per cent, while Nine has 27 per cent, Ten 25, ABC 15 and SBS 2.5). The most popular midday flicks on Seven this year have been Million Dollar Murder (364,000), Ghost In The Machine (363,000) and Second Nature (352,000). We'd be interested to hear what they are like.

After movies, Daytimers prefer food shows, which is why Fresh and Ready Steady Cook regularly attract more than 200,000. So, more daytime tears are shed over onions than over soaps. (Sadly, Daytimers don't seem to have an urge to laugh. This column's favourite midday program, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, attracts only 54,000.)

"Only retirees and dole bludgers watch during the day." You're less than half right. The audience analysts tell us that 20 per cent of viewers between 9 and 4 are women over 55; 15 per cent are women 25 to 39; 14 per cent are men over 55; 14 per cent are women 40 to 54; and 9 per cent are men 40 to 54 (the rest are a mix of toddlers, students, sickie takers and unemployed). So, in the jargon of the industry, day skews old and female, and the ads are pitched accordingly.

"Kerri-Anne Kennerley is Queen of the Day." Well, she easily beats the other shopping show, 9am with David and Kim (which gets 83,000 viewers to Kerri-Anne's 146,000). But she's often beaten by an icon as old as she is -- Play School, which has averaged 170,000 viewers this year. It would be more accurate to say the monarch of daytime was stern disciplinarian Judge Judy Sheindlin or bald shrink Dr Phil McGraw. Or, if your republican sentiments require Daytime to have an Australian head of state, you'd crown Melbourne chef Ian Hewitson, whose Huey's Cooking Adventures attracts more than 300,000.

And a final detail to reassure you about the good taste of the Daytimers -- regularly in their top ten, with 250,000 viewers, is Bob The Builder.

The most watched series between 9am and 4pm
1 Huey's Cooking Adventures (10) 336,000
2 Judge Judy (10) 322,000
3 Dr Phil (9) 299,000
4 My Wife and Kids (7) 251,000
5 Bob The Builder pm (ABC) 247,000
6 Postman Pat pm (ABC) 244,000
7 The Oprah Winfrey Show (10) 239,000
8 According to Jim (7) 234,000
9 Ready Steady Cook (10) 233,000
10 Fresh (9) 200,000
11 8 Simple Rules (7) 186,000
12 Days of Our Lives (9) 179,000
13 The Days (7) 178,000
14 The Young and the Restless (9) 177,000
15 Moonlighting (7) 176,000
16 The Fairies (7) 171,000
17 Play School am (ABC) 170,000
18 Entertainment Tonight (9) 165,000
19 Play School pm (ABC) 163,000
20 Mornings with Kerri-Anne (9) 146,000
(OzTAM average audience so far this year in the mainland capitals)

[For purposes of comparison, the most watched program on subscription TV last week was a rugby league match between the Cowboys and the Panthers, which drew 175,000 viewers, and the most watched non-sporting program was an episode of That 70s Show with 79,000. So while Daytime may be a small country, it does have a bigger population than Paytime.]

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 10:23 AM
Comments (56)

Friday, May 5, 2006

The ratings race: week 18

This blog is now history. Click here for the latest ratings discussion.

Updated 10 am Friday May 5.
There are big viewing nights, when everyone gathers round the box, and there are small viewing nights, when most people under the age of 55 do something else.

On big nights, four or five programs can easily attract an audience above 1.5 million in the mainland capitals. On small nights, 1.3 million is a fabulous score (and the ABC gets its best audience shares of the week). As you may imagine, there are more big nights in winter than in summer.

Traditionally, Friday and Satuday have been smalls and Sunday and Monday have been bigs. Thursday used to be big (dominated by Lost) but now it looks like joining the smalls -- possibly because many Lost fans have illegally downloaded unseen episodes from American internet sources.

Seven used to win Thursdays, but last night it was number two, with 28.4 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine won with 29.0 per cent, Ten got 24.0, the ABC got 13.7 and SBS got 4.9. If last night had been colder, more people would have stayed home and watched TV. Perhaps they were all at the opening night of Mission Impossible III.

What Australia watched on Thursday
1 Seven news (7) 1.5m
2 Getaway (9) 1.5m
3 Lost (7) 1.5m
4 Today Tonight (7) 1.4m
5 Nine news (9) 1.3m
6 Temptation (9) 1.2m
7 Big Brother (10) 1.2m
9 A Current Affair (9) 1.2m
10 Medium (10) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures)

Updated 10 am Thursday May 4.
Channel Ten is puffing it as "the most successful new show of 2006" and for once, the publicists are right. Last night 'Thank God You're Here' held onto its audience of 1.73 million in the mainland capitals and (along with 'House') helped Ten to be the most watched channel of the night.

Working Dog, the makers of TGYH, are not only funny, they're generous -- last night they gave a boost to Australian comedy by plugging the ABC's 'Spicks and Specks' and SBS's 'RocKwiz'.

With Big Brother continuing to do better than last year, Ten managed a prime time audience share of 29.3 per cent, followed by Seven on 26.8, Nine on 26.3, the ABC on 13.7 (largely on the strength of 'Spicks and Specks', which drew a million viewers) and SBS on 3.9.

And now for something not completely different: the first person ever to appear on television, Pem Farnsworth, has just died in Utah, USA. We bet that was not announced on television. For details, click here.

And to suggest new programming ideas that will let Nine win more than one night a week, click here.

What Australia watched on Wednesday
1 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.7m
2 Seven news (7) 1.6m
3 House (10) 1.6m
4 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m
5 Prison Break (7) 1.5m
6 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.4m
7 Nine news (9) 1.4m
8 NCIS (10) 1.3m
9 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
10 Big Brother (10) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures)

And to demonstrate the growing diversity of audiences, here's the most watched chart for viewers aged 16-39:
1) Thank God You're Here (10)
2) Prison Break (7)
3) Big Brother (10)
4) House (10)
5) NCIS (10)
6) Neighbours (10)
7) Spicks & Specks (ABC)
8) McLeod's Daughters (9)
9) ER (9)
10) Home and Away (7)

Updated 10 am Wednesday May 3.
Just when you thought there were no more Australians who could possibly become interested in 'Dancing With The Stars', the audience rose again last night -- to 2.30 million in the mainland capitals.

They saw the puzzling eviction of singer Toby Allen, who had earlier been favourite to win, and they'll no doubt return next week to see the final footoff between boxer Kostya Tszyu and spokesmodel Grant Denyer. And once DWTS is over, Seven will finally be able to show season two of Grey's Anatomy.

Seven won the night with 36.7 per cent of the prime time audience (and has now passed Nine in the progressive average for the week), while Nine attracted 26.0 per cent, Ten 21.3, the ABC 11.5 and SBS 4.5.

What Australia watched on Tuesday
1 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.3m
2 All Saints (7) 1.6m
3 Today Tonight (7) 1.6m
4 Seven news (7) 1.5m
5 Nine news (9) 1.4m
6 Big Brother (10) 1.3m
7 CSI: NY (9) 1.3m
8 Temptation (9) 1.2m
9 A Current Affair (9) 1.2m
10 Home and Away (7) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures)

And as a bonus, here's the top ten with viewers aged 16 to 39:
1) Big Brother (10)
2) Dancing with the Stars (7)
3) Neighbours (10)
4) Rove Live (10)
5) Futurama (10)
6) The OC (10)
7) All Saints (7)
8) CSI: NY (9)
9) CSI (9)
10) The Simpsons (10)

Updated 10 am Tuesday May 2.
There was a time when Channel Seven could feel confident that, even if it was beaten by Nine on a Sunday night, it could always recover the advantage on a Monday, because the Desperate Housewives were guaranteed to pull in more than 1.9 million viewers in the mainland capitals. Those golden days are gone.

Having caught a glimpse of 'Cold Case' during the Easter non-ratings period, 300,000 former Housewives fans became besotted with Detective Lilly Rush. On Monday night she led her network to a narrow victory. Nine's prime time audience share was 28.6 per cent, with Seven on 28.5 per cent, Ten on 22.0, the ABC on 15.9 and SBS on 5.0.

The dancing stars will give Seven a win on Tuesday night, but over the whole week, it's going to be neck and neck, as Ten's raptor turns its talons from Rex to Bronto.

What Australia watched on Monday
1 Cold Case (9) 1.7m
2 Today Tonight (7) 1.6m
3 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m
4 Seven news (7) 1.6m
5 20 to 1 (9) 1.6m
6 Nine news (9) 1.5m
7 Big Brother nomination (10) 1.4m
8 Big Brother (10) 1.3m
9 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
10 Home and Away (7) 1.3m
(OzTAM preliminary figures)

Updated 10 am Monday May 1.
After being pushed into third place last week by Ten and Seven, Nine destroyed all opposition on Sunday night. Trapped Tasmanian miners brought 1.9 million in the mainland capitals to Nine's news, and most of them stayed for Backyard Blitz, 60 Minutes and CSI (interrupted by Tasmanian coverage). The younger viewers moved to Ten for two hours of Big Brother's increasingly sadistic manipulation of his inmates.

Nine won the night with 33.8 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Seven on 25.3, Ten on 24.1, ABC on 12.8, and SBS on 4.0.

What Australia watched Sunday
1 Nine Sunday news (9) 1.9m
2 CSI (9) 1.7m
3 60 Minutes (9) 1.6m
4 Big Brother fake eviction (10) 1.6m
5 CSI Miami (9) 1.5m
6 Seven Sunday news (7) 1.5m
7 Where Are They Now (7) 1.4m
8 Backyard Blitz (9) 1.3m
9 Sunday Football (9) 1.3m
10 Secrets of Biggest Loser (10) 1.3m
(OzTAM preliminary figures)

Updated 11 am Sunday April 30.
The perennial underdog Channel Ten has achieved its best week of the year, the decade and the century.

In the first week back on "official ratings" after the Easter break, Ten blasted the older networks with every weapon at its command - a Big Brother launch with a secretly gay inmate and a mother-daughter team with matching breast enlargements; two "finals" of 'The Biggest Loser' in which a man won $200,000 for sweating off more than a third of his body weight; a new (and non-formulaic) episode of 'House'; a new episode of 'Thank God You're Here' without Fifi Box; and three hours of football on Saturday night.

Ten stole more viewers from Channel Seven than from Channel Nine (which tends to have an older audience), and it dragged back to the box people who rarely watch TV these days -- 20-something males and females.

Ten won the week with a 27.3 per cent share of the prime time audience (with Seven on 27.1, Nine on 26.9, ABC on 14.2 and SBS on 4.4). That means between 6pm and midnight on any night last week, Ten averaged 1.042 million viwers in the mainland capitals, while Seven averaged 1.033 million, Nine 1.024 million, the ABC 543,000 and SBS 169,000.

It was the first time Ten has won a ratings week since 1994, when it covered the Commonwealth games, and the first week in living memory when Nine has been at number three. But there are ironies in Ten's victory:

1. It happened thanks to Adelaide and Perth. If you look only at the east coast capitals, Nine was (marginally) the winner.

2. It happened only if you consider "prime time" to be between 6pm and midnight. If you apply Ten's usual definition of prime time -- 6pm to 10.30pm -- then Ten and Seven tied for first.

3. It happened with "all people", a mass market Ten claims it is not interested in. Ten says its target audience is viewers aged 16-39, and with that demographic, Ten often wins the week. Is Ten horrified to be suddenly so attractive to (shudder) the oldies?

The Tribal Mind column by David Dale appears every Tuesday in The Sydney Morning Herald. Go to www.smh.com.au/tribalmind for earlier columns. This ratings report is updated every day.

What Australia watched, week ending April 29
1 The Biggest Loser finale (10) 2.3m
2 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.2m
3 Big Brother Launch (10) 1.8m
4 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.7m
5 The Biggest Loser Sunday (10) 1.7m
6 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m
7 Nine news Sunday (9) 1.6
8 House (10) 1.6m
9 All Saints (7) 1.6m
10 CSI (9) 1.5m
11 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m
12 20 to 1 (9) 1.5m
13 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.5m
14 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.4
15 Prison Break (7) 1.4m
16 Seven news weekdays (7) 1.4m
17 Cold Case (9) 1.4m
18 Nine news (9) 1.4m
19 CSI Miami (9) 1.3m
20 Big Brother 7pm (10) 1.3m
21 Melbourne Comedy Festival (10) 1.3m
22 The Queen by Rolf (ABC) 1.3m
(OzTAM)

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 10:11 AM
Comments (220)

Thursday, May 4, 2006

The ratings race: week 17

This blog is now history. Click here for the latest ratings discussion.
Updated 10 am Friday April 28.
Now we know the nation's twin obsessions: ballroom dancing and losing weight. Last night 'The Biggest Loser' finale gained the kind of audience normally reserved for 'Dancing With The Stars', as 2.31 million in the mainland capitals waited two and a half hours to find out that Adro had burned off the biggest percentage of his body weight.

That average audience (peaking at 3 million) beat the 2.21 million gained by DWTS on Tuesday. The winning losers stole audience mainly from Channel Seven, so that one of the best episodes of 'Lost' for the year gained only 1.16 million viewers. And Loser fans tuning in early pushed Big Brother's audience back up to 1.40 million, who saw David announcing that he is gay.

Ten's prime time audience share was 35.7 per cent, followed by Nine on 24.4, Seven on 23.9, ABC on 11.8 and SBS on 4.2.

What Australia watched on Thursday
1 The Biggest Loser finale (10) 2.3m
2 Law and Order (10) 1.4m
3 Today Tonight (7) 1.4m
4 Seven news (7 ) 1.4m
5 Big Brother (10) 1.4m
6 Nine news (9) 1.3m
7 A Current Affair (9) 1.2m
8 Lost (7) 1.2m
9 Home and Away (7) 1.1m
10 Temptation (9) 1.1m
(OzTAM preliminary figures, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Thursday April 27.
Slippage. The word dreaded by the producers of 'Big Brother'. It happens every season, as the initial curiosity wears off and the viewers realise the inmates are mostly rather dull. Slippage started last night, with BB's audience in the mainland capitals dropping to 1.22 million (from Tuesday's 1.42 million). It meant that BB was beaten in its timeslot by, of all things, Nine's daggy old game show 'Temptation', with 1.34 million.

Not that Channel Ten is worried. It still won the night, thanks to booming figures for 'House' and 'Thank God You're Here' (which took your advice and replaced Fifi Box). Ten's prime time audience share was 28.8 per cent, followed by Nine on 27.0, Seven on 26.4, the ABC on 14.2 and SBS on 3.6. Seven is still ahead for the week, but 'Lost' may lose to 'The Biggest Loser' tonight.

What Australia watched on Wednesday
1 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.7m
2 House (10) 1.6m
3 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m
4 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.5m
5 Prison Break (7) 1.4m
6 Seven news (7 ) 1.4m
7 Nine news (9) 1.4m
8 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
9 Temptation (7) 1.3m
10 NCIS (10) 1.2m
11 Big Brother (10) 1.2m
12 Home and Away (7) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Wednesday April 26.
Home for the holiday, Australians watched television in huge numbers yesterday, beginning with 679,000 for the ABC's coverage of the morning march. Bert Newton got the biggest audience he's ever achieved -- 743,000 in the mainland capitals -- for 'Family Feud' at 5.30pm (having a lead-in of 1.2 million from the Anzac AFL game), but Bert's rival Andrew O'Keefe also scored a holiday boost for 'Deal Or No Deal', reaching 1 million.

'Big Brother' is holding up well (1.42 million at 7pm), which leads to your assignment of the day: Tell us, in less than 100 words, what Dr Gregory House would say about the medical incredible of a 19 year old girl and her 36 year old mother who each have breast augmentation surgery seven weeks before becoming BB inmates. No prize, just kudos for your wit, imagination and ability to think like a TV scriptwriter.

Seven won the night, thanks to 2.21 million people watching Noeline Brown get voted off 'Dancing With The Stars'. Seven's share was 36.5 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Nine on 26.3 per cent, Ten on 20.2, ABC on 11.9 and SBS on 5.0. Seven is ahead for the week so far, but Ten should peg that back with 'Thank God You're Here' tonight and the final of 'The Biggest Loser' tomorrow night.

What Australia watched on Tuesday
1 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.2m
2 Nine news (9) 1.7m
3 Today Tonight (7) 1.6m
4 All Saints (7) 1.6m
5 Seven news (7 ) 1.5m
6 Big Brother (10) 1.4m
7 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
8 Home and Away (7) 1.3m
9 Temptation (7) 1.2m
10 The Simpsons (10) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Tuesday April 25.
For a special Anzac Day Tribal Mind column, on whether Australia is a land that loves to lose, click here.

Seven must be kicking itself for taking off 'Desperate Housewives' during the Easter break. That allowed viewers to remind themselves how much they enjoyed 'Cold Case' on Nine. When the housewives returned on Monday night, 300,000 of their fans did not return with them. Instead they gave Detective Rush one of her biggest audiences of the year, and Seven barely managed to win a night it used to dominate effortlessly.

Curiosity about the good-lookers in the 'Big Brother' house remains intense, with 1.42 million viewers in the mainland capitals sticking with last night's hour-long episode. Ten also scored well with an AFL match in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and the movie The Italian Job in Sydney and Brisbane.

Seven's prime time audience share on Monday night was 28.0 per cent, closely followed by Nine on 27.1 per cent and Ten on 25.9, with the ABC on 13.6 and SBS on 5.5.

What Australia watched on Monday
1 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m
2 20 to 1 (9) 1.5m
3 Seven news (7 ) 1.5m
4 Cold Case (9) 1.5m
5 Nine news (7) 1.4m
6 Today Tonight (7) 1.4m
7 Big Brother (10) 1.4m
8 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m
9 Home and Away (7) 1.2m
10 Temptation (7) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Monday April 24.
Considering that 2.28 million people in the mainland capitals watched the finale of 'Big Brother' last year, the audience for the launch of BB2006 was disappointing: 1.80 million. It helped Ten to win the night, and it was 200,000 more than the launch of BB2005, but it may not justify optimism that the franchise is ready for a renaissance.

The modest figure was a surprise, considering that these were the best looking inmates we'd ever seen (even if two of them are artificially enhanced). Perhaps their personalities were not strong enough to hold the attention of viewers.

Ten's prime time audience share for the first day of "official" ratings was 34.1 per cent, with Nine on 26.5, Seven on 21.0, The ABC on 14.4 and SBS on 3.9. Ten says it is delighted with the result, which was its best night of the year. It says the audience for Big Brother reached a peak of 2.08 million (that was at 9.08pm) and the show captured 62 per cent of the viewers aged 16-39 who were watching TV last night.

This column is offering a prize to the reader who correctly predicts how much better or worse BB will do this year in the ratings. Is Australia so over it that not even a bunch of hotties can bring us back? Or we ready to start again? Register your prediction by the end of this week.

What Australia watched on Sunday
1 Big Brother Launch (10) 1.8m
2 The Biggest Loser (10) 1.7m
3 Nine news Sunday (9) 1.6m
4 CSI (9) 1.5m
5 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.4m
6 Melbourne Comedy Festival (10) 1.3m
7 The Queen by Rolf (ABC) 1.3m
8 CSI Miami (9) 1.3m
9 60 Minutes (9) 1.2m
10 Where Are They Now (7) 1.2m
(OzTAM preliminary figures, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched last week
1 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.1m
2 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.7m
3 Cold Case (9) 1.7m
4 Nine news Sunday(9) 1.7m
5 20 to 1 (9) 1.6m
6 Prison Break (7) 1.5m
7 The Biggest Loser (10) 1.5m
8 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m
9 Seven news (7) 1.5m
10 60 Minutes (9) 1.5m
11 All Saints (7) 1.4m
12 Nine news (9) 1.4m
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

The Bill got 924,000 across the mainland capitals on Saturday and 882,000 on Tuesday (Melbourne 287,000 and 280,000). Blue Heelers got 689,000 over the capitals and 172,000 in Melbourne.

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 11:58 AM
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