The Sun-Herald

The Tribal Mind: Last chance to name the Noughties

To learn how Australians spent their spare time in 2008, go to Who We Are.

by David Dale
With Corey Worthington at one end, Mercedes Corby at the other end, and Sarah Palin in the middle, this has clearly been The Year of the Bogan. lt's a relief to get that bit of labelling out of the way, because there's a much more important question we need to answer in the next two days: what are we going to call this decade?

By this point in the past four decades, a label had been written in stone. At the end of 1968, for example, everyone knew it was The Decade of Revolution -- in music, fashion, politics and pharmacology.

By the time ABBA had peaked, it was The Decade of Promiscuity, when "safe sex" simply meant intercourse that didn't get you pregnant or, if you were gay, that didn't get you arrested. (A later generation labelled it The Decade That Style Forgot, when they saw photos of the then Treasurer John Howard with bushy sideburns, but at the time, we all thought bellbottoms were terribly stylish).

For a while it looked as if AIDS would be the theme of the 80s, but 1988 embedded the phrase Greed is Good. Does that make the Noughties the Greed Goes Bad Decade? If we accepted that label, we'd be giving naming rights to the econobores, in what may be a kneejerk reaction to a situation likely to be over before 2010 (a prediction that would make it The Decade of Blind Optimism).

When this column canvassed the labelling issue with readers early this year, we came up with such notions as The Decade of China; the Wikade; the GoogleTen; The Digicade; The Greenhouse Decade; the Britneycade; and The Age of Cleavage.

Reader Meg made an impressive case for "the decade of the grammatically challenged", in which "we decided to be 'bored of' Corey and Britney, instead of 'bored with' or 'bored by' them ... when we started saying 'my bad' instead of 'my mistake' (can't we manage words with more than one syllable anymore?) ... when 'da' and 'wiv' became the accepted spelling of 'the' and 'with' ... when our governments finally realised that all texting has produced is a generation who cannot write a complete sentence full of real, whole words. Or understand one when they see one.

"Actually, Decade of the Moron might cover it all -- our poor grammar, our obsession with brain-dead clots like Corey and Paris, and our total inability to spend a whole five minutes without texting some other mobile-addicted bud." And don't get Meg started with the apo'strophe's in front of every s.

To the extent that there was consensus, readers leaned towards "the iDecade", where the initial letter stands not only for iPod and iPhone but also for Iraq, Islam, internet, and ego, as manifested in a craving for personal celebrity via Facebook, MySpace and TV talent quests such as Survivor, Big Brother, and Australian Idol.

If we don't get a better idea from you by Thursday, "the iDecade" is the one we'll lock in. Go to Comments to offer your suggestion.

Oops, almost forgot: by 1998, we knew we were in The Decade of Diana.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 04:02 PM
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WHO WE ARE: Lords of time

To discuss what to name this decade, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 28/12/2008
For most of this decade, most of us had plenty of money, or at least, the illusion of money in the form of credit. What we've been short of has been time, a commodity very hard to borrow. Australians have had to learn to multitask -- to play while we work (surf the net on the boss's dollar) and to combine our pleasures at home (listen to the iPod and send text messages while watching TV and skimming a magazine).

That is the only interpretation we can make of the research just released by the Free TV organisation on how Australians spent their leisure time this year. Otherwise it just does not add up.

Bear in mind that there are 168 hours in a week, of which 112 are available if we get 8 hours sleep a night, and 72 if we deduct time spent at work or school. So check out the amusements of an average Australian in a typical week of 2008:

Watching television: 21 hours and 48 minutes a week. The shows we mostly watched were Packed To The Rafters, Find My Family, Underbelly, City Homicide and The Zoo.

Listening to the radio: 14 hours and 30 minutes a week. In Sydney, the most heard broadcasters were Alan Jones and Ray Hadley on 2GB, and Adam Spencer and Richard Glover on ABC702. Melbourne listened to Neil Mitchell on 3AW and Hamish and Andy on Fox FM.

On the internet: 9 hours and 24 minutes a week. Morgan research reported that in the July to September quarter, 11.98 million Australians (up 12.1 per cent on last year) used Google as a search engine, while 8.33 million visited ninemsn and 4.03 million visited Fairfax Digital.

Reading newspapers (in print): 3 hours and 24 minutes. The best sellers were The Sunday Telegraph, The Herald Sun (Melbourne), The Sunday Mail (Brisbane) and The Sun-Herald. Overall, newspaper sales declined about 2 per cent on 2007, which is not bad for a supposedly dying medium.

Reading magazines: 1 hour and 48 minutes. If any medium is dying, it's mags - especially the weekly scandal sheets, which declined 6 per cent on last year. The best sellers are Womens' Weekly, Woman's Day, New Idea, Readers Digest and Better Homes and Gardens.

Going to the movies: 4 times a year. The most seen were The Dark Knight, Mamma Mia!, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Sex and the City.

Watching DVDs: Renting 2 a month, buying six a year, mostly Underbelly, Mamma Mia!, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Ratatouille.

Reading books: Yes we're still doing it, but not enough to make a weekly figure. Best sellers included 4 Ingredients and its sequel 4 Ingredients 2 by Kim McCosker and Rachel Bermingam, Twilight and its third sequel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, Guinness World Records 2009, and The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.

In addition, of course, we played video games, listened to music, updated our Facebooks, pottered in the garden, ate out in restaurants and talked on our 15 million mobiles. All that happened in a year when Australia's birth rate reached a record high. Talk about multitasking.

How do you fit it all in? Tell us at Comments

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 05:58 PM
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The Tribal Mind: A year at the flicks

To discuss whether Australia is growing too fast, go to Who We Are

by David Dale
As everybody knows, everything goes in threes: wise men; blind mice; little pigs; acronyms (ATM, GST, PIN); real estate rationale (location, location, location); faith, hope and charity; blood, sweat and tears; sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll; thesis, antithesis, synthesis; etc, etc, etc.

The way Australians entertained themselves this year proved that the Rule of Three applies particularly to the movie business ...

The first law of cinematics: To predict the success of a big budget movie in Australia, multiply its first week's takings by three. The nation's favourite flick this year, The Dark Knight, made $15.9 million in its first week, and ended up with a total of $45.6 million (putting it close to the all-time chart-toppers Titanic with $58m, Shrek 2 with $50m and Return of the King with $49m). TDK sold more than 4 million tickets because it lived up to its hype, just like Kung Fu Panda, which earned $8.3 million in the first week and went on to total $26 million, or Wall-E (from $5.8m to $17.8m).

There were exceptions to the first law this year. Mamma Mia! went from $8.1m to an amazing $31.5m and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull went from $12.3m to a mere $29.5m. They are covered by ...

The second law of cinematics: To tell if a movie will stay hot, examine the dropoff in its second week's takings. If it falls by more than a third, word of mouth must be bad (and the ultimate total, as with Indy, will be less than three times the first week). If it falls by less than a third, w.o.m. will propel it to glorious heights (as with Mamma Mia!). It's ominous news for the teen vampire flick Twilight that its second weekend box office was down 54 per cent on its first weekend.

Now here's a spooky detail: the takings of Australia fell by 33 per cent from week 1 to week 2, and by 32 per cent from week 2 to week 3.

There is thus no way to tell if it will top the $29 million earned by Baz Luhrmann's last epic, Moulin Rouge. We might seek a clue in ...

The Third Law of Cinematics: Australian films never make more than $3 million (Happy Feet and Australia don't count because they are international movies). To put it another way, there are only 300,000 cinemagoers in this country who regard the term "Australian-made" as an incentive.

The most awarded local flick this year was The Black Balloon. It made $2.1 million. The most awarded local flick last year was Romulus My Father, which made $2.6 million. Some people theorise that Australian movies fail because they lack budgets. There may be another issue. Could it be that they fail because they lack story? This was certainly a characteristic of The Black Balloon.

By contrast, these were, in my view, the three best-plotted films of the year: Gone Baby Gone, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and In Bruges. They're so full of story that if you rent them on DVD, you'll want to watch them three times.

For full box office details, go to The films Australia loved. Go to Comments to tell us your view of this year's film crop, and to suggest any other Laws of Cinematics

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 05:11 PM
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WHO WE ARE: Growing too fast and too furious

To discuss Australia's year at the movies, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 21/12/2008
It may go down in history as the year we started to wonder if we were going nuts. A survey by the Bureau of Statistics revealed that 45 per cent of Australian adults -- 7.3 million of us -- have suffered a mental disorder at some point in their lives and 20 per cent, or 3.2 million, have experienced a mental disorder in the past 12 months.

Apparently this mass breakdown was not caused by money worries. The interviews with people in a sample of 8,800 households were done months before any global financial clouds appeared in our blue skies. They had no way to know we were approaching the end of ten years of economic sunshine, a decade in which real household income had risen by 20 per cent.

Just when we were supposed to be at our most relaxed and comfortable, one in five of us was experiencing panic, anxiety, depression, phobia, drug dependence, or obsessive compulsive disorder, with women more likely to be anxious and men more likely to abuse alcohol. For more details, go to ABS mental health report.

That was probably the most shocking thing Australians learned about themselves this year, but this possibly connected story came a close second: Australia is now growing faster than India and Indonesia.

There was a time when we worried about the Asian population explosion and thought the Indonesians were breeding so fast they'd have to invade their neighbours. Now they can feel the same way about us. Our population is growing by 1.7 per cent a year, while Indonesia is growing by 1.2 per cent and India is growing by 1.6 per cent.

What's going on here? Three forces came together this decade in a perfect storm that caused our population to rise by 359,000 in the 12 months to June 30, the largest annual growth ever recorded:

1. We started breeding like bunnies. In the last financial year, 287,500 babies were born. Our fertility rate is now 1.9 babies per woman, up from 1.7 in 2001 (when we worried that we might not be replacing ourselves). Thanks a lot, Peter Costello.

2. We welcomed 443,200 new residents. With 229,700 people departing permanently, that gave us a net gain of 213,500 immigrants this year, an all time record. Some 70 per cent of them came in the "skills stream", which means they are filling jobs older residents can't or won't do.

3. We're staying alive. There were 142,000 deaths in the last financial year -- 29.4 per cent caused by diseases of the heart and blood vessels (so put down that donut), 28.8 per cent per cent caused by cancer, and 7.9 per cent caused by diseases of the respiratory system. That may suggest we're not taking care of ourselves, but last year we had the lowest death rate ever recorded: 6 per 1000, compared with 7.6 per 1000 in 1997.

So if you look at the Bureau's population clock today, you'll see that there are 21,340,000 of us. If the current growth rate continues, we'll reach 22 million by 2010 and 34 million by 2050 -- or 16 million more than most scientists think this continent can sustain. There's no way to predict how many of those will be worried about going nuts.

Is there a link between the rise in mental illness and the rise in population? Go to Comments to discuss

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). For regualr updates on Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 05:04 AM
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The Tribal Mind: The right stuff?

To discuss if the language of Australia is genuine, go to Crikey, she fire-um
For regular updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale
The prime minister wants us all to go out and buy stuff this Christmas, to keep the economy churning. But the question arises: Where will we put it? Australians have bought so much stuff over the past decade there may not be room in the house for any more. We're world famous as "early adopters" of new technology, especially gadgets that entertain us. Here's how much we've accumulated in the past decade ...

THE STUFF WE'VE GOT:
TV sets. They're in 99 per cent of homes, while 68 per cent of homes have two or more sets. In the first half of 2008, Australians spent $1.3 billion on flat screen TVs, so that now 40 per cent of the nation's sets are digital and 25 per cent are capable of showing the new High Definition channels.

DVD players. They're in 89 per cent of homes. So far this year we've spent $1.3 billion buying 71 million discs to watch on our new giant screens. The top sellers were Underbelly, Mamma Mia, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Ratatouille, Sex and the City (the movie), The Bourne Ultimatum, 27 Dresses, and Hairspray -- which suggests the major buyers are now women in their 20s rather than boys in their teens. Only two per cent of the movies sold were in the new Blu-ray format, which Australians seem to regard as an unnecessary extra technology.

Mobile phones. There's at least one of them in 85 per cent of homes. Increasingly we use them for music, games, videos and Net connections, which might mean we'll soon be able to get rid of some of the bigger stuff that's lying around (like games consoles, currently in 35 per cent of homes).

Computers. They're in 75 per cent of households. Three-quarters (6.2 million) of Australian households have access to a computer, and 5.5 million of these have Internet access. Because 52 per cent of Austalian homes have a broadband connection, they can use the net for downloading TV programs - which might enable them to move one of the old sets into the garage.

Digital media players (such as iPods). They're in 45 per cent of homes, and in the first half of the year Australians spent $13.3 million buying 12.1 million songs to play on them (in addition to millions of illegal downloads).

But it would be wrong to conclude that Australians are getting rid of their old CD players. We still use them to play albums - in the first half of 2008, we spent $131 million buying 16.1 million CD albums.

In recent weeks there's been a surge in old-fashioned music buying. During November we spent 22 per cent more on CD albums than in the same period last year. The chair of the Australian Music Retailers' Association, Geoff Bonouvrie, offers this explanation: "When a recession hits, people look for cheaper forms of entertainment. A year ago, consumers may have been looking into buying plasma televisions, but now they are looking for value for their money and with music, you can get so much value for $20.

"There are some very good albums on the market right now from Kings of Leon, P!nk, AC/DC, The Killers, Guns N Roses, not to mention several good soundtracks and dance compilations - and don't forget the phenomenon that is Andre Rieu."

So we may be able to oblige the PM after all, because the stuff we want to buy right now takes up far less space than it used to.

Go to Comments to tell us what new stuff you'll buy this Christmas

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 06:06 PM
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WHO WE ARE: The comfort of cliche

To discuss all the stuff Australians have bought to entertain themselves, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 14/12/2008
Do Australians really speak like that? If they don't nowadays, did they ever? Those are the questions many viewers of Australia are asking as they shuffle out of the cinema (in far greater numbers than the media would have you believe - so far the film has been seen by 2 million people here and 6 million in America -- go to The films Australia loved for box office updates).

Apart from the performance of Nicole Kidman, who inspires blind fury in a surprising number of her compatriots, the most controversial issue has been the film's language. Some audiences have objected to the "cliche ockerisms" (particularly the repetition of "Crikey") and to the pidgin English spoken by the Aboriginal characters.

But this column's readers, as usual, are exceptional. They have leapt to the defence of Baz Luhrmann's dialogue. We asked, two weeks ago: "Would an Aboriginal kid in 1940 have said 'That strange woman, she fire-um that Fletcher', or is that more like a line spoken by an Indian in a Hollywood western from the 1950s? (And if an Aboriginal dialect did involve the addition of 'um' to verbs, should it not have been "sack-um" rather than "fire-um"?)"

Anthropologist Jo responded: "As you suggest, the verb 'sack-um' (pronounced 'jakim') is more likely than 'fire-um'. However, adding the suffix 'um' or 'im' is correct, because in Kriol, 'im' is added to verbs if they are transitive. So because 'sack' has to take an object (that is you always have to sack someone), it takes the marker 'im'. For those who haven't heard of Kriol, it is an Indigenous language used by more than 30,000 speakers in Northern Australia."

John May felt right at home: "Crikey ... cripes ... jingo!!! Yes, all common expressions in my childhood. Australia is now an over-governed, conformist place, but the wilder, more individualistic days are still within living memory. Maybe over-sentimentalised, but I can recognise Australia in my past."

And Barbara Adams found the film's dialogue, both black and white, all too familiar: "As the daughter of a dairy farmer, who was lucky enough to have an Aboriginal lady, Ida, to be my companion as a small child (to learn about talking to rocks or old man tree), I can tell you about words they used. Yes, it is true: UM was added. If I stumbled into a rabbit hole while walking: 'You fallum right down big hole, Barbie girl'.

"I am prompted to write because most country people certainly have no inferiority complex about comfort language (cliches). In earlier days people spoke less and used comfortable familiar phrases that said so much more than the words they spoke. It hurts to know that young Australians don't take pride in our earlier common language, and what it stood for. Embrace the words used, and recognize the uniqueness of our culture through this keyhole into our past, and cherish it, instead of rubbishing. 'She'll be right, mate' really meant much more than the few words said.

"I particularly remember one that I think is appropriate for all who can't celebrate with Baz: Go and stick your head in a tussock."

Do they speak proper in Oz? Join the discussion at Comments

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 06:58 PM
• Comments (1)

The Tribal Mind: Playing for keeps

by David Dale
Oh, the irony. In the very week the media go hysterical about kids not getting enough exercise because they stay inside and play video games, we learn that the year's best selling video game has been Wii Fit -- a series of fun exercises for the whole family. So the problem is actually the solution.

No, lets not be glib. The energetic Wii Fit (pronounced "we fit", or "wee fut" if you're a New Zealander) may have sold a couple of hundred thousand, but it's a drop in an ocean of games which exercise only the thumbs. Sales of games are up 40 per cent on 2007, which means that when Christmas is over, Australians will have spent $1.8 billion this year buying 22 million games, or one for every man, woman and child on the continent. That's in addition to the fortunes we laid out for the latest consoles to play them on -- Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the handheld Nintendo DS and Playstation Portable.

Many non-players assume that even if electronic games are not the sole cause of childhood obesity, they certainly turn our teenagers into zombies and criminals. Lets check that theory against the chart for the year so far, kindly supplied by the research organisation GfK Australia ...

The best selling games of 2008:
1 Wii Fit;
2 Wii Play;
3 Mario Kart Wii;
4 Grand Theft Auto IV (PlayStation 3);
5 Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360);
6 Mario & Sonic At The Olympics (Wii);
7 Mario & Sonic At The Olympics (Nintendo DS);
8 Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii);
9 World Of Warcraft Wrath of The Lich King (home computer);
10 Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo DS).

They fall on a spectrum from the wholesome to the antisocial. At one end are the top Wiis, which emphasise dancing around, and games that use the cartoon characters Mario the moustachioed plumber and Sonic the blue hedgehog, whose leaps might inspire young players to seek sporting careers. So no physical or mental damage there. Equally safe (though more time-consuming) is Lich King -- an imagination-booster in the spirit of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

At the other extreme, we find two versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, in which the player is an urban warrior who "quickly becomes entangled in a seedy underworld of gangs, crime, and corruption" that requires him to steal cars and kill people. Does this confirm your worst expectations?

We need to quote the US sociologist Steven Johnson, who wrote a book called Everything Bad Is Good For You. He argues that even if gamers don't visit the playground as often as earlier generations, they still end up Better People, because video games train them in scientific method: "The kids are forced to think like grownups: analysing complex social networks, managing resources, tracking subtle narrative intertwinings, recognising long term patterns ... Far more than books or movies or music, games force you to make decisions."

In other words, what they lose on the swings and roundabouts, they win at the console - even if it's just a talent to steal and kill effectively.

Go to Comments to give us your view on the dangers and delights of games.

For comparison, here are the top-selling games for 2007
1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, PC
2. Final Fantasy XII, PS2
3. Pokemon Diamond, Nintendo DS
4. God of War 2, PS2
5. World of Warcraft, PC
6. Resistance: Fall of Man, PS3
7. MotorStorm, PS3
8. Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends, Nintendo DS
9. Cricket 07, PS2
10. The Sims 2: Seasons, PC

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 02:10 PM
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The Tribal Mind: The proof of the puddings

To learn how to catch the zeitgeist, go to The sweetest thing.

by David Dale
The ABC is not being in any way untruthful when it boasts that it has enjoyed its "most successful ratings year ever". It is simply looking at the data in a particular way.

The ABC says it averaged 17 per cent of the prime time audience on free to air television this year, which "overtakes the previous record set in 2004 of 16.9 per cent". You would hardly expect the ABC to trumpet that since 2004 it has lost 5 per cent of its prime time audience, or 29,000 people -- although this would be equally true.

The spin doctors are suggesting that the ABC achieved a record slice of the free to air cake or pie or whatever culinary metaphor you care to bake. The problem is that someone left the cake out in the rain, and it has shrunk considerably over the decade. To further stir the metaphor, the TV audience is not a Magic Pudding. A bigger slice of a smaller cake ends up containing fewer raisins.

As we explained in last week's column, the population of the mainland capitals has risen by half a million people during the past four years, but the average prime time audience for free to air television has dropped by 220,000. Some of that shrinkage squeezed the national broadcaster.

The ABC suffered its biggest loss with a group that used to be its strongest supporters -- kids under the age of 15. Across the whole day, that part of the ABC's audience has dropped by 25 per cent. The kids seem to be saying bye-bye to Bananas in Pyjamas and Bindi the Jungle Girl and Bluewater High and shifting over to Pay television for The Simpsons, Family Guy and Futurama.

With its other traditional fan base -- people over 40 -- the ABC has done better, losing only 2 per cent since 2004. Those oldies gave sensational support to Doc Martin, Enough Rope, The Gruen Transfer, Spicks and Specks, and Midsomer Murders, all of which appear among the 50 most watched programs of the year.

But if you want a success story that works in any statistical language, you should study SBS. Despite dire predictions that the fans would rebel against the introduction of mid-show advertising, the average prime time audience for what we used to call "the ethnic broadcaster" has risen by 17 per cent since 2004.

Most of the growth is with viewers aged 16-39 (up 41 per cent) who flocked to Top Gear, Top Gear Australia (though less enthusiastically), Mythbusters and South Park. Older SBSers loved Who Do You Think You Are and Inspector Rex. Up to you to decide if all this is appropriate content for a network established to serve minorities.

Meanwhile, Pay TV is up 71 per cent with kids under 15, and 89 per cent with people over 40. The top events on Pay -- The Bledisloe Cup rugby union match and the Australia vs Qatar soccer match -- got 350,000 and 345,000 viewers, while Pay's top series -- Australia's Next Top Model and Project Runway Australia -- got 320,000 and 241,000.

By comparison, Channel Seven got 2.5 million for the AFL grand final and 1.9 million for Packed to the Rafters. The free to air souffle may not rise again, but it's taking a long, long time to sink.

Go here for all you need to know about the year, and to Comments to offer your analysis ...

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 08:16 AM
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The Who We Are update: How and what we watched in 2008

To discuss the nation's tastes in television, go to The Tribal Mind.
To discuss the nation's tastes in games, and why Grand Theft Auto is good for kids, go to The Tribal Mind.

The ratings race, updated 8am Monday
On this page you will find a pile of statistics about this year on Australian television, based on data from OzTAM's people meters in 3,035 homes in the mainland capitals. Further down, you will find the average audience for all stations over this decade, the most watched shows on Pay television, and the programs most watched in the final ratings week by viewers aged over 55 and viewers aged 16 to 39.

Excluding the Olympics, the average audience shares between 6pm and midnight during the ratings period of 2008 were: Seven 28.5 per cent, Nine 27.3, Ten 21.0, ABC 17.5, SBS 5.6. Last year, the shares were: Seven 29.1, Nine 27.0, Ten 21.8, ABC 16.7, SBS 5.5.

Nine is crowing about how it "won the year" with viewers aged 25-54, with whom its prime time share was 28.7 per cent to Seven's 28.0 per cent. Ten is boasting that it "won the year" with viewers aged 16-39, with whom its prime time share was 29.7 per cent, while Nine got 28.4 and Seven got 26.4.

The most watched single events in 2008 were: Beijing Olympics opening (7) 2.82m in the mainland capitals; AFL Grand Final (7) 2.49m; Aus Open Tennis Men's Final (7) 2.45m; Melbourne Cup race (7) 2.27m; Olympics Day 9 prime time (7) 2.23m; Olympics Day 1 prime time (7) 2.21m; Rugby league State of Origin Match 3 (9) 2.14m; State of Origin 1 (9) 2.09m; State of Origin 2 (9) 2.08m; Rugby league Grand Final (9) 2.05m; Twenty/20 cricket Aus v. India (9) 2.03m.

To see how these fit with earlier records, go to The TV shows Australia loved

The 150 most watched series, 2008
Program. Channel. Average audience across the mainland capitals
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Network 7 1,937,841
2 FIND MY FAMILY Network 7 1,803,223
3 UNDERBELLY Network 9 1,706,831
4 THE ZOO - TUE Network 7 1,688,134
5 CITY HOMICIDE Network 7 1,621,122
6 BORDER SECURITY Network 7 1,609,917
7 THE FORCE Network 7 1,597,773
8 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Network 7 1,578,016
9 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Network 7 1,576,104
10 AUSTRALIA'S GOT TALENT Network 7 1,523,360
11 60 MINUTES Network 9 1,504,646
12 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Network 9 1,503,496
13 RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES-THU Network 9 1,501,569
14 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,501,129
15 DOMESTIC BLITZ Network 9 1,497,437
16 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Network TEN 1,490,977
17 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH TIGER-SPY IN THE JUNGLE Network 9 1,477,355
18 THE ONE - AUSTRALIA'S MOST GIFTED PSYCHIC Network 7 1,451,088
19 NATIONAL NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,413,537

20 THE FARMER WANTS A WIFE Network 9 1,402,554
21 BONDI RESCUE Network TEN 1,383,917
22 CSI Network 9 1,382,495
23 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,374,492
24 SEA PATROL II Network 9 1,373,598
25 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Network 7 1,362,764
26 SURF PATROL Network 7 1,362,504
27 SCU: SERIOUS CRASH UNIT Network 7 1,361,705
28 NCIS Network TEN 1,358,651
29 GLADIATORS Network 7 1,348,671
30 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Network 7 1,329,090
31 DOC MARTIN Network ABC1 1,321,687
32 CRIMINAL MINDS - MON Network 7 1,309,277
33 BATTLE OF THE CHOIRS Network 7 1,300,110
34 IT TAKES TWO Network 7 1,295,439
35 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH'S - LIFE IN COLD BLOOD Network 9 1,291,115
36 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Network 7 1,287,015
37 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Network 7 1,281,867
38 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Network 7 1,275,023
39 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Network 7 1,255,355
40 THE GRUEN TRANSFER Network ABC1 1,247,287
41 ALL SAINTS Network 7 1,245,481
42 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 1,237,008
43 WIPEOUT Network 9 1,235,349
44 MIDSOMER MURDERS Network ABC1 1,226,183
45 THE REAL SEACHANGE Network 7 1,221,601
46 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Network TEN 1,216,566
47 THE CELEBRITY SINGING BEE Network 9 1,212,536
48 SEARCH & RESCUE Network 9 1,209,470
49 HOLE IN THE WALL Network 9 1,205,192
50 THE MENTALIST Network 9 1,205,131
51 SPICKS AND SPECKS Network ABC1 1,198,864
52 WILD CHINA Network ABC1 1,189,332
53 NATIONAL NINE NEWS Network 9 1,186,920
54 FOYLE'S WAR Network ABC1 1,183,190
55 HELL'S KITCHEN Network 9 1,180,779
56 GREY'S ANATOMY Network 7 1,177,605
57 MY NAME IS EARL - THU Network 7 1,172,721
58 20 TO 1 -SUN Network 9 1,169,600
59 THIS IS YOUR LIFE Network 9 1,160,008
60 CRASH SCENE INVESTIGATORS Network 7 1,155,013
61 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Network TEN 1,153,582
62 RPA Network 9 1,135,336
63 GETAWAY Network 9 1,131,752
64 POLICE FILES - UNLOCKED Network 7 1,131,717
65 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Network 7 1,124,508
66 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,124,148
67 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH'S LIFE OF MAMMALS Network 9 1,115,388
68 ABC NEWS Network ABC1 1,113,368
69 CSI: MIAMI Network 9 1,111,460
70 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Network 9 1,110,271
71 ANIMAL EMERGENCY Network 9 1,109,299
72 FIRE 000 Network 9 1,107,024
73 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Network 7 1,105,447
74 DOCTOR WHO Network ABC1 1,100,660
75 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Network TEN 1,086,140
76 BUSH DOCTORS Network 7 1,074,061
77 BONES Network 7 1,073,494
78 WITHOUT A TRACE Network 9 1,070,164
79 SILENT WITNESS Network ABC1 1,069,326
80 BATTLEFRONTS Network 9 1,069,056
81 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Network 9 1,065,469 

82 ABC NEWS-SUN Network ABC1 1,057,591
83 DALZIEL AND PASCOE Network ABC1 1,054,343
84 HOUSE Network TEN 1,052,640
85 KATH & KIM (Rpt) Network 7 1,052,575
86 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Network 7 1,049,626
87 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Network 7 1,037,217 

88 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Network 9 1,034,143
89 THE RICH LIST - MON Network 7 1,031,759
90 RFDS: ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE Network 9 1,026,418
91 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Network TEN 1,026,416
92 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Network 9 1,021,341
93 DEADLY SURF Network 9 1,017,417
94 BIG BROTHER LIVE EVICTION Network TEN 1,006,405
95 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Network TEN 1,004,195
96 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS Network TEN 997,422
97 SAMANTHA WHO? Network 7 985,065
98 THAT '70S SHOW Network 7 984,512
99 FAMILY FORTUNES Network ABC1 984,262
100 CSI: NY Network 9 980,119
101 TAGGART Network ABC1 978,157
102 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Network 7 978,133
103 THE HOLLOWMEN Network ABC1 973,914
104 BED OF ROSES Network ABC1 971,139
105 THE AMAZING RACE 13 Network 7 962,580
106 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Network 9 959,517
107 BACK TO YOU Network TEN 959,465
108 THE FOOTY SHOW Network 9 955,609
109 ABC NEWS-SAT Network ABC1 954,808
110 10 TO ONE Network 9 954,067
111 GHOST WHISPERER Network 7 954,012
112 WIRE IN THE BLOOD Network ABC1 951,984
113 UGLY BETTY Network 7 951,260
114 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON Network ABC1 941,343
115 THE NEW INVENTORS Network ABC1 940,881
116 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Network TEN 939,105
117 MOST SHOCKING Network 7 931,492
118 BROTHERS & SISTERS Network 7 930,861
119 MCLEOD'S DAUGHTERS Network 9 930,565
120 GOOD NEWS WEEK Network TEN 929,161
121 RUSH Network TEN 928,558
122 THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE RPT Network TEN 923,685
123 ELDERS WITH ANDREW DENTON Network ABC1 917,890
124 ROVE Network TEN 916,353
125 COLD CASE Network 9 908,101
126 BORDER PATROL NZ Network 7 906,580
127 THE GREAT OUTDOORS Network 7 905,555
128 CRIME INVESTIGATION AUSTRALIA Network 9 904,406
129 MEDIUM Network TEN 903,274
130 GRUMPY OLD WOMEN Network ABC1 901,690
132 HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED Network TEN 898,235
131 KENNY'S WORLD Network TEN 895,861
132 GALAPAGOS Network ABC1 890,098
133 TOP GEAR Network SBS 889,666
134 AUSTRALIAN STORY Network ABC1 887,380
135 7.30 REPORT Network ABC1 885,697
136 THE AMAZING RACE Network 7 885,267
137 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Network TEN 883,983
138 ALL NEW FUTURAMA Network TEN 882,384
139 LEWIS Network 7 881,081
140 LADETTE TO LADY Network 9 880,363
141 TWO IN THE TOP END Network ABC1 876,548
142 MISSING PERSONS UNIT Network 9 872,091
143 PRIVATE PRACTICE Network 7 870,222 

144 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Network TEN 868,939
145 TIL DEATH Network 9 866,030 

146 SPOOKS Network ABC1 855,808 

147 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Network 7 853,437 

148 FOUR CORNERS Network ABC1 847,399
149 CATALYST Network ABC1 846,418
150 FRINGE Network 9 841,475

(East of Everything ABC 0.789)

Most watched non-sports shows on Pay TV
1 LIVE: AUSTRALIA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FINALE FOX8 309,000
2 AUSTRALIA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FOX8 320,000
3 PROJECT RUNWAY AUSTRALIA Arena 241
4 PROJECT RUNWAY AUSTRALIA: FINALE Arena 229
5 CAMP ROCK Disney Channel 190
6 FAMILY GUY FOX8 231
7 SELLING HOUSES AUSTRALIA Lifestyle 221
8 THE SIMPSONS FOX8 218
9 FUTURAMA FOX8 190
10 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FOX8 220
11 PROJECT RUNWAY AUSTRALIA: THE REUNION Arena 194
12 HANNAH MONTANA AND MILEY CYRUS Disney Channel 159
13 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Fox Classics 176
14 AN AUSSIE GOES BOLLY FOX8 210
15 DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER Fox Classics 161
16 THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES UKTV 166
17 YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE Fox Classics 166
18 ICE ROAD TRUCKERS FOX8 165
19 OCTOPUSSY Fox Classics 167
20 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM Showtime 201
21 DR. NO Fox Classics 158
22 THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS Fox Classics 157
23 NCIS TV1 158
24 KYLE XY FOX8 186
25 PROJECT RUNWAY Arena 185

Sports Programs
1 LIVE: RUGBY UNION: BLEDISLOE CUP Fox Sports 3 350
2 LIVE: FOOTBALL: WORLD CUP QUALIFIER AUST V QATAR Fox Sports 3 345
3 LIVE: NRL COWBOYS V PANTHERS Fox Sports 2 338
4 LIVE: RUGBY UNION: S14 FINAL CRUSADERS V WARATAHS Fox Sports 3 333
5 LIVE: FOOTBALL WORLD CUP QUALIFIER AUSTRALIA V IRAQ Fox Sports 3 330
6 LIVE: NRL COWBOYS V STORM Fox Sports 2 328
7 LIVE: NRL RAIDERS V STORM Fox Sports 2 322
8 LIVE & ACTIVE: NRL DRAGONS V COWBOYS Fox Sports 2 320
9 LIVE & ACTIVE: NRL SHARKS V SEA EAGLES Fox Sports 2 314
10 LIVE: NRL PANTHERS V ROOSTERS Fox Sports 2 310
11 LIVE: NRL COWBOYS V ROOSTERS Fox Sports 2 304
12 LIVE: NRL WESTS TIGERS V STORM Fox Sports 2 302
13 LIVE: NRL DRAGONS V TITANS Fox Sports 2 300
14 LIVE: NRL SEA EAGLES V SHARKS Fox Sports 2 300
15 LIVE: NRL KNIGHTS V EELS Fox Sports 2 299
16 LIVE: NRL BULLDOGS V RABBITOHS Fox Sports 2 297
17 LIVE: NRL STORM V WARRIORS Fox Sports 2 297
18 LIVE: NRL TITANS V DRAGONS Fox Sports 2 295
19 LIVE: NRL RAIDERS V DRAGONS Fox Sports 2 294
20 LIVE: NRL ROOSTERS V STORM Fox Sports 2 294

Average audience, 6pm to midnight, weeks 1-46, by age group

Channel 7
Year .. 2002.. 2004.. 2006.. 2008.. Since '04
All ... 0.992m 0.926m 1.019m 1.028m +11%
00-15 0.127m 0.111m 0.104m 0.100m -10%
16-39 0.312m 0.298m 0.301m 0.272m -9%
40-99 0.552m 0.517m 0.614m 0.656m +27%
Channel 9
00-99 1.140m 1.105m 1.047m 0.929m -16%
00-15 0.137m 0.118m 0.099m 0.090m -24%
16-39 0.378m 0.352m 0.299m 0.273m -22%
40-99 0.625m 0.636m 0.649m 0.565m -11%
Channel 10
00-99 0.863m 0.876m 0.802m 0.730m -17%
00-15 0.167m 0.161m 0.143m 0.123m -24%
16-39 0.392m 0.363m 0.347m 0.295m -19%
40-99 0.304m 0.352m 0.312m 0.313m -11%
ABC TV
00-99 0.589m 0.633m 0.557m 0.604m -5%
00-15 0.035m 0.030m 0.025m 0.030m -2%
16-39 0.106m 0.101m 0.093m 0.096m -5%
40-99 0.449m 0.502m 0.439m 0.478m -5%
SBS
00-99 0.188m 0.172m 0.197m 0.202m +17%
00-15 0.012m 0.008 0.011m 0.012m +40%
16-39 0.053m 0.041m 0.058m 0.058m +41%
40-99 0.123m 0.123m 0.128m 0.132m +8%
Pay TV
All ... 0.405m 0.420m 0.593m 0.683m +63%
00-15 0.064m 0.048m 0.084m 0.085m +76%
16-39 0.137m 0.137m 0.192m 0.199m +46%
40-99 0.204m 0.235m 0.318m 0.399m +70%

What Australians aged 16 to 39 watched, week ending November 29, 2009
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE WINNER ANNOUNCED Ten 624,000 177,000 225,000 92,000 64,000 65,000
2 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE FINAL VERDICT Ten 609,000 188,000 208,000 89,000 61,000 63,000
3 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - LIVE FROM THE OPERA HOUSE Ten 493,000 155,000 157,000 78,000 53,000 50,000
4 2008 GOOD NEWS WEEK AWARDS Ten 449,000 153,000 129,000 71,000 36,000 60,000
5 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 440,000 136,000 149,000 76,000 32,000 47,000
6 HOUSE Ten 439,000 133,000 128,000 73,000 43,000 63,000
7 NCIS Ten 429,000 119,000 100,000 109,000 39,000 62,000
8 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 2 Ten 420,000 110,000 150,000 69,000 34,000 56,000
9 TOP GEAR SBS 416,000 121,000 126,000 77,000 41,000 50,000
10 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 1 Ten 405,000 115,000 146,000 68,000 26,000 49,000
11 M-NATIONAL TREASURE Seven 403,000 165,000 104,000 56,000 36,000 42,000
12 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 399,000 111,000 139,000 97,000 22,000 29,000
13 60 MINUTES Nine 398,000 131,000 92,000 85,000 34,000 55,000
14 THE AMAZING RACE 13 Seven 393,000 119,000 126,000 67,000 35,000 46,000
15 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP1 Nine 388,000 139,000 134,000 53,000 30,000 33,000
16 WEDDINGS WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Nine 386,000 133,000 103,000 70,000 31,000 49,000
17 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 381,000 99,000 126,000 71,000 36,000 49,000
18 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP2 Nine 377,000 125,000 131,000 59,000 27,000 34,000
19 LIFE AFTER PEOPLE Seven 370,000 128,000 99,000 75,000 28,000 40,000
20 M-OVER THE HEDGE Seven 361,000 100,000 112,000 73,000 31,000 44,000
21 BONES Seven 353,000 92,000 124,000 56,000 38,000 42,000
22 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 351,000 109,000 118,000 70,000 22,000 34,000
23 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 347,000 97,000 133,000 83,000 17,000 17,000
24 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 327,000 114,000 89,000 63,000 20,000 40,000
25 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 323,000 95,000 114,000 50,000 31,000 33,000
26 LIFE Ten 323,000 73,000 119,000 58,000 25,000 48,000
27 CSI -RPT Nine 322,000 98,000 96,000 55,000 26,000 46,000
28 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 320,000 76,000 95,000 81,000 30,000 39,000
29 20 UNDER 25: YOUNG, RICH AND FAMOUS Ten 312,000 77,000 92,000 62,000 35,000 45,000
30 ALL NEW FUTURAMA WED EP 2 Ten 310,000 79,000 93,000 57,000 34,000 47,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

What Australians aged over 55 watched, week ending November 29, 2008
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 771,000 192,000 217,000 148,000 92,000 123,000
2 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 760,000 212,000 221,000 148,000 82,000 97,000
3 FIND MY FAMILY - REUNIONS Seven 748,000 211,000 204,000 164,000 81,000 89,000
4 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 728,000 189,000 236,000 113,000 79,000 111,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 697,000 151,000 199,000 145,000 89,000 112,000
6 MOUNTAIN WITH GRIFF RHYS JONES ABC1 674,000 172,000 198,000 121,000 86,000 97,000
7 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 672,000 139,000 235,000 141,000 65,000 93,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 672,000 191,000 213,000 107,000 73,000 88,000
9 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 652,000 175,000 205,000 126,000 70,000 76,000
10 THE STEPFATHER ABC1 629,000 170,000 205,000 104,000 68,000 82,000
11 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 627,000 151,000 170,000 147,000 63,000 96,000
12 EAGLE ISLAND ABC1 623,000 180,000 174,000 93,000 67,000 108,000
13 THE BILL ABC1 606,000 160,000 184,000 95,000 72,000 96,000
14 FACE PAINTING WITH BILL LEAK ABC1 605,000 170,000 184,000 124,000 68,000 59,000
15 NINE NEWS Nine 593,000 150,000 197,000 127,000 71,000 48,000
16 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 591,000 168,000 184,000 119,000 91,000 29,000
17 7.30 REPORT ABC1 584,000 176,000 175,000 102,000 65,000 66,000
18 ALL SAINTS Seven 584,000 160,000 170,000 91,000 80,000 82,000
19 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 581,000 197,000 186,000 80,000 57,000 60,000
20 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC1 580,000 185,000 177,000 92,000 69,000 57,000
21 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 578,000 151,000 159,000 118,000 66,000 83,000
22 THE EINSTEIN FACTOR ABC1 567,000 155,000 182,000 89,000 64,000 76,000
23 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC1 566,000 160,000 164,000 84,000 67,000 92,000
24 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 562,000 160,000 158,000 111,000 61,000 71,000
25 60 MINUTES Nine 553,000 127,000 168,000 119,000 57,000 82,000
26 CITY HOMICIDE (R) Seven 545,000 144,000 170,000 91,000 71,000 69,000
27 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 543,000 138,000 166,000 108,000 83,000 48,000
28 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 517,000 121,000 141,000 108,000 67,000 80,000
29 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 515,000 115,000 190,000 90,000 60,000 60,000
30 COLLECTORS ABC1 514,000 161,000 158,000 70,000 58,000 68,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 06:15 AM
• Comments (3)