• This Time Next Year was worth the wait: 1.28m on debut
• Karl leads Nine primetime charge with some help from Scotty
• Bourne and Billy not enough to keep Seven on the radar
See full ratings figures on the Mediaweek Morning Report here.
Karl Stefanovic has what looks like a significant primetime hit on his hands as the numbers from the first episode of This Time Next Year pushed above 1.2m. The new show had plenty of momentum though, coming off the back of episode two of The Block, which also did 1.2m+.
After a big Sunday night which saw Melissa Doyle hosting the Princess Diana memorial, Seven shed share points as Billy Connolly and yet another Bourne movie weren’t enough to keep big numbers entertained.
The good news for TEN was that Australian Survivor was up, but not by much. Have You Been Paying Attention? also lifted, but it only crawled above 600,000, well short of its average this year.
Seven
Home and Away started the week with 742,000 after a week 30 average of 715,000.
The 7.30pm Billy Connolly & Me: A Celebration was a nice idea. But ultimately all the “home videos” from fans were a distraction from the Connolly comedy gems. The hour averaged 589,000, which put Seven in fourth place.
One episode of Highway Patrol did 429,000 followed by The Bourne Ultimatum after 9pm with 315,000.
Nine
A Current Affair started its week on just over 1m again, which seems to be getting a habit at the start of the week. Lots of shopping advice was on offer which seems to be resonating big time with viewers. The program averaged 875,000 last week which is close to a year high.
The second episode of The Block saw the first rooms delivered and revealed Ronnie and Georgia as the team to beat. The veteran renovators (10 other properties so far) won the bedroom challenge, got to pick which house they wanted, number 3, and were rewarded with a safe full of bonus offers from sponsors of the TV series. Episode two was up significantly on the Sunday launch.
The Block Week One: Season 13
Sunday 1,117,000
Monday 1,259,000
The launch episode of This Time Time Next Year was a crowd favourite too. It started with a big audience and managed to build on it with a launch average of 1.28m. The Melbourne audience was again devoted Nine viewers last night with close to 450,000 in that market for both programs after 7.30pm. Any doubts about Karl Stefanovic being an unsuitable primetime host have been blown away with his new show also #1 for the night with women viewers 25-54.
TEN
The Project 7pm started its week on 645,000 after a week 30 average of 536,000. Singer Zara Larsson was a guest and journalist Gideon Haigh talked about an impending cricket pay settlement and paid tribute to Mr Football Les Murray.
Australian Survivor featured a couple of great challenges with the contestants looking like mud people during the second. Some people seem to be peddling way too hard early on indicating they didn’t learn too much from watching season one unfold. The 24 original contestants are now down to 22 after Adam Parkin became the second sent home. The numbers were up slightly on Sunday night.
Australian Survivor: Week One: Season Two
Sunday 639,000
Monday 656,000
Guests on Have You Been Paying Attention? were Glenn Robbins, Georgie Carroll and Cal Wilson. The show lifted a little on last week’s 579,000 to 620,000.
ABC
Australian Story featured Labor senator Sam Dastyari and the challenges he has faced since the political donations scandal last year. The episode did 616,000 after 621,000 a week ago.
Four Corners then did 588,000 and Media Watch was on 527,000.
Q&A was just over 400,000 and outside the top 20.
SBS
SBS News featured tributes to Les Murray with 152,000 watching.
Michael Mosley’s Meet The Humans did 160,000 at 7.30pm.
The biggest audience of 177,000 tuned in for 24 Hours In Emergency at 8.30pm.
The penultimate episode of Mutiny did 76,000 at 9.30pm.