Seven up in viewers to top Oz ratings
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Seven up in viewers to top Oz ratings
Net won the 2010 ratings race at the weekend
By Paul Chai
The Seven Network won the 2010 ratings race at the weekend with 24.6%
of total viewers for its main channel, in a competitive year for
Aussie TV.
Rival web Nine got 23.5%, Ten got 19.7% and pubcasters the ABC and SBS
got 14.5% and 5%, respectively.
But free-to-air TV was the overall winner with a 5% lift in overall
aud due mainly to the launch of new digital channels. The rise comes
after four years of declining viewership.
Seven dominated the list of top-rating programs with No. 1 local drama
"Packed to the Rafters" continuing to perform well, backed up by
perennial fave "Border Security," "Australia's Got Talent" and mini
"The Pacific." The web also continued its strength in news and current
affairs.
But the other webs also had stories to tell.
Nine lodged the biggest rise in all people, up 9.4% to Seven's 7.5%;
it also won the year in the key 25-54 and 18-49 demographics during
primetime.
And the biggest event in TV Down Under belonged to Ten, with the
second series final of "MasterChef Australia" drawing more than 4
million viewers. A spin-off series, "Junior MasterChef," with tween
cooks, managed a respectable aud of 1.5 million.
Local drama was a big winner with Nine's "Underbelly: The Golden Mile"
coming in just behind "MasterChef" and "Rafters," while "Modern
Family," "NCIS" and "Glee" were among the top-performing Stateside
skeins.
"2010 has been a significant year for free-to-air television," said
Ten programming topper David Mott. "As Australians take to the
expanding suite of free-to-air digital multi-channels in record
numbers, there has never been a more important time for the commercial
networks to go after demographically targeted audiences."
And go after them they did with a second round of new digital channels
getting off the ground after decades of stagnation in the sector.
Seven launched male-skewed 7mate (2.7%); Nine bowed general
entertainment channel Gem (1.7%); and Ten unveiled plans for Eleven, a
youth-skewed joint venture with CBS.
Contact the variety newsroom at ne...@variety.com
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118028287?refCatId=19
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