INITIATIVE MEDIA WEEK IN REVIEW: JUNE 1-7

TELEVISION

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes – People 18-39

1. Thursday   1930-2030    How I Met Your Mother    TVW-7    17.5

2. Tuesday    1930-2030    20 To 1    STW-9    14.7

3. Thursday   2030-2130    Hell’s Kitchen    STW-9    14.5

4. Tuesday    2040-2140    Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – Revisits    STW-9    13.6

5. Monday     2030-2130    Desperate Housewives    TVW-7    12.7

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes People 25-39

1. Thursday  1930-2030    How I Met Your Mother    TVW-7    19.5

2. Monday    2030-2130    Desperate Housewives    TVW-7    17.7

3. Tuesday   1930-2030    20 To 1    STW-9    17.0

4. Monday    1930-2030    David Attenborough Tiger-Spy In The Jungle    STW-9    14.6

5. Thursday  2030-2130    Hell’s Kitchen    STW-9    14.4

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes People 25-54

1. Thursday   1930-2030    How I Met Your Mother    TVW-7    15.1

2. Tuesday    1930-2030    20 To 1    STW-9    14.7

3. Mon – Wed 1800-1830    News    TVW-7    14.6

4. Tuesday    2030-2130    NCIS    NEW-10    14.2

5. Tuesday    2040-2140    Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – Revisits    STW-9    13.7

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes People 35-54

1. Sunday       1800-1830   News    TVW-7    17.0

2. Mon – Wed 1800-1830    News    TVW-7    16.4

3. Tuesday     2040-2140    Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – Revisits    STW-9    15.0

4. Sunday       2030-2130   CSI: Crime Scene Investigation    STW-9    14.7

5. Sunday       2030-2230   Movie – Just Like Heaven    TVW-7    14.6

TVW-7 won the week overall (0600-2400) for Total People with a commercial share of 41.3%, followed by NEW-10 with 30.7% and STW-9 with 28.0%.

TVW-7’s top performing programmes for Total People were News, Today Tonight, Australia’s Got Talent, Border Security – Australia’s Front Line (RPT), How I Met Your Mother, Surf Patrol and Better Homes and Gardens. Seven didn’t run their usual line-up of Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters this week due to the holiday Monday in the Eastern States. Instead they showed the movie – The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe which averaged 150,000 viewers. How I Met Your Mother took top position with People 18-39, 25-39 and 25-54, increasing by 16,000 viewers week on week with People 25-39. The appearance of Britney Spears could have resulted in the audience increase. Desperate Housewives continues to rate well and remains in the top five for People 18-39 and 25-39. The season finale of Lost failed to make it into the top fifty programmes, however its audience did increase by 30% nationally against the previous episode.

60 Minutes was STW-9’s top programme for Total People, coming in at number five with 219,000 viewers locally. It also took top spot nationally with 1,822,485 viewers. Other top programmes included David Attenborough Tiger-Spy In The Jungle, 20 To 1, Sea Patrol 2 – The Coup and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. 20 To 1 performed well making the top five with People 18-39, 25-39 and 25-54. Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares Revisits rated well with all our demos making the top eight programmes and also delivering a good audience with our two younger demos.

NCIS and NCIS RPT were NEW -10’s only programmes to make the top twenty for Total People. The movie length episode of House proved popular with People 18-39 and 25-39, ranking within the top fifteen. NCIS made the top five with People 25-54 and grabbed seventh spot with People 25-39.

The top programme in the daytime segment for Total People was Ten News At Five, followed by NEW-10’s Saturday Night AFL Game – West Coast Eagles vs Sydney Swans, averaging 161,000 viewers. Also making the top five was TVW-7’s Sunday afternoon AFL Game – Fremantle vs Port Adelaide which had an average audience of 140,000.

RANDOM TV NEWS

Nine Network

• There will be an Australian version of Ladette to Lady. Timing has not been confirmed.

• A third series of Sea Patrol has been commissioned.

Seven Network

• There is a strong possibility that Ben Cousins will be a contestant on the next series of Dancing with the Stars.

WATODAY

Fairfax has launched WAtoday.com.au. It is in obvious competition with both The West Australian’s thewest.com.au and News Limited’s Perthnow.com.au. Fairfax CEO David Kirk said: “WAtoday.com.au will be a 24/7 online publishing force in WA delivering breaking news, entertainment and sport, features forums and blogs and houses classified brands MyCareer.com.au, Domain.com.au and Drive.com.au, and RSVP.com.au. The online journalists will be housed at Radio 6PR’s studios and writers for the site include Dr Fiona Stanley, lawyer Patti Chong and Howard Sattler.

NEW iPHONE LAUNCH

Optus and Apple have a launch date of July 11 for the iPhone 3G in Australia. The second generation iPhone is twice as fast as the original and has inbuilt GPS for expanded location based mobile services.

SWEENEY SPORTS REPORT 2007/2008

The 2007-08 edition of the Sweeney Sports Report has been released based on over one thousand people who were interviewed using computer assisted telephone interviewing in the six states and ACT.  Major findings are:

• 57% of Australians, or almost six in ten, are interested in tennis. Tennis’s popul
  arity has not been this high for 17 years
• swimming follows closely with 55%
• cricket has 53%
• the Australian Open  Tennis championships is the third most popular sports event in the country, with 12% of the population
• The AFL Grand Final is the most important sporting event for Aussies, favoured by one in four of the population
• the Melbourne Cup follows closely behind
• Rugby League managed to hold onto 42% of viewers and sixth position
• 18 of the 25 sports reported drops in viewers and two remaining steady
• Print media had positive impact on sport, with an eight point increase on last year.
• 48% of participants in the report cited print media as their preferred method for gaining information about sports they are interested

THE NEWSPAPER WORKS STUDY

A study, called Newspapers Today, was commissioned by the newspaper industry’s marketing body, The Newspaper Works, and conducted by Celsius Research and The Leading Edge. The main findings were as follows:

• 40% of newspaper readers feel they are up-to-date with the news immediately when reading papers and their websites, compared with 30% for TV and 21% for radio
• Consumers believe newspapers will continue to set the news agenda
• one third of consumers believe newspaper content is the most respected, compared with 17% for TV and 13% for radio
• 36% of consumers feel not only better informed but also educated by newspaper content, compared with 29% for TV and 20% for radio
• Australian consumers are more likely to act on information they receive about a product or service through newspapers than other media.