INITIATIVE MEDIA WEEK: MAY 18 – 24

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes – People 18-39

1. Thursday   2000-2030    How I Met Your Mother   TVW-7   17.4

2. Thursday   1930-2000    That 70’s Show   TVW-7   15.2

3. Tuesday    2000-2030    The Simpsons   NEW-10   13.7

4. Tuesday    2030-2130    NCIS   NEW-10   13.7

5. Thursday   2030-2130    Hell’s Kitchen   STW-9   13.6

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes People 25-39

1. Thursday   2000-2030    How I Met Your Mother   TVW-7   19.3

2. Thursday   1930-2000    That 70’s Show   TVW-7   16.3

3. Tuesday    2030-2130    NCIS   NEW-10   16.3

4. Sunday      2040-2140    CSI   STW-9   15.1

5. Monday     2030-2130    Desperate Housewives   TVW-7   14.9

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes People 25-54

1. Monday     1930-2030   David Attenborough’s Tiger-Spy In The Jungle   STW-9   14.0

2. Friday       1930-2030    Better Homes and Gardens   TVW-7   13.8

3. Friday       2030-2330    AFL: Collingwood vs Geelong   TVW-7   13.7

4. Thur-Fri     1800-1830   News   TVW-7   13.5

5. Tuesday    2030-2130   NCIS   NEW-10   13.5

Top 5 Prime Time Programmes People 35-54

1. Monday     2040-2140    Sea Patrol 2 – The Coup   STW-9   16.0

2. Thur – Fri  1800-1830    News   TVW-7   15.4

3. Friday        2030-2330    AFL: Collingwood vs Geelong   TVW-7   15.1

4. Sunday      1800-1830    News   TVW-7   15.0

5. Saturday    1730-2030    AFL: West Coast Eagles vs Adelaide   NEW-10   14.3

TVW-7 won the week overall (0600-2400) for Total People with a commercial share of 39.1%, followed by NEW-10 with 32.8% and STW-9 with 28.1%.

TVW-7 had nine of the top ten programmes for Total People and these included News, Today Tonight, Australia’s Got Talent, Better Homes and Gardens, Border Security – Australia’s Front Line ® and All Saints. Sunday News was the top programme for the week reaching an average 255,000 People. How I met Your Mother and That 70’s Show took first and second position against People 18-39 and 25-39. The Friday night AFL Game – Collingwood vs Geelong –  proved popular with People 25-54 and 35-54 grabbing third spot with both these demos.

STW-9’s top performing programme for Total People was 60 Minutes and both Sea Patrol 2 – The Coup and David Attenborough Tiger-Spy In The Jungle made the top twelve. The Nine Network pulled an audience of 2.092 million viewers for the opening game of the State of Origin on Wednesday night (21 May) which was the biggest audience an Origin match has received since the introduction of the OzTam ratings. The rugby league game got a peak audience of around 2.4 million and was screened live in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and on delay in Perth.  The pre match programme reached an average 120,000 viewers and the game reached an average 119,000 viewers in Perth. The origin match was the top programme of the night for People 25-39.  Although Hell’s Kitchen continues to rate well with People 18-39 and 25-29, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares seems to have lost its young audience, dropping out of the top five this week.

NEW-10’s top programme for Total People was Saturday Night AFL – West Coast Eagles vs Adelaide – which reached an average of 193,000 viewers. NCIS rated well with People 18-39, 25-39 and 25-54 making the top five with these demos. The top programme in the daytime segment for Total People was NEW-10’s Saturday Night AFL Game – West Coast Eagles vs Adelaide. In third place was NEW-10’s Saturday Afternoon AFL Game – Carlton vs Fremantle. Ten News At Five dominated the rest of the top positions.

PROGRAMMING UPDATE

The Networks are starting to talk about the second half of the year and their respective programme lineups. The starting point is as follows:

Seven Network

• Olympics in August

• AFL Finals Series August/September

• Lipstick Jungle

• Packed Rafters

• Reaper

• Eli Stone  

• Crash Investigation Unit 

Nine Network

• Pushing Daisies

• Scorched

• The Strip

• Hole in the Wall

• Here Come The Newlyweds

• Heroes and Villains

• NRL Finals

Ten Network

• Idol

• Bondi Vet

• So You Think You Can Dance USA

• Out of the Blue

• Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader

• America’s Next Top Model

PAY TV

According to research instigated by Fusion Media, Pay TV’s audience has declined against certain demographic sectors in the all important prime time segment. The figures state that they have suffered a 4% drop off with People 16-39, 1.5% against People 25-54 and 2.1% for People 18-49. It is thought that the programming strength of the FTA networks has been a driving force in this result.

Foxtel are “selling�? high definition channel packages to their current subscribers which include an additional five channels plus iQ2. As a result of a new Optus satellite in April 2009, there will be additional capacity for even more channels next year.