Nine's Programming Scuttles Seven
The Age
Wednesday June 5, 1996
NINE crushed the opposition last week, recording one of the biggest ratings wins in the past year.
Much of the credit goes to Nine's programmers, who cleverly scheduled two specials - Tidal Waves, Tornadoes and Twister on Tuesday and Don Bradman - 87 Not out on Wednesday - to attract viewers away from Seven's winning midweek line-up.
While neither of Nine's specials scored sensational ratings, they certainly achieved their purpose, with Blue Heelers, Witness, Chicago Hope and Murder One on Seven each losing more than 100,000 viewers.
Improved figures for some other programs on Seven, including Talking Footy (which benefited enormously from its temporary move from 11pm to 8.30pm on Monday), Who Dares Wins and Full Frontal, provided little compensation.
Consequently, Nine won 36.2 per cent of evening viewers last week. Seven was a long way back in second place on 28.
2 per cent, followed by Ten (21.1), Two (12) and SBS (2.4).
Another big winner for Nine was its coverage of the Legends of Football match at the Whitten Oval on Friday night.
It thrashed Seven's repeat of its 100 Years of Australian Football documentary special by as many as six viewers to one.
A cause for concern at Nine, however, is the declining fortunes of E.R. on Thursday nights.
The hit import of 1995 has taken a dive in the ratings in the past six weeks - from 709,000 viewers on 25 April to only 580,000 last week.
But E.R.'s decline has not harmed The Footy Show, which follows it in Nine's schedules. Last week's show had an average 671,000 viewers, well ahead of the crumbling Cracker on Seven (236,000).
Of last week's two new series, neither excited much attention.
The ABC's much-publicised Wednesday night documentary series, Australian Story, attracted only 227,000 of the 1.6 million Melburnians watching TV at the time.
Ten's Saturday night adventure series, Hercules - The Legendary Journeys, won only 198,000 viewers and was beaten soundly by Hey, Hey, Heartbeat and Gladiators.
HOW THEY RATED
The top-10 rating programs in Melbourne last week were:
. Average Average
. audience rating
1 The Footy Show (AFL) 671,400 19.2
2 Our House 646,100 18.5
3 Better Homes & Gardens 637,200 18.2
4 National Nine News (Sun) 635,500 18.2
5 Ellen 617,400 17.6
6 Blue Heelers 612,300 17.5
7 JAG 610,500 17.4
8 Legends of Football 601,400 17.2
9 A Current Affair 598,700 17.1
10 Burke's Backyard 589,500 16.8
. Peak Peak
. audience rating
1 The Footy Show (AFL) 718,800 20.5
2 Our House 650,300 18.6
3 Better Homes & Gardens 665,300 19.0
4 National Nine News (Sun) 647,300 18.5
5 Ellen 628,200 17.9
6 Blue Heelers 622,300 17.8
7 JAG 613,100 17.5
8 Legends of Football 706,200 20.2
9 A Current Affair 692,900 19.8
10 Burke's Backyard 629,000 18.0
RISES: Talking Footy (7) - 423,000 (up 324,000); Who Dares
Wins (7) - 527,000 (up 91,000); Lois & Clark (9) - 431,000
(up 62,000); Full Frontal (7) - 510,000 (up 53,000).
FALLS: Witness (7) - 281,000 (down 145,000); Chicago Hope
(7) - 478,000 (down 144,000); Blue Heelers (7) - 612,000
(down 121,000); Murder One (7) - 388,000 (down 114,000).
Source: Nielsen Media Research
© 1996 The Age