TV ratings kicks off with Seven taking the night
The opening of the official 2013 TV ratings year on Sunday was a tight battle, but Seven won the night.
Ten began the year with a better showing than recent days with MasterChef: The Professionals climbing back over the one million viewer mark, and Elementary (944,000 viewers) and Modern Family (922,000) taking eighth, nine and tenth spots respectively.
Nine News (1.4m) was the top show of the night, while Seven’s Border Security (1.395m) was close behind, according to preliminary OzTAM metro ratings
Seven’s other strongly rating shows were Sunday Night (1.346m), featuring an interview with James Packer. The Force: Behind The Line rated 1.339m, Downton Abbey 1.331m and Seven News 1.306m.
Free to air commecial television has become truly insulting and continues to treat those who watch it with utter contempt. Last night I made the mistake of watching the new series of Downtown Abbey, a half decent show that I’ve enjoyed in the past, despite the best attempts of Channel 7 to stuff it up.
Of course, true to form, nothing has changed. It was supposed to start at 8.30. It started at 8.45. Per usual, they got underway with a decent bit of it to hook you in – maybe 10 or 12 minutes – and then the ads and relentless promos for their usual brain dead programs started and barely stopped from then on.
Towards the end, it was five minutes of Downton Abbey to three minutes of ads and promos, many of them shown over and over. The whole sorry experience finished at 10.15. I won’t be going back.
On a happier note, I’ve been watching the box set of The West Wing, sublime television without an ad or promo for some “realityTV” shite to be seen. Also recommend Justified, a hillbilly noir shoot ’em up with a sense of humour and slick dialogue. It’s based on an Elmore Leonard character so it’s got to be good.
totally agree. Free to air telly is just an advertising vehicle, so it’s no surprise the stats are eagerly awaiting on Mumbrella everyday, those snappy media sales people can point to huge audience returns. It’s all a w*** it really is. The best thing to do if you don’t want to buy box sets, or download stuff, is to record shows & then fast forward the ads, i.e. never watch them as they are aired.
Downton Abbey started at 8.35 where I was….(sydney)
@Hmmmm … your watch/timepiece/sundial/moondial is 10 mins slow. Please adjust at the tone.
It was such a pleasure to thumb my nose at Channel 7 on Sunday night when they started Downton Abbey – I bought the series 3 dvd for my partner for Christmas so we were able to watch the whole series weeks ago without the unbelievable number of ad breaks. Do program managers actually have the intelligence to know that they are turning viewers away in droves with the ridiculous number of house ads – most of which you’ve seen ten minutes before, and ten minutes before that, etc etc etc.
Still, they aren’t quite as bad as Discovery Channel on Fox. They really take the prize for the most annoying channel on TV – which is a real shame, because by and large the programs are excellent.
God I wish I was as superior as you zuma.
P.S. check your sundial … 20:35 in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide and 20:36 in Melbourne and Perth.
Yep I total agree, thanks goodness for the PVR or we wouln’t watch any Free to air commercial TV!
Guys u have to expect that program’s will run over time.it has been like that for ages.would ch 10s better ratings for masterchef be due to people tuning in to watch Elementary. Seems obvious that ch 7 has a better lineup on Sunday. Given its huge ratings for MKR it will b a win for 7 this week no doubt