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Gruen Nation leads ABC1 to massive night

GRUEN NATION - Press Conference MumbrellaThe ABC had a stunning Wednesday night, with the top three most watched shows including a blockbuster 1.6m for Gruen Nation, the highest rating show from the network in nearly three years.

The decision by the ABC to focus on the election on Wednesdays paid off hugely for the national broadcaster.

The extended version of The Gruen Transfer was just ahead of Spicks & Specks and The Chaser’s Yes We Canberra special which both delivered just under 1.5m, according to preliminary five city metro ratings from OzTam.  

The last ABC program to achieve 1.6m was Spicks & Specks: A Very Specky Christmas which hit 1.601m on 16 December 2007. The last time the ABC had the top three shows was October 2007 with the Chaser, Spicks & Specks and Summer Heights High.

The 45 minute special of Gruen Nation saw host Wil Anderson and regular panellists Russel Howcroft and Todd Sampson joined by former Liberal leader John Hewson, adman Neil Lawrence and commentator Annabel Crabb.

The first two agencies to take part in the political themed Pitch segment were Freeform and Make.

The Chaser delivered a 42% audience share for its timeslot.

Despite the big showing in the later evening, ABC failed to win the night – Seven had a strong current affairs lineup while Nine’s new shows Hot Property and The Farmer Wants A Wife both pulled in more than a million viewers each.

Ten – already feeling the absence of Masterchef – was beaten into fourth place.

Meanwhile the battle for breakfast took another twist with Seven’s Sunrise easily beating Today in Sydney after two losses in a row for the city. Sunrise also won in Adelaide and Perth. As usual, Today won Melbourne, and both shows tied in Brisbane with 94,000 viewers each.

  1. Gruen Nation ABC 1.600m
  2. Spicks and Specks ABC 1.499m
  3. Yes We Canberra ABC 1.493m
  4. Seven News Seven 1.454m
  5. Today Tonight Seven 1.421m
  6. Nine News Nine 1.339m
  7. World’s Strictest Parents Seven 1.277m
  8. Two and a Half Men – 7:30pm Nine 1.207m
  9. The Farmer Wants A Wife Nine 1.192m
  10. A Current Affair Nine 1.159m
  11. Hot Property Nine 1.158m
  12. ABC News ABC 1.099m
  13. Two and a Half Men – 7:00pm Nine 1.057m
  14. Home and Away Seven 1.045m
  15. The 7:30 Report ABC 1.011m

Channel share:

  • Nine: 25.0%
  • Seven: 23.4%
  • ABC1: 23.0%
  • Ten: 17.1%
  • SBS1: 4.0%
  • GO!: 2.1%
  • ABC2: 2.0%
  • 7TWO: 1.7%
  • ABC3: 0.6%
  • One: 0.6%
  • SBS2: 0.5%
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