Nine wins the week as The Block counts down and X Factor struggles
Despite the big drawer of the Melbourne Cup for Seven and the return of First Dates, Nine has managed to win the week as the TV ratings season counts down.
Seven easily had the biggest audience with the running of the horse racing classic on Tuesday, albeit with a reduced five metro city audience compared to recent years, while its talent show X Factor continued to sag.
But Nine’s The Block, the debut of Aussie drama Doctor Doctor on Wednesday and the start of the test cricket season in Perth on Thursday with a prime time east coast audience was enough to give Nine the week.
The network finished the week with a struggling Australian team still giving Nine the best non-news show of Saturday night as 677,000 viewers tuned in.
The result, which also helped Nine win the night comprehensively with a share of 18.7% against Seven’s 14.4%, gave the network a share for the week of 20.2% on the main channel.
Seven’s share finished at 18.3% while the ABC came in ahead of Ten with a share of 12.8% for the week.
Ten managed just 10.5% ahead of SBS with 4.7%.
Saturday night was dominated by news with Seven’s 6pm bulletin taking the honours with 861,000 viewers against the ABC’s 7pm news with 792,000 and Nine at 6pm with 759,000.
Saturday was a big night for the ABC with Doc Marten at 7.30pm with 635,000, Home Fires at 8.30pm with 604,000 and Inspector George Gently at 9.10pm with 467,000.
Seven’s best for the night was the movie Spiderman 2 at 7pm with 390,000 while McGyver topped Ten’s list at 7.30pm with 248,000.
Ten’s share for Saturday night finished at 6.9%, well behind the second placed ABC with 17.3%, while SBS scored 4.5%.
