The tastes of television viewers in South East Queensland is… interesting, to say the least. It’s the third largest market in the country, after Sydney and Melbourne respectively, and while there are definite trends between the 5 mainland metro markets SEQ continues to mystify with some of it’s televisual choices.
Take the final week of ratings for example. This is what the consolidated (watched live & recorded combined) Top 20 rated programs were nationally and across the 5 markets:
| Top 20 shows (consolidated) NATIONAL week ending 27/11/10 | Network | Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Adelaide | Perth | ||
| 1 | THE X FACTOR – THE WINNER | Seven | 1,833,000 | 622,000 | 499,000 | 340,000 | 198,000 | 174,000 |
| 2 | THE BLOCK – WINNER ANNOUNCED | Nine | 1,716,000 | 542,000 | 536,000 | 301,000 | 147,000 | 191,000 |
| 3 | TALKIN’ ‘BOUT YOUR GENERATION | Ten | 1,450,000 | 380,000 | 474,000 | 246,000 | 158,000 | 192,000 |
| 4 | THE X FACTOR – MONDAY | Seven | 1,429,000 | 492,000 | 381,000 | 261,000 | 153,000 | 143,000 |
| 5 | SEVEN NEWS – SUNDAY | Seven | 1,383,000 | 280,000 | 416,000 | 362,000 | 129,000 | 196,000 |
| 6 | THE X FACTOR – SUNDAY | Seven | 1,374,000 | 405,000 | 431,000 | 248,000 | 141,000 | 149,000 |
| 7 | NINE NEWS – SATURDAY | Nine | 1,334,000 | 365,000 | 517,000 | 175,000 | 165,000 | 113,000 |
| 8 | NCIS | Ten | 1,310,000 | 347,000 | 369,000 | 223,000 | 161,000 | 210,000 |
| 9 | THE BLOCK | Nine | 1,305,000 | 419,000 | 399,000 | 224,000 | 128,000 | 135,000 |
| 10 | SEVEN NEWS – MONDAY-FRIDAY | Seven | 1,285,000 | 314,000 | 389,000 | 254,000 | 148,000 | 180,000 |
| 11 | BEAUTY AND THE GEEK – THE WINNER | Seven | 1,233,000 | 411,000 | 375,000 | 190,000 | 129,000 | 128,000 |
| 12 | TODAY TONIGHT | Seven | 1,219,000 | 312,000 | 340,000 | 250,000 | 150,000 | 167,000 |
| 13 | SUNDAY NIGHT | Seven | 1,206,000 | 302,000 | 351,000 | 276,000 | 110,000 | 167,000 |
| 14 | HAMISH & ANDY’S REMINISTMAS SPECIAL | Ten | 1,187,000 | 272,000 | 393,000 | 256,000 | 97,000 | 168,000 |
| 15 | NINE NEWS – MONDAY-FRIDAY | Nine | 1,144,000 | 315,000 | 374,000 | 233,000 | 121,000 | 101,000 |
| 16 | BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS | Seven | 1,136,000 | 317,000 | 304,000 | 235,000 | 143,000 | 136,000 |
| 17 | NINE NEWS – SUNDAY | Nine | 1,116,000 | 265,000 | 367,000 | 218,000 | 137,000 | 129,000 |
| 18 | BEAUTY AND THE GEEK AUSTRALIA | Seven | 1,106,000 | 368,000 | 332,000 | 185,000 | 102,000 | 119,000 |
| 19 | GLEE | Ten | 1,066,000 | 256,000 | 294,000 | 291,000 | 87,000 | 138,000 |
| 20 | UNDERCOVER BOSS AUSTRALIA | Ten | 1,038,000 | 249,000 | 336,000 | 193,000 | 103,000 | 158,000 |
Some clear winners, and it makes a lot of sense given a number of shows finished last week to capitalise on the ratings benefit for their network. However, once you filter it by SEQ/Brisbane only, the picture changes. A LOT.
| Top 20 shows (consolidated) BRISBANE METRO week ending 27/11/10 | |||
| 5 | SEVEN NEWS – SUNDAY | Seven | 362,000 |
| 1 | THE X FACTOR – THE WINNER | Seven | 340,000 |
| 2 | THE BLOCK – WINNER ANNOUNCED | Nine | 301,000 |
| 19 | GLEE | Ten | 291,000 |
| 13 | SUNDAY NIGHT | Seven | 276,000 |
| 4 | THE X FACTOR – MONDAY | Seven | 261,000 |
| 14 | HAMISH & ANDY’S REMINISTMAS SPECIAL | Ten | 256,000 |
| 10 | SEVEN NEWS – MONDAY-FRIDAY | Seven | 254,000 |
| 12 | TODAY TONIGHT | Seven | 250,000 |
| 6 | THE X FACTOR – SUNDAY | Seven | 248,000 |
| 3 | TALKIN’ ‘BOUT YOUR GENERATION | Ten | 246,000 |
| 16 | BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS | Seven | 235,000 |
| 15 | NINE NEWS – MONDAY-FRIDAY | Nine | 233,000 |
| 39 | NEW TRICKS | ABC1 | 227,000 |
| 9 | THE BLOCK | Nine | 224,000 |
| 8 | NCIS | Ten | 223,000 |
| 17 | NINE NEWS – SUNDAY | Nine | 218,000 |
| 22 | MODERN FAMILY – SUNDAY EPISODE 2 | Ten | 206,000 |
| 25 | HOME AND AWAY | Seven | 206,000 |
| 37 | MODERN FAMILY – WEDNESDAY | Ten | 206,000 |
Some big changes take place. Nine News Saturday drops out of 7th place and slides to 34th! Not so great a lead in from the cricket, I guess, or everyone was out watching it. In fact, it’s the battle for SEQ’s News interests that is revealed in these numbers, with Ch7’s News – Sunday coming out on top (up from 5th nationally) and Ch9’s News – Sunday remaining at 17th (nationally and SEQ). It’s not all good news for Ch7 though, with Beauty and the Geek (the winner) falling away from 11th nationally to 26th in SEQ. Ch9’s Top20 count falls from 5 nationally to 4 in SEQ.
It proves SEQ’s tastes to be even more ecclectic. Glee jumps from 19th nationally to 4th in SEQ, & Ch10’s number of programs in the Top20 up from 5 to 6. PLUS Hamish & Andy’s Reministmas Special jumps up from 14th to 7th. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation drops from 6th to 11th though.
Who’d be a programmer!?
Ch9 Brisbane are making aggressive moves on Ch7 with regard to their News service. The team(s) on Mt Coot-tha are not leaving anything in the tank and with a new Managing Director in place towards the end of this year the QTQ9 team have a leader with vision in mind and fire in her belly – ready to lead the charge in 2011. Add in Ch10’s new 2.5 hour News service they launch mid-January 2011 and South East Queensland residents are in for one heck of an interesting time for local content and general programming next year.
Great summary Steve, always enjoy your analysis.
Thanks Jono. Good to know it’s enjoyed. 🙂