(5 city metro combined – all figures in millions)

1. Sneak Peek: Winners and Losers – Seven – 2.240
2. Packed to the Rafters – Seven – 2.080
3. Seven News – Seven – 1.304
4. Today Tonight – Seven – 1.251
5. Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation – Ten – 1.175
6. NCIS – Ten – 1.158
7. A Current Affair – Nine – 1.107
8. Nine News – Nine – 1.098
9. Home and Away – Seven – 1.030
10. Top Gear – Nine – 0.974
11. Parenthood – Seven – 0.962
12. Two and a Half Men – Nine – 0.946
13. Iron Chef – Seven – 0.905
14. ABC News – ABC – 0.887
15. The 7PM Project – Ten – 0.787

Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds – Nine – 0.656m
Good News Week – Ten – 0.641m
Hot Seat – Nine -0.565m
Deal or No Deal – Seven – 0.520m
Survivor: Nicaragua – Nine – 0.504m

Well played, Channel 7. Slotting Sneak Peek: Winners and Losers in as a seperately coded title AND in just before the credits of Packed to the Rafters meant it benefitted from the season finale ratings, and scored the highest numbers of the night (which rightly belong to Rafters). Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation slightly down on last week, however it still won he 7:30pm slot comfortably for Channel 10. A Top Gear repeat beat Iron Chef, however the latter maintaining it’s performance of the last two weeks. The 7pm Project offered almost identical numbers to last week – good, but not good enough. Both Parenthood & Survivor continue to receive the worst treatment for shows that would rate better in better timeslots – both Channels 7 & 9 should be looking at a digitl multi-channel strategy for these franchises.

With the battle for News & Current Affairs from 6pm – 7pm currently leaning in favour of Ch7 nationally, Ch10’s new offering due to start mid-January will shake this two-way battle significantly. Lots is expected of the new current affairs show to be hosted by George Negus, & then the local state bulletins at 6:30pm. 2011 will be interesting times indeed.

For more on Ch10’s strategy behind their revamped news service, listen to Media Week podcast 92 for the interview with Jim Carroll (Network 10’s head of news & public affairs).