Television

The Biggest Loser TV's Biggest Sleeper Hit   Author: eNews staff and agencies | Feb 21, 2006, 12:43

Cutting the fat at 7pm

Ten Network ran interference last night with the first elimination episode of The Biggest Loser which was watched by an average 1.314 million people nationally.

That's second only to the premiere a week earlier of 1.40 million for the hour from 7 pm to 8 pm.

Last night it again crimped Temptation, which is struggling to climb past the million mark : it averaged 921,000 last night, a long way from Biggest Loser, which in turn ran second in the first half hour to Home and Away with 1.40 million.

But the Biggest Loser beat Home and Away in Melbourne and Adelaide and it went on to dominate the 7.30 pm to 8 pm, relegating Seven's Great Outdoors to a distant second.

Neighbours was watched by an average 832,000 from 6 .30 pm to 7 pm, (this was after a strong hour from 5 pm to 6 pm for the Ten early news with 943,000).

The turn-on from Neighbours to The Biggest Loser was just short of half a million people, which is not to be sneezed at.

After Loser finished, Ten tanked: Courting Alex at 8 pm to 8.30 pm averaged 824,000 and Numb3rs from 8.30 pm to 9 pm, 801,000.

This is while Desperate Housewives was averaging just over two million people and Millionaire with CEO Eddie McGuire, 1.17 million.

At 9.35 pm the ABC's one-off ep of Enough Rope with Andrew Denton won easily with 1.314 million over the hour, which crunched everyone!

Now although Ten tanked post Loser, there's an interesting comparison here.

Nine has premiered two new shows so far (with a third, Magda's Funny Bits up against Dancing With The Stars tonight). The two are: Bert's Family Feud and Clever.

Ten has done better both in terms of actual ratings performance and PUTs (People Using TV) and in risk taking.

Bert peaked at the start a week ago Monday at 678,000 and while last night's 534,000 was a recovery on the low of 520,000 last Friday, it wasn’t much.

It was easily beaten by Deal or No deal on Seven and the last half hour of the Ten news at Five.

Clever's debut Sunday night wasn't strong and it is a program that needs much more work.

Ten has quickly established The Biggest Loser as a force at 7 pm with its format very similar to Big Brother and Australian Idol (a group of contestants and eliminations!).

Contrast that with a year ago when Ten premiered the X-Factor, which tanked from the first ep and ruined the Network's start to the year and arguably the entire year by forcing it to retreat back to the 16 to 39 age group core (and abandon a serious attack on the 25 to 54 group).

Ten had the riskiest 2006 strategy because of its lack of killer programs (like Lost, CSI and Desperate Housewives) and stunt programs like the Winter Games for Seven and the Commonwealth Games for Nine.

The success of The Biggest Loser (and all the attendant risks) has paid off, even if there's nothing in the tank on some nights to back it up.

Seven won Monday night 30.9% to Nine on 26.4% with Ten back on 18.9%, just ahead of the ABC with 18.1% and SBS with 6.3%.

That low 18.9% for Ten just shows how badly it did outside of the 6 pm to 8 pm timeslot.

Ten of course won the night with the 16 to 39% because of The Biggest Loser and Neighbours.

By the way Ten's other big risk, Friday Night Games did more than a million people on Friday night in its debut at 7.30 pm top 9 pm.

It ran second to Seven's Better Homes and Gardens and both belted the old warhorse on Nine, Backyard Blitz!

But Ten then lost more than 600,000 of those viewers with a Star Wars movie from 9 pm that just was all but ignored by viewers.

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