WIN TV's prime-time ratings have taken an immediate hit after it switched to showing Network Ten programs in southern NSW and Victoria.
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And Prime7 has claimed top spot in the nightly news battle as WIN's local bulletins in regional markets ranked behind their commercial rivals in the 6pm timeslot everywhere except in WIN’s home town of Wollongong.
Prime-time viewing data since July 1, when Southern Cross Austereo and WIN swapped feeder networks, has confirmed industry predictions that Bruce Gordon-owned WIN would lose viewers when it lost such Nine programming as The Voice, The Block and NRL coverage.
Despite the popularity of Ten shows like MasterChef and Offspring, WIN fell from second to fourth place between 6pm and midnight in southern NSW, which includes the TV markets of Canberra, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Orange and Dubbo.
Prime7, regional affiliate of the Kerry Stokes-owned Network Seven, retained the largest overall network share in the week from July 1, with 26.3 per cent of the prime-time audience across southern NSW.
WIN had a 19.5 per cent share, behind the ABC (25.6) and Southern Cross Austereo's new relay of the Nine signal (20.4) but ahead of SBS (8.2).
Compared to WIN's 25.2 per cent audience share across southern NSW when it was the Nine affiliate through the first half of 2016, WIN slid 5.7 percentage points in the first week of its new affiliation agreement with Ten.
Southern Cross Austereo saw a corresponding 3.7 percentage point bump with its switch from Ten to Nine.
Meanwhile in regional Victoria, WIN slipped from second place when it was the Nine affiliate in the first half of 2016 to be neck-and-neck with the ABC for third place last week as Ten's new regional partner.
In Victoria, which includes the centres of Bendigo, Ballarat and Albury/Wodonga, Prime7 won the week from July 1 with 37.4 per cent of the prime-time audience, ahead of Nine (19.4), WIN (18.0), the ABC (17.9) and SBS (7.3).
WIN's audience share fell 4.8 percentage points from the 22.8 per cent share it averaged over the first half of 2016 when it was the Nine affiliate in regional Victoria.
Southern Cross Austereo enjoyed an immediate 4 point lift from the 15.4 per cent share it averaged in 2016 when it was Ten’s affiliate.
In the new battle for news ratings supremacy in the 6pm timeslot, Prime7 claimed No. 1 spot.
WIN News, anchored by Geoff Phillips in southern NSW and Bruce Roberts in Victoria, was moved to 6pm slot on July 1 as part of WIN's new five-year affiliation deal with Ten.
Presented and broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters, the half-hour WIN News bulletins now screen directly after Ten Eyewitness News First at Five and before The Project.
The timeslot move, which forced Grant Denyer's hit gameshow Family Feud to channels ONE and Eleven, puts WIN News head-to-head with National Nine News, which previously screened on WIN but is now found on channel 5 on the TV remote controls of regional viewers.
Figures supplied by Prime7 show that in every market but Wollongong both Prime7 and Nine had bigger audiences than WIN News in the 6pm slot last week.
In Ballarat, the average commercial audience shares between 6pm and 6.30pm Monday to Friday were: Prime7 54.5 per cent, Nine 31.5 per cent and WIN 14 per cent. In Bendigo, Prime7 had a 42.2 per cent share in the first 30 minutes of prime-time, Nine had 30.1 and WIN 27.7. In Albury/Wodonga: Prime7 had a 56.3 share, Nine 28.0 and WIN 15.7.
In southern NSW, Prime7 dominated the Orange-Dubbo-Wagga market, with 51.9 per cent of the commercial audience between 6pm and 6.30pm, to Nine’s 34.8 share and WIN with 13.3. In Canberra, Prime7 (48.6) also led Nine (27.7) and WIN (23.7).
In Wollongong, the contest for commercial viewers in the timeslot was considerably tighter, with WIN drawing a 37.7 per cent of the audience ahead of Prime7 (34.6 per cent) and Nine (27.7).
When WIN and Southern Cross Austereo swapped feeder networks on July 1, the Nine, Gem, GO!, 9HD and 9Life channels, and such programs as National Nine News and The Footy Show, moved from WIN channels 8 and 80 to 84 on viewers' remote controls to channels 5 and 50 to 54.
WIN's channels changed to carrying such Ten programming as MasterChef and Offspring. WIN is relaying Ten's primary channel on 8 under the WIN brand, Ten's HD channel on 80, ONE on 81 and Eleven on 82.
