Crime pays for Seven with new hit drama The Blacklist

THE Seven network's The Blacklist is confirmed as the first US drama hit of the year.

20131008-James SpaderBlacklist

THE Seven network's The Blacklist is confirmed as the first US drama hit of the year.

The drama starring James Spader held most of last week's big debut audience to record 1.445 million viewers in its second week. It ranked second among all programs for the night, behind its lead-in, The X Factor, but first in 25-54.

The two programs gave Seven a 25.3 per cent channel share as it and Nine dominated the night's viewing. Nine had a 21.4 per cent channel share ahead of ABC1's 13.7 per cent and Ten's 9.4 per cent. Seven had a 25.4 per cent channel share in the 25-54 demographic ahead of Nine's 23.5 per cent and Ten's 11.7 per cent.

Tens best for the night was Ten Eyewitness News with 629,000, ahead of The Project's 576,000. The return of Homeland has been hit by The Blacklist; it had less than half a million viewers again.

Nine News won at 6pm with 1.223 million metro viewers ahead of Seven News on 1.192m. A Current Affair won at 6.30pm with 1.047 million ahead of Today Tonight's 1.002 million.

Nine's reality contests Big Brother and Australia's Got Talent, re-scheduled from Sunday due to the NRL Grand Final, averaged 950,000 and 939,000 respectively. The latter was down more than 100,000 on its usual Sunday night average this season.

ABC1's Monday night line-up was well down on previous weeks, due in part to a holiday Monday in NSW. Australian Story recorded its lowest audience for six weeks (816,000) and Four Corners its lowest for two months (555,000).

Preliminary OzTAm ratings, Sunday 6 October
1 THE X FACTOR LIVE RESULTS Seven 1,457,000
2 THE BLACKLIST Seven 1,445,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,223,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,192,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,047,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,002,000
7 BIG BROTHER Nine 950,000
8 AUSTRALIA'S GOT TALENT Nine 939,000
9 HOME AND AWAY Seven 928,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC1 912,000
11 7.30 ABC1 883,000
12 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC1 816,000
13 HOT SEAT Nine 635,000
14 TEN EYEWITNESS NEWS Ten 629,000
15 THE PROJECT Ten 576,000