Nine's schedule back on song as Celebrity Apprentice debuts

NINE'S The Voice topped two million again as a late Celebrity Apprentice debut also pleased the network.

NINE'S The Voice topped two million again as a late Celebrity Apprentice debut also pleased the network.

The third season of the reality show format starring Mark Bouris debuted with an average audience of 866,000 viewers but dropped to 808,000 for its "boardroom" final minutes, suggesting a start beyond 8.45pm and conclusion at 10.30pm was not quite what its audience wanted. The series launched with 987,000 and 843,000 last year.

Nevertheless, Nine’s expectations were exceeded, particularly as its averages in the time slots usually occupied by US sitcoms has been closer to 500,000. Celebrity Apprentice is scheduled to begin at 8pm next Tuesday and run for 90 minutes.

With The Voice logging another 2 million (2.024 million, including another 711,000 in Melbourne) viewers in the five capital city markets, Nine recorded a 28.8 per cent channel share against Seven’s 21.7 per cent channel share. Network Ten had a 12.6 per cent share, ABC1 12.1 per cent and SBS One 4.3 per cent. Nine also rose to a 31.8 per cent share in the key advertiser demographic of 25-54 year-olds.

Seven’s Packed To The Rafters led the way for the network after 7pm with a softer 1.08 million, its worst number for the year, following Celebrity Splash, which averaged 1.045 million over a slightly shorter second episode.

Seven’s late movie Bruce Almighty averaged 281,000 for the network while at Ten NCIS had its second best performance of the year with 731,000 viewers. NCIS: LA then had its best audience for the year of 592,000 in a promising result for the network.

OZTAM OVERNIGHT RANKINGS, APRIL 30
1 THE VOICE Nine 2,024,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,269,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,267,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,154,000
5 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,081,000
6 CELEBRITY SPLASH Seven 1,045,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,034,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 956,000
9 HOME AND AWAY Seven 894,000
10 THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE CHALLENGE Nine 866,000 11 THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE BOARDROOM Nine 808,000
12 NCIS Ten 731,000
13 NEW TRICKS RPT ABC1 711,000
14 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 710,000
15 7.30 ABC1 705,000
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