The Winners: MasterChef on Ten at 7.30pm for half an hour, 1.740 million, with Seven News second with 1.463 million and Today Tonight 3rd with 1.440 million. Glee was good and averaged 4th with 1.333 million for Ten at 8pm Nine News was 5th with 1.275 million, Sea Patrol was 6th with 1.171 million for Nine at 8.30pm and A Current Affair was 7th with 1.148 million. The 7pm repeat of Two and a Half Men averaged 1.095 million people and was 8th, with the 7pm ABC News 9th with 1.065 million. Home and Away averaged 1.015 million for Seven at 7pm.

The Losers: Seven, from 7.30pm. It’s Thursday night.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Brisbane. Today Tonight won everywhere. Surprisingly ACA fell 50,000 viewers in Brisbane from Nine News, which had another win over Seven this week. Ten News averaged 915,000, the late News/Sports Tonight, 265,000. The 7.30 Report, 688,000, Lateline, 308,000, Lateline Business, 179,000. Nine’s Nightline, 283,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 168,000 and 142,000 for the late edition. 7am Sunrise, 370,000, 7am Today, 350,000.

The Stats:

FTA: Nine won easily with a share of 30.2%, from Seven with 25.3%, Ten on 24.4%, the ABC, 15.9% and SBS, 4.2%. Nine won all five metro markets. Nine leads the week 31.3% from Seven with 25.9%. TEN won all the main demos last night, 16 to 39, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. It was Ten’s best Thursday combined overnight audience of the year in the key demographics and total people.

Main Channel: A similar result here. Nine won with a share of 25.3%, from Ten with 23.5%, Seven on 22.9%, ABC 1 with 14.0% and SBS One with 3.9%. Ten on Sydney, Nine won Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Ten and None drew Adelaide. Nine leads the week with a share of 28.3%, from Seven with 23.3% and Ten on 22.6%.

Digital: GO had a strong win with a share of 4.9% (more than SBS) with 7TWO on 2.4%, ABC 2 on 1.4%, ONE, 1.0%, ABC 3, 09.5% and SBS TWO, 0.2%. That’s a total share of 10.4% for the six FTA digital channels. Adelaide’s 13.5% total share was the peak last night. GO leads the week with a share of 3.0%, from 7TWO with 2.6%.

Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 25.1%, from Seven with 21.0%, Ten, on 20.3%, Pay TV with 14.6%, the ABC, 13.2% and SBS with 3.5%. The 11 FTA channels had a total share of 85.4%, the 100 plus Pay TV channels shared the 14.6% reported.

Regional: WIN/NBN won here with a share of 30.6%, from Prime/7Qld with 25.0%, SC Ten on 21.6%, the ABC with 16.8% and SBS, 6.0%. The main channels were won by WIN/NBN with 27.0%, from Prime/7Qld with 22.5%. GO won the digital channels with a share of 3.6%, from 7TWO with 2.5% and ABC 2 with 1.3%. WIN/NBN leads the week with a share of 32.2%, from Prime/7Qld with 26.2%.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The Seven Network is persisting with the Matty Johns show at 7.30pm in Sydney and Brisbane, so after looking at it last night, some advice is in order for Seven and the producer. It’s time for the show to grow up and become a real voice for League, if that’s what Seven wants it to be (in its ambitions to snatch some or all of the NRL coverage from Nine).

Last night, the night after NSW lost the first State Of Origin match, the program failed (as the Nine version at 9.30pm failed), to give the game justice. Discussion on the Johns program was disjointed and the one area where it got some life, the controversy corner, was ended in a ham fisted way by Johns. On last night’s evidence there’s little difference between the Seven and Nine programs. The only way to pick the difference is the hosts.

The Johns program averaged 285,000 in Sydney (second at 7.30pm behind Ten) and 151,000 in Brisbane. Nine’s NRL program averaged 146,000 in Sydney and 141,000 in Brisbane (a lot of gloating up there).

Italian Food Safari (263,000) and Costa’s Garden Odyssey (242,000) on SBS last night again stood out (watched on delay). Simple, informative programs. In fact Italian Food Safari shows up the doddering efforts the ABC is now making in food, lifestyle and their contributions to Australian life. Costa’s Garden Odyssey is a fine competitor to the ABC’s Gardening Australia.

TONIGHT: NRL and AFL on Nine and Seven in different markets. MasterChef on Ten. Better Homes and Gardens on Seven in some markets. Eurovision Song Contest first semi at 7.30pm on SBS and direct from Oslo.

Saturday: AFL on Ten, NRL on Foxtel. Midsomer Murders on the ABC, nothing on Seven or Nine, so go digital, go out or watch the second semi of the Eurovision song contest on SBS at 7.30pm.

Sunday: Don’t forget the morning chats if you have an interest in hearing politicians talk, Offsiders on the ABC at 10.30am. Sunday Night on Seven at 6.30pm. MasterChef on Ten at 7.30pm and The Good Wife at 8.30 pm. The Eurovision song final on SBS at 7.30pm. Underbelly on Nine at 8.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports