The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Seven’s night, easily (it’s a boring repetition, I know, for everyone bar Seven), thanks to My Kitchen Rules, which captured a massive 2.3 million metro viewers and a huge 3.4 million national watchers, its best figures so far. They are incredible for a non-finals program of this or any type. And, coming on a Wednesday night, when viewing levels are usual lower than Monday and Tuesday and Sunday nights, they are amazing.

And it was the same in regional areas. MKR averaged more than 1.04 million viewers — that’s approaching the levels for the Rugby League State of Origin. It drove Seven to a huge win on the night in regional areas and nationally. Seven, of course, won the demos easily and by a mile. Overall it was a rather dull night except for MKR and the mad desire of some people for their 15 minutes of fame or notoriety.

Nine was a weak second (understandably), the ABC was third and Ten was a soft fourth, helped by another good rating for Mr and Mrs Murder‘s second episode (715,000 in metros and 956,000 nationally). If it hadn’t been for that program’s success, Ten would have had another very miserable night. In fact, the success of Mr and Mrs Murder is the lesson Ten’s new CEO should be learning: viewers don’t mind a bit of the different if the storyline is OK, the acting good to top notch and it is believable. Offspring and Puberty Blues are other examples for Ten to consider, not cricket, tennis (expensive and questionable), and they deliver lots of lucrative female viewers from 16 to 54.

Tonight: Thursday night, apart from MKR, will be a dry old time, even drier if cooking shows aren’t your game. After MKR, Seven rattles our Bones. ABC1 has the road trip at Catalyst. Nine has The Block All Stars (which has traction). Ten has American Idol (why is that still in the schedule after Glee was yanked after its flop this time around?) Food Safari is on SBS ONE at 7.30 pm.

The top 10 national programs (metro and regional combined):

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 3.99 million.
  2. Seven News — 1.861 million.
  3. Nine News — 1.697 million.
  4. The Block All Stars (Nine) — 1.533 million.
  5. Last Resort (Episode 1, Seven) — 1.529 million.
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.493 million.
  7. ABC1 News — 1.378 million.
  8. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.314 million.
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.141 million.
  10. Last Resort (Episode 2, Seven) — 1.140 million.

The metro winners:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven, 7.30pm) — 2.355 million.
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.231 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.183 million.
  4. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.053 million.
  5. The Block (Nine, 7pm) — 1.030 million.
  6. Home and Away (Seven, 7pm) — 1.003 million.

The Losers: Ten, with programs like The Good Wife at 9.30pm, 336,000 metro and 474,000 national viewers. When will it get the Glee treatment and be sent for a holiday?Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.231 million.
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.183 million.
  3. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.053 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 966,000.
  5. ABC1 News (7pm) — 954,000.
  6.  Ten News (5pm) — 701,000.
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 677,000.
  8. The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 469,000.
  9. Lateline (ABC1, 10.25am) — 213,000.
  10. Ten Late News (10.30pm) — 163,000.
  11. SBS ONE News (6.30pm) — 154,000.
  12. The Business (ABC1, 11pm) — 117,000 + 43,000 on News 24.
  13. SBS ONE News Late (10.30pm) — 67,000.
  14. The Drum (News 24, 10pm, rot) — 35,000.

In the morning: Back to normal with Sunrise and The Morning Show prevailing over Today and Mornings by big margins.

  1. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 405,000.
  2. Today (Nine, 7am) — 347,000.
  3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 177,000.
  4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 104,000.
  5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7 am) — 55,000 + 31,000 on News 24.

Metro free to air: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 37.6%, from Nine (three) on 26.2%, the ABC (four) was on 16.5%, Ten (three) was on 15.2% and SBS (three) on 4.5%. Seven leads the week with 34.9% from Nine on 27.4%, the ABC is on 17% and Ten is on 16.2%.

Main channels. A big win naturally for Seven with 29.7% from Nine with 18.7%, ABC1 on 12.4% and Ten on 10.5. SBS ONE was on 3.9%. Seven leads the week with 27.9% from Nine on 21.1%, ABC 1 on 12.9% and Ten on 11.5%.

Metro digital: GO won with a share of 4.4% from 7mate on 4.2%, 7TWO was on 3.7%, Gem on 3.2%, Eleven was on 2.8%, ABC 2 was on 2.7%, ONE was on 1.8%, News 24, 0.8%, ABC 3, 0.6%, SBS TWO, 0.5% and NITV was on 0.1%. The 11 channels had a a free-to-air share of 24.8%. GO leads the week with 3.7% from 7TWO and 7mate with 3.5% each.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 31.7%, from Nine (three) on 22.1%, the ABC (4) won with 13.9%, Ten (three) was on 12.8% and SBS (three) on 3.8%. The 16 free-to-air channels had a viewing share of 86.5% last night. the 11 digital channels had a share of 21.0% (which is low), with the five main channels sharing a total of 65.5%. The 200-plus channels on Foxtel gave pay TV a share of 13.5%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. LifeStyle — 3.2%.
  2. Fox 8 — 3.1%.
  3. TV1 — 2.3%.
  4. Fox Sports 3 — 2.1%.
  5.  UKTV — 1.6%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 160,000.
  2. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 71,000.
  3. Location, Location, Location Australia (lifeStyle) — 71,000.
  4. The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 71,000.
  5. Cricket: One Day Series (Fox Sports 3) — 69,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 40.3%, from WIN/NBN (three) on 28.2%, the ABC (four) won with 15.5%, SC Ten (three) was on 11.8% and SBS (three) on 4.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 30.4%, from WIN/NBN on 19.8%, ABC1 was on 10.9% and SC Ten ended with 7.6%. The digitals were won by 7TWO with 4.8%, from 7mate and Gem on 4.6% each. The 11 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 27.3%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 36.4%, from WIN/NBN on 28.4% and the ABC on 16.9%, with Ten 4th on 13.9%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. My Kitchen Rules— 1.043 million.
  2. Seven News — 626,000.
  3. Last Resort Episode 1 — 580,000.
  4. Nine News — 514,000.
  5. The Block All Stars — 505,000.

Major metro markets: A clean sweep for Seven in all five metro markets, both overall and the main channels. Nine was second everywhere and the ABC/ABC 1 were third everywhere bar Brisbane where Ten was only third overall and ABC 1 third in the main channels. The digitals were shared with GO winning Sydney and Brisbane, 7mate winning Melbourne and Perth and 7TWO winning Adelaide. Seven leads the week everywhere, with Nine second. the ABC is third in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Ten is third in Brisbane and Adelaide.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data