The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Seven’s night, again, thanks to My Kitchen Rules, although last night was very close and My Kitchen Rules was very MasterChef and lacked the drama of the home-cooked meals. In fact, the figures show that MKR eased and The Block All Stars jumped to its closest since the two programs started. MKR averaged more than 1.7 metro and 2.6 million national viewers, The Block averaged more than 1.5 million metro and 2.2 million national viewers, the best so far.

Nine had a good night last night and beat Seven in Melbourne and Brisbane by enough to move into the lead in those markets after two nights. The week could be closer than it seems because Nine has the first two NRL games of the new season on Thursday and Friday in Sydney and Brisbane (and regional Queensland and NSW markets).

Four Corners averaged 826,000 metro and more than 1.2 million national viewers on ABC1 at 8.30pm on a program on managed investment companies and non-bank mortgage lenders. It promised much but faded on delivery.

For all the hot air from Rooty Hill yesterday, one ray of light last night was Australian Story‘s effort on some young Australians doing the right thing by a baby elephant, Wonderful. Like the Steve Waugh Story on Sunday Night before, it underlined how everyone can make a difference. Australian Story averaged 722,000 metro and 1.107 million national figures, figures Ten would die for.

Tonight: Foreign Correspondent on ABC1. MKR on Seven and then Packed To The Rafters. The Block All Stars on Nine, MasterChef: The Professionals and NCIS on Ten. Insight and Dateline on SBS.

US update: In the US, Fox has renewed The Following, New Girl, Raising Hope and The Mindy Project. They join the recently renewed old-timer Bones, while Fox is negotiating a fifth season for Glee, which has slid in the ratings in the US (and here on Ten). The Following‘s second 15-episode season will make Nine pleased. The most important renewal in that lot for Australia is Bones, which is one of Seven’s strongest imported dramas.

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

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 2.634 million.
  2. The Block All Stars (Nine) — 2.198 million.
  3. Seven News — 1.827 million.
  4. Revenge (Seven) — 1.821 million.
  5. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.810 million.
  6. Nine News — 1.786 million.
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.451 million.
  8. ABC1 News — 1.434 million.
  9. The Big Bang Theory (Nine, repeat) — 1.276 million.
  10. Four Corners (ABC1) — 1.262 million.

The metro winners:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven, 7.30pm) — 1.791 million.
  2. The Block All Stars (Nine, 7pm) — 1.531 million.
  3. The Big Bang Theory (Nine, 8.30pm) — 1.281 million.
  4. Revenge (Seven, 8.45pm) — 1.258 million.
  5. Seven News (6pm) — 1.216 million.
  6. Nine News ^pm) — 1.208 million.
  7. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.005 million.

The Losers: Ten, again. I know it’s a well-worn record, but then Ten’s Monday line up is a series of well-worn programs.Metro news and current affairs: Nine News won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but Seven’s big wins in Perth and Adelaide brought it home on top by a small margin, and it also bested Nine nationally. Today Tonight and A Current Affair continued their war of attrition at 6.30pm.

  1. Seven News (6pm) –1.216 million.
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.208 million.
  3. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.005 million
  4. ABC1 News (7pm) — 994,000.
  5. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 992,000.
  6. Four Corners (ABC1, 8.30pm) — 826,000.
  7. Media Watch (ABC1, 9.20pm) — 807,000.
  8. Q&A (ABC1, 9.35pm) — 725,000 + 109,000 on News 24.
  9. Australian Story (ABC1, 8pm) — 722,000.
  10. Ten News (5pm) — 694,000.
  11. The Project (Ten, 6.30 – 7.30 pm) — 456,000.
  12. Lateline (ABC1, 10.35pm — 334,000.
  13. Ten Late News (10.30pm) — 150,000.
  14. SBS ONE News (6.30pm) — 150,000.
  15. The Business (ABC1, 11.10pm, repeat) — 149,000 + 28,000 on News 24.
  16. SBS ONE News Late (10.30pm) — 75,000.
  17. The Drum (News 24, 6pm) —  39,000.

In the morning: Today won the Battle of Rooty Hill in the mornings over Sunrise. Sunrise had more viewers nationally, 574,000 to 564,000, close!

  1. Today (Nine, 7am) — 374,000.
  2. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 334,000.
  3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 178,000.
  4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 150,000.
  5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7pm) –51,000 + 35,000 on News 24.

Metro free to air: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 32.0%, from Nine (three) on 30.3%, the ABC (four) was on 20.1%, Ten (three) was on 13.6% and SBS (three) on 4.4%. Seven leads the week with 31.7% from Nine on 29.7%, the ABC is on 17.9% and Ten is on 16.5%.

Main channels: Seven won with 25.9%, with Nine close on 24.7%, ABC1 was on 15.9% and Ten’s main channel share was back on 8.9%. SBS ONE ended with 3.8%. Seven leads the week with 25.0% from Nine on 22.8%, ABC1 on 13.9% and Ten on 11.1%.

Metro digital: In the digitals 7TWO won with a share of 3.6%, from GO on 3.4%, Eleven on 3.0%, ABC 2, 2.9%, 7mate was on 2.5%, Gem was on 2.2%, ONE ended with 1.7%, SBS TWO was on 1.3%, News 24 was on 1.2%, ABC3 was on 0.5% and NITV ended with 0.1%. The 11 digital channels had a low free-to-air share of 23.5% last night. GO leads the week on 4.1% from 7TWO on 3.5%.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 27.1%, from Nine (three) on 25.6%, the ABC (four) was on 17.0%, Ten (three) was on 11.5% and SBS (three) on 3.4%. The 16 free-to-air channels had a total share last night of 86.7%, with the 11 digital channels totalling a low 18.8% and the five main channels a high 68.9%. Pay TV’s share of 13.3% was built on the 200 plus channels on Pay TV and the cricket Test from India on Fox Sports 1 topped the night.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox Sports 1 — 4.8%.
  2.  TV1 — 2.4%.
  3. Fox 8, Foxtel Movies  — 2.0%
  4. LifeStyle — 1.9%.
  5. UKTV — 1.7%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Cricket: 2nd Test, India v Aust (Fox Sports 1, 5.40 – 10.30 pm) — 130,000.
  2. Cricket: 2nd Test, India v Aust. (Fox Sports 1, 2.50-5.05 pm) — 94,000.
  3. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 74,000.
  4.  Coronation Street (UKTV) — 64,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld  (three channels) won with a share of 35.2%, from WIN/NBN (three) on 30.4%, the ABC (four) was on 19.3%, SC Ten (three) was on 11.9% and SBS (three) on 3.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 26.3% from WIN/NBN on 24.2%, ABC1 was on 14.6% and SC Ten ended with 7.5%. The digitals were won by 7TWO with 4.8%, from 7mate with 4.0% and GO with 3.2%. The 11 digital channels had a free-to-air viewing share of a low 25.0%%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 34.2%, from WIN/NBN on 30.4%, the ABC is on 17.5% and SC Ten is on 14.4%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. My Kitchen Rules— 843,000.
  2. The Block All Stars — 666,000.
  3. Seven News — 611,000.
  4. Nine News — 576,000.
  5. Revenge — 561,000.

Major metro markets: No clean sweep for Seven last night as Nine closed the gap. Seven won (overall and main channels) in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth (big big margins in the latter two centres). Nine won Melbourne and Brisbane (overall and the main channels). 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Go won in Brisbane and Eleven won Perth. Seven leads in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, Nine leads in Brisbane and Melbourne.

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

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data