Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: The Voice falls silent and Seven cleans up

Nine ran out of voice and Seven made ratings hay last night with My Kitchen Rules, (2.684 million national/ 1.894 million metro/ 790,000 regional), which pushed the network in front for the week so far, aided by another strong night for Criminal Minds (1.413 million national/ 996,000 metro/ 447,000 regional). Seven is now on track to score a narrow win by the close of ratings Saturday night. Seven leads the week in metro markets, 32.7% to 31.6%. Nine will catch up tonight and tomorrow night with the NRL, which help see it win Sydney and perhaps Brisbane. But the AFL will make sure Seven wins Melbourne and adds to its already big leads in Adelaide and Perth. Seven also scored a big win in regional markets and is on track for a win there.

It was a return to pre-The Voice days (April 7) with MKR dominant and everyone else scrambling in its wake. Ten was again weak and the ABC slipped through for third place (again), despite having some flops in its line-up — Ten’s flops were bigger than the ABC’s, it seems. Mr and Mrs Murder (748,000 national/ 551,000 metro/ 197,000 regional) was a small ray of light for Ten. Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell on ABC1 at 8pm (916,000 national/ 610,000 metro/ 306,000 regional) was again the Micallef the viewers preferred.

Seven’s tactic of running MKR as the spoiler against The Voice is working. After five episodes so far the metro audience average is down 24% (or 578,000) to 1.993 million from 2.522 million after the first five episodes in 2012. MKR has, of course, shed viewers as well, but Seven has succeeded, so far, in blunting the appeal of The Voice. The drops have been noticeable in the target demos — 16 to 39s are down 34% (ouch!), 18 to 49s are off 28% and 25 to 54s had a fall of 24%. With MKR heading into its grand final week, the key for Seven will be what follows it in its schedule and whether they have the traction to take on and blunt The Voice’s appeal to viewers.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (36.1%)
2. Nine (25.1%)
3. ABC (17.3%)
4. Ten (16.0%)
5. SBS (5.6%)

Main channels: 

1. Seven (27.7%)
2. Nine (18.6%)
3. ABC1 (11.9%)
4. Ten (11.0%)
5. SBS ONE (4.5%)

Top five digital channels:

1. 7TWO (5.1%)
2. Gem (3.7%)
3. 7mate (3.3%)
4. Eleven (3.2%)
5. GO (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. My Kitchen Rules  (Seven) – 2.684 million
2. Seven News  – 1.915 million
3. Nine News — 1.792 million
4. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.726 million
5. The Big Bang Theory (Nine, repeat) — 1.556 million
6. Home and Away (Seven) – 1.499 million
7. ABC1 News — 1.464 million
8. Criminal Minds (Seven) — 1.413 million
9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.323 million
10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.229 million

Top metro programs:

1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 1.894 million
2. Seven News — 1.260 million
3. Nine News — 1.212 million
4. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.194 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.091 million
6. The Big Bang Theory (Nine, repeat) — 1.063 million
7. ABC1 News — 1.011 million

Losers: Ten — squeezed again (The Good Wife – 516,000 national/ 354,000 metro/ 162,000 regional). ABC1’s The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting at 9.30pm (shifted back half an hour) (418,000 national/ 292,000 metro/ 126,000 regional) and the funny Thick of It (returning) — 233,000 national/ 170,000 metro/ 63,000 regional. Tractor Monkeys at 9pm (656,000 national/ 428,000 metro/ 228,000 regional) didn’t help and wasn’t at all funny — more Randling than other episodes. Nine’s The Following (835,000 national/ 589,000 metro/  246,000 regional) is fading, like so many other US programs in Nine’s ratings locker (CSI, The Mentalist)News and current affairs:

1. Seven News  – 1.260 million
2. Nine News  – 1.212 million
3. A Current Affair (Nine) – 1.091 million
4. ABC1 News– 1.011 million
5. Today Tonight (Seven) — 954,000
6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 678,000
7. Ten News — 662,000
8. The Project  (Ten) — 586,000
9. SBS ONE News — 191,000
10. Ten Late News — 165,000

Morning TV:

1. Today (Nine) – 352,000
2. Sunrise (Seven) – 351,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC1) – 57,000 + 49,000 on News 24

Top five pay TV channels:

1. Fox 8 – 3.8%
2. LifeStyle — 2.6%
3. Sky News — 2.5%
4. TV1 – 2.0%
5. Cartoon Network  – 1%

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 84,000
2. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 84,000
3. The Thatcher Memorial (Sky News) — 80,000
4. The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 77,000
5. AFL: 360 (Fox 8) – 72,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) Plus network reports.