As expected, The Voice dominated and gave Nine the night, but it wasn’t national, with viewers in Perth preferring Seven and its House Rules, which topped the night in that market.  The winner announcement of The Voice had 3.308 million national/ 2.307 million metro/ 1.001 million regional viewers, and the grand final had 2.853 million national/ 2.035 million metro/ 818,000 regional viewers.

Last year the winner announcement had 4.272 million national viewers/ 2.952 million metro/ 1.320 million regional viewers and the grand final had 3.107 million national/ 2.154 million/ 953,000 regional viewers. So there was a significant shortfall in the national announcement of more than a million viewers compared with 2012 and around 250,000 for the grand final. That means viewers (especially in the core 16 to 40 demographic) simply weren’t interested enough to leave what they were watching and move to Nine around 9pm for the announcements (from fourth to first).

That doesn’t make it a failure, just a diminished giant. Unlike MasterChef Australia, which started strongly and then built over the next two seasons. The Voice has started at the top and faded in season two with a loss of 25% or more in the number of people wanting to know the winner. That means audience identification with the program was weaker this year than in the first season. Seven’s My Kitchen Rules grand final still holds the mark for most watched program of the year so far, with more than 4.2 million for the winner announcement.

Seven’s House Rules (2.206 million national/ 1.390 million/ 816,000 regional viewers) had its best ever figures last night with another house reveal (it failed by just 2,000 viewers to top The Voice in regional markets), even though it was up against the grand final of The Voice. House Rules beat The Block nationally and in regional markets (2.114 million national/ 1.493 million metro/ 621,000 regional viewers).

That House Rules managed it best figures tells us a lot about how flat The Voice was last night and lacked the buzz and energy of last year. Everyone seemed to be going through the motions, especially Delta Goodrem, whose new single should have been renamed forgettable.

MasterChef Australia couldn’t compete with what was on Nine and Ten averaged national 824,000 national / 697,000 metro/ 127,000 viewers. That 7.30, Four Corners Australian Story all had more viewers than MasterChef (yes they do have older viewers) tells us how much ground the Ten stalwart has lost in the past couple of years.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (37.4%)
  2. Seven (29.4%)
  3. ABC (16.6%)
  4. Ten (13.2%)
  5. SBS (3.4%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (32.0%)
  2. Seven (22.6%)
  3. ABC1 (12.7%)
  4. Ten (9.0%)
  5. SBS ONE (2.8%)

Top five digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.0%)
  2. GO (3.2%)
  3. 7mate (2.9%)
  4. ABC2 (2.4%)
  5. Eleven (2.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Voice — winner announced (Nine) – 3.308 million
  2. The Voice — grand final — 2.853 million
  3. House Rules (Seven) 2.206 million
  4. The Block  (Nine) – 2.114 million
  5. Seven News — 2.052 million
  6. Nine News — 2.002 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.607 million
  8. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.469 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.450 million
  10. Revenge (Seven) — 1.364 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The Voice winner announced (Nine) — 2.307 million
  2. The Voice grand final (Nine) — 2.035 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.493 million
  4. House Rules (Seven) — 1.390 million
  5. Nine News — 1.353 million
  6. Seven News — 1.300 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.220 million
  8. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.122 million
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.033 million

Losers:  The Americans on Ten at 9.30pm — 266,000 national/ 201,000 metro/ 65,000 regional. Worse than Reef Doctors. Need I say any more, despite  comments like this in one leading TV guide (hint, SMH):

“The Americans has made an impressive start, quickly becoming another in the current exciting cycle of American drama series that encourage viewers not to miss a single precocious episode.”

 

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.353 million
  2.  Seven News — 1.300 million
  3.  A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.220 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.122 million
  5. ABC1 News – 911,000
  6. Ten News — 770,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC1) — 709,000
  8. Q&A (ABC1, News 24) — 686,000 (680,000, 56,000)
  9. 7.30 (ABC1) — 680,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC1) — 589,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Today  (Nine) – 354,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 327,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1) – 49,000 + 40,000 on News 24

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 1 – 3.0%
  2. Fox Sports 2, 3 and Fox 8  – 2.2%
  3. LifeStyle, Fox Footy – 1.9%
  4. TV 1 – 1.8%

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Brisbane v Wests (Fox Sports 1) – 243,000
  2. AFL: 360  (Fox Footy) – 135,000
  3. Monday Night With Matty Johns  (Fox Sports 1) – 135,000
  4. AFL: Open Mike (Fox Footy) – 133,000
  5. AFL On The Couch (Fox Footy) – 129,000

Tonight: Socceroos at 7.30 pm Fox Sports and 8 pm on SBS ONE. Ignore the AFL and the NRL and watch a sporting team with class.

*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.