For the first time since it started, Seven’s House Rules has beaten Nine’s more established renos program The Block in metro markets, to go with a string of wins regionally and nationally in the past three weeks. It was a small win, but it isn’t a one-off. Seven’s program has momentum with viewers, Nine’s is standing still.

House Rules has 1.827 million national/ 1.159 million metro/ 668,000 regional viewers. The Block had 1.645 million metro/ 1.131 million metro/ 514,000 regional viewers.

But while that was the contest of interest last night, the big deal of the night was the victory of Australia over Iraq in the World Cup qualifier played in Sydney. It produced the biggest audience of the night across all TV platforms — more than 2 million people. It had 1.523 million national/1.117 million metro/ 436,000 regional viewers on delay on SBS ONE. The game was live on Fox Sports and averaged 549,000 viewers, one of the highest ever for a pay TV audience. All up 2.072 million people watched the game last night.

A week ago the Australian win over Jordan was watched by a total of 1.397 million viewers on SBS and Fox Sports — 1.035 million nationally/761,000 metro/274,000 regionally and 362,000 on Fox Sports). So a further 600,000 or more people tuned in for last night’s 1-0 win, which was needed to put Australia directly into the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The match was very popular in Sydney, where it boosted SBS to third overall on the night and a rare win in the main channels.

And there was further good news — Nine’s appalling Celebrity Apprentice continues to fade from view. Last night it had (average of the two parts, boardroom and challenge) 823,000 national/ 570,000 metro/ 253,000 regional viewers. Seven’s Packed To The Rafters flogged it (as did the World Cup soccer on SBS and NCIS on Ten). Rafters, which is slowly being shuffled off stage by Seven, had 1.692 million national/ 1.081 million metro/ 611,000 regional viewers.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (28.0%)
  2. Nine (24.2%)
  3. Ten (18.8%)
  4. SBS (14.8%)
  5. ABC  (14.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (21.4%)
  2. Nine (18.4%)
  3. Ten (14.5%)
  4. SBS ONE (14.0%)
  5. ABC1  (10.3%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.2%)
  2. GO (3.6%)
  3. Eleven (2.5%)
  4. 7mate (2.4%)
  5. Gem, ABC2 (2.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.953 million
  2. Seven News — 1.948 million
  3. House Rules (Seven) — 1.827 million
  4. Packed To The Rafters (Seven) — 1.692 million
  5. The Block (Nine)  – 1.645 million
  6. World Cup Soccer (SBS ONE) — 1.523 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.520 million
  8. ABC1 News — 1.336 million
  9. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.317 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.274 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.302 million
  2. Seven News — 1.256 million
  3. House Rules (Seven) — 1.159 million
  4. The Block (Nine) — 1.131 million
  5. World Cup Soccer (SBS ONE) — 1.117 million
  6. Packed To The Rafters (Seven) — 1.081 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.073 million
  8. Today Tonight (Seven) —  1.029 million

Losers:  Ten’s MasterChef Australia — 930,000 national/ 679,000 metro/ 251,000 regional viewers. Yes there was strong competition on Nine, Seven and SBS ONE, but MasterChef used to be The Strong Competition that Nine, Seven, SBS and the ABC battled against — how time changes.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.302 million
  2. Seven News — 1.256 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.073 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) —  1.029 million
  5. ABC1 News — 881,000
  6. Ten News — 702,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 643,000
  8. The Project (Ten) — 570,000
  9. Ten Late News — 270,000
  10. SBS ONE News  – 202,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 346,000
  2. Sunrise (Nine) – 336,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1) – 54,000 + 29,000 on News 24

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 3 – (6.7%)
  2. LifeStyle, Fox 8– (2.4%)
  3. TV1- (2.2%)
  4. Sky News – (1.6%)
  5. Nick Jr (1.5%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Soccer: Australia v Iraq (Fox Sports 3) — 549,000
  2. Soccer: Road To Rio (Fox Sports 3) – 284,000
  3. Rugby: Brumbies v Lions (Fox Sports 2) –- 82,000
  4. Soccer: Road To Rio  (Fox Sports 3) – 81,000
  5. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 74,000

*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.