Nine’s cricket ratings on Gem vanished last night as the Australian team’s chances of winning the series slid down the drain at Lords in London. Gem’s metro share halved from just over 12% last Thursday night to 6.2% last night. Nine won last night in metro areas both overall and the main channels, and won overall in the regions. But Nine and Seven’s main channels tied the night in regional markets.

Ten finished third overall because its digital channels were stronger than the ABC’s. But the national broadcaster had more viewers on its main channel, ABC1, than Ten did, despite Ten continuing to promote its super Sunday line-up. Last night was not a super-duper night for Ten. MasterChef had 1.061 million national/ 773,000 metro/ 288,000 regional viewers. Elementary did worse at 8.30pm with 917,000 national/ 690,000 metro/ 227,000 regional viewers. It has had stronger Sunday nights in recent weeks.

But in a month’s time, Ten’s performance relative to the same time in 2012 will start picking up. That’s because this year’s performance is much better than a year ago, when ratings collapsed with a fleet of dud programs such as The Shire, Everybody Dance and I Will Survive.

The Block (2.269 million national/1.548 million metro/ 721,000 regional viewers) did the job last night, along with 60 Minutes (2.232 million national/ 1.547 million metro/ 685,000 regional viewers). The big sleeper on Sunday nights remains ABC1’s The Time of Our Lives at 8.30pm — 989,000 national/ 693,000 metro/ 296,000 regional viewers. Seven’s A Place To Call Home called time on series one last night with a nice bang — 2.025 million national/ 1.293 million metro/ 732,000 regional viewers. It outrated The Block and 60 Minutes on Nine/WIN in the regions.

In the morning chats, now the politics are serious, viewers are ignoring the self-promoting Andrew Bolt for the middle-of-the-road content on Insiders. Insiders had a total of 459,000 national viewers on ABC1 (338,000) and News 24 (121,000). The Bolt Report had 198,000 viewers at 10am and 189,000 for the repeat at 4pm on Ten. Insiders’ audience has jumped noticeably since Kevin Rudd came to power almost four weeks ago.

And easy win for Nine last week nationally, in metro and regional markets. The Test cricket at the start of the week and on Thursday night played a part, but the win was really down to the strength of The Block and the third and the record audience for the final rugby league State of Origin game on Wednesday night.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (34.5%)
  2. Nine (?%)
  3. Ten (15.4%)
  4. ABC (14.5%)
  5. SBS (4.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (24.5%)
  2. Seven (22.3%)
  3. ABC1 (12.1%)
  4. Ten (11.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top five digital channels: 

  1. Gem (6.2%)
  2. 7mate (4.3%)
  3. GO (3.9%)
  4. 7TWO (3.3%)
  5. Eleven (2.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 2.269 million
  2. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 2.232 million
  3. Seven News — 2.232 million
  4. Nine News — 2.071 million
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 2.027 million
  6. A Place To Call Home (Seven) — 2.025 million
  7. Highway Patrol (Seven) — 1.728 million
  8. Bali : The Dark Side Of Paradise (Nine) — 1.550 million
  9. Border Security (Seven) — 1.517 million
  10. Grand Designs (ABC1) — 1.506 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The Block (Nine)– 1.548 million
  2. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.547 million
  3. Seven News — 1.464 million
  4. Nine News — 1.403 million
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.361 million
  6. A Place To Call Home (Seven) — 1.293 million
  7. Highway Patrol (Seven) — 1.142 million
  8. Bali: The Dark Side of Paradise (Nine) — 1.077 million
  9. Border Security (Seven) — 1.017 million
  10. Grand Designs (ABC1) — 1.015 million

Losers:  No one really, well, perhaps the Australian cricket team cricket fans here and in the UK and the Nine Network’s hopes for a summer bonanza.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.547 million
  2. Seven News — 1.464 million
  3. Nine News — 1.403 million
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.361 million
  5. ABC1 News — 846,000
  6. Ten News — 494,000
  7. SBS ONE News — 238,000
  8. The Observer Effect (SBS ONE) — 125,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 380,000
  2. Insiders (ABC 1, 244,000, News 24, 77,000) — 317,000
  3. Weekend Today (Nine) – 296,000
  4. Offsiders (ABC 1) — 199,000
  5. Landline (ABC 1) / Financial Review Sunday (Nine) — 189,000
  6. Inside Business (ABC 1) — 179,000
  7. The Bolt Report (Ten) — 142,000
  8. The Bolt Report repeat (Ten) — 127,000
  9. Meet The Press repeat (Ten) — 109,000
  10. Meet The Press (Ten) — 97,000.

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy – (5.2%)
  2. Fox Sports 3 – (4.0%)
  3. Fox Sports 2  – (3.9%)
  4. Fox Sports 1  – (3.1%)
  5. Foxtel Movies Premiere, Fox 8  – 2.1%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket; Second Test Session 1 (Fox Sports 1) – 222,000
  2. AFL: Richmond v Fremantle  (Fox Footy) – 213,000
  3. AFL: Sydney v West Coast (Fox Footy) – 198,000
  4. NRL: Penrith v Newcastle (Fox Sports 1) – 181,000
  5. AFL: Adelaide v Geelong  (Fox Footy) – 169,000

*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.