Another clear win for Nine in both metro and regional markets, and a great night in the demos as well. Seven remains under siege; Ten did slightly better, and the ABC’s usually strong Monday night line up of news and current affairs programs failed to fire for the first time in a while.

The Block had 1.5 million national viewers last night, making it third nationally and second in the metros. Seven News (1.658 million nationally and 1.057 million in the metros) was the most watched program. Nine’s quick turnaround of the first part of the special investigation The Case Of JonBenet Ramsey had 1.439 million national viewers. It’s another version of the O J Simpson story, I think, except it can’t be told like the Simpson Story as a drama because of the age of the child. It is also ghoulish TV.

But despite that, Q&A again emphasised (better than the week before in some respects) why it works when there’s a mix of civilians and politicians, especially when there are issues which mix politics with wider social concerns. Nationals Deputy Leader Senator Fiona Nash struggled for the second week in a row (yes it was two out of two weeks for her) when asked a simple question on the same sex marriage issue.  Magda Szubanski and Jimmy Barnes made far more sense on the program last night than anyone else. Jacqui Lambie and Chris Bowen were far better than Ms Nash who seems at sea on social issues (perhaps its being deputy to Barney Joyce – you sometimes don’t know where he is headed). Q&A managed 702,000 national viewers — 479,000 metro, 223,000 in regions. Zumbo’s Just Desserts managed 1.016 million nationally: 647,000 in the metros and 369,000 in the regions and hardly a ringing endorsement of the program by viewers.

The top five most watched programs in the regions were: Seven News, 601,000. Home and Away 566,000, Seven News/Today Tonight with 511,000, The Block 481,000, The Chase Australia 450,000.

Australian Survivor is oh so out of date. Ten ought to combine Masterchef with Survivor, and see the contestants are eliminated if they can’t cook, won’t eat or eat the wrong food. Make Survivor a real lottery of life. Survivor had 930,000 national viewers, 690,000 in the metros and 230,000 in the regions. OK for Ten, but not brilliant.

And Nine’s Today started the week with a win over Sunrise in metro breakfast with 312,000 to 288,000. Did viewers tune in to see if Karl Stefanovic appeared (as he did) after stories of marital problems emerged at the weekend. He wasn’t on set this morning though.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (32.1%)
  2. Seven (25.2%)
  3. Ten (19.0%)
  4. ABC (18.5%)
  5. SBS (5.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (25.7%)
  2. Seven (16.3%)
  3. Ten (14.1%)
  4. ABC (13.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.1%)
  2. ABC 2 (3.5%)
  3. 7mate (3.0%)
  4. GO (2.9%)
  5. Eleven (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.658 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.520 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.500 million
  4. The Case Of JonBenet Ramsey (Nine) — 1.439 million
  5. Nine News — 1.339 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.271 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.266 million
  8. ABC News — 1.095 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.078 million
  10. 7.30 (ABC) — 1.038 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.057 million
  2. The Block (Nine) —1.019 million
  3. The Case Of JonBenet Ramsey (Nine) — 1.013 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.001 million

Losers: Seven – a weak night. Zumbo and his Just Desserts. Australian Survivor for Ten.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.057 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.001 million
  3. Nine News (6.30pm) — 973,000
  4. Nine News — 965,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 882,000
  6. ABC News — 744,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 743,000
  8. Australian Story (ABC) — 701,000
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 620,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC) — 604,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 312,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 288,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 150,000
  4. Today Extra (Nine) — 127,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC 79,000 + 47,000 on News 24) — 126,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 82,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (2.8%)
  2. LifeStyle  (1.9%)
  3. TVHITS  (1.9%)
  4. UKTV, Fox Classics (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Monday Night With Matty Johns (Fox Sports 1) — 98,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 91,000
  3. AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 81,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox8) — 65,000
  5. Jake And The Neverland Pirates (Disney Jr), Paw Patrol (Nick Jr) , Phil Spencer’s Stately Homes (LifeStyle) — 57,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.) and network reports.