A better night for Seven, but My Kitchen Rules was still beaten by Married at First Sight both nationally (1.56 million for Married to 1.54 million for MKR) and in the metros (1.09 million to 1.04 million).  Seven News, with 1.59 million, topped the nationals and MKR ended up third on the night.

But Seven won overall because Bride and Prejudice – with an average of 1.06 million – was the 10th most watched program nationally and easily dominated from 9pm to 10pm to give Seven a solid win in the metros and regions. Four Corners’ excellent story on Crown Casino’s antics in China and Australia deserved more than the 875,000 national viewers it attracted, with 575,000 in the metros. It was a piece of solid, genuine investigation.

Today was weak again  – 430,000 nationally and 282,000 in the metros as opposed to Sunrise with 508,000 (295,000 in the metros). Karl is back on Today and it had better lift its game soon, especially in the metros.

On the eve of the ABC’s big hack and slash announcement, the national broadcaster still pushed Ten into fourth spot nationally and in the metros, even though figures from 7pm onwards were down on a year ago. The news and current affairs programming still did well against Ten’s weak effort. The ‘show’ part of Celebrity on Ten managed 1.01 million nationally  and out rated the night’s elimination, which managed 977,000 nationally. If that becomes a trend then the program is in trouble. Ten will move back into third tonight with the ABC having its usual weakish Tuesday line up.

And I know the ABC is having a female hosts day tomorrow on TV to mark International Women’s Day, but why not on Q&A last night which discussed the subject with a top notch, non argumentative (in Q&A style fashion) discussion. Why did Virginia Trioli or Emma Alberici not get the gig?

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (31.9%)
  2. Nine (26.6%)
  3. ABC (18.6%)
  4. Ten (17.6%)
  5. SBS (5.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (23.0%)
  2. Nine (21.2%)
  3. ABC (13.5%)
  4. Ten (12.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.5%)
  2. ONE (3.3%)
  3. GO, 7mate (2.7%)
  4. ABC 2 (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.59 million
  2. Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.56 million
  3. MKR (Seven) — 1.54 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.43 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.20 million
  6. Nine News — 1.18 million
  7. Nine News 6.30 — 1.17 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.14 million
  9. 7pm ABC News — 1.14 million
  10. Bride and Prejudice  (Seven) — 1.06 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.09 million
  2. MKR (Seven)  — 1.04 million

Losers: No one really, except another set of weak figures for some of the ABC’s news and current affairs programming

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News —981,000
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 938,000
  3. Nine News (6.30pm) — 877,000
  4. Nine News —869,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 799,000
  6. 7pm ABC News —765,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC) — 669,000
  8. Media Watch (ABC) — 624,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC)  — 616,000
  10. Four Corners (Ten) — 575,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 508,000
  2. Today (Nine) —430,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  167,000 + 96,000 on News 24) — 263,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 211,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 180,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 133,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox  Sports 503  (8.2%)
  2. TVHITS  (2.2%)
  3. Sky news/UKTV (1.5%)
  4. LifeStyle (1.4%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket: Second Test, India v Australia (Fox Sports 503) — 231,000
  2. Cricket: Second Test, India v Australia (Fox Sports 503) — 217,000
  3. Cricket: Second Test, India v Australia (Fox Sports 503) — 201,000
  4. Cricket: Second Test, India v Australia (Fox Sports 503) — 152,000
  5. The Walking Dead (Fx) — 60,000