What is Nine thinking? Why would they keep a nasty, emotionally exploitative show like Last Resort on TV after its flop of a debut last week on Tuesday and Wednesday nights? 

It was 4th nationally, just in front of the SBS program, a repeat of Great Continental Railway Journeys which got 493,000 viewers. It didn’t help the ratings for Love Child –– which fell from 805,000 nationally last Tuesday to 685,000 last night. That’s the sound of a good TV show dying on air — 2017 is one season too long, killed by programming ineptitude by Nine. Combine that with the absence of The Voice and it was a very weak third place last night for Nine. Masterchef (1.40 million national viewers) looks like high class entertainment in comparison (to Last Resort and Seven Year Switch), as does House Rules (1.381 million). Up against those, Last Resort took a real drubbing as the viewers thought the same way.

In regional areas it was another benefit night for Seven – Seven News was tops with 711,000, House Rules was second with 568,000, then Seven News/Today Tonight on 552,000, Home and Away was next with 532,000 and the 5.30pm bit of The Chase averaged  501,000. In Breakfast Today won the metros narrowly over Sunrise — 291,000 to 284,000, but Sunrise won nationally, 529,000 to 458,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (28.6%)
  2. Ten (24.0%)
  3. Nine (23.2%)
  4. ABC (17.5%)
  5. SBS (6.7%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (19.1%)
  2. Ten (18.4%)
  3. Nine (15.4%)
  4. ABC (12.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (3.9%)
  2. ONE (3.6%)
  3. Gem (3.3%)
  4. 7TWO (3.2%)
  5. GO (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

    1. Seven News  — 1.802 million
    2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.562 million
    3. Nine/NBN News  (6.30pm) — 1.418 million
    4. Nine/NBN News — 1.406 million
    5. Masterchef Australia (Ten)  — 1.405 million
    6. House Rules (Seven — 1.381 million
    7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.271 million
    8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.240 million
    9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.180 million
    10. 7pm ABC News — 1.140 million

Top metro programs:

    1. Seven News — 1.091 million
    2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.075 million
    3. Nine News — 1.072 million
    4. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.045 million
    5. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.011 million

Losers: Nine. Love Child (gone) and Last Resort (rotten), should have never made it to air.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.091 million
  2. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.075 million
  3. Nine News — 1.072 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.011 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 808,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 756,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 659,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 534,000
  9. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 512,000
  10. Ten Eyewitness News — 505,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 529,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 458,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  189,000 + 79,000 on News 24) — 268,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 215,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 177,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 140,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Wentworth (showcase) — 83,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 72,000
  3. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 60,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 58,000
  5. The Great Pottery Throw Down (LifeStyle) — 53,000