Seven’s House Rules  (1.70 million national viewers) had its best night of the season so far, as did Nine’s 60 Minutes (1.36 million) which a year ago was struggling with the awful publicity from its Beirut adventure. 60 minutes concentrated on the Cassie Sainsbury story, as did rival Sunday Night on Seven, which was watched by 1.30 million people. 

The Voice averaged 1.55 million nationally and, with the resurgent House Rules, flattened Ten’s Masterchef which struggled slightly with 1.09 million national viewers. So far as the viewing audience is concerned, there is only room for two of these programs, when they are on at the same time. Masterchef though deserves better — it is a far more interesting program than the confected nonsense on House Rules (which is now hostage to the growing appeal of UK critic, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen whose presence has given what was a boring concept a makeover). In the morning Insiders (529,000) on the ABC finished second to Seven’s Weekend Sunrise (546,000).

In regional markets Seven’s House Rules jumped sharply to average 654,000, while Seven News eased to average 579,000, followed by Nine News 6.30 and The Voice with 492,000 viewers each. Nine News was fifth with 474,000. Sunday Night averaged 442,000, in front of 60 Minutes with 399,000. Ten’s Masterchef was well back on 256,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (30.7%)
  2. Seven (29.6%)
  3. Ten (18.4%)
  4. ABC (14.7%)
  5. SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (22.5%)
  2. Seven (21.8%)
  3. Ten (13.9%)
  4. ABC (10.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (3.7)
  2. 7mate (3.4%)
  3. ABC 2 (2.7%)
  4. 7TWO (2.6%)
  5. ONE (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.805 million
  2. House Rules (Seven) — 1.704 million
  3. The Voice (Nine) — 1.552 million
  4. Nine News — 1.474 million
  5. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.356 million
  6. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.303 million
  7. 7pm ABC News — 1.114 million
  8. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.095 million
  9. Grandchester (ABC) — 875,000
  10. Modern Family (Ten) — 694,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.226 million
  2. Nine News — 1.091 million
  3. The Voice (Nine)  — 1.049 million

Losers: Ten — Masterchef had a bit of a struggle last night.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.226 million
  2. Nine News — 1.091 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 956,000
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 861,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 764,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News — 345,000
  7. SBS World News — 195,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 546,000
  2. Insiders (ABC, 390,000, 139,00 on News 24) — 529,000
  3. Weekend Today (Nine) —398,000
  4. Landline (ABC) — 391,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 235,000
  6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 212,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Souths V Melbourne (Fox League) —263,000
  2. NRL: Canterbury v Easts (Fox League) — 222,000
  3. AFL: Essendon v West Coast (Fox Footy) — 198,000
  4. NRL: Newscastle v Penrith (Fox League) — 78,000
  5. AFL: Fremantle v Carlton (Fox Footy) — 167,000