A close night, but 7.30 again sank in the metros to under 500, 000 — but in the regions it improved. House Rules ruled again for Seven — second nationally with more than 1.5 million viewers. Masterchef had 1.09 million and faded badly in the regions. Ten said it was the most watched program last night in the 25 to 54 demographic, but that was only in the metros. TV is a national business these days, but bragging rights are bragging rights when you are grimly hanging on by your fingernails. 

Seven easily won the regions with the five most watched programs: Seven News was tops again with 680,000 people, followed by House Rules with 642,000, then Home and Away with 524,000, with Seven News/Today Tonight with 512,000 in fourth and the 5.30pm bit of The Chase Australia was fifth with 482,000.

Seven News was again weak on the East Coast, but still had enough from big margins in Adelaide and Perth to win the metros, and enough of a boost from the regions to clearly top the national list.  In breakfast Today was a narrow metro winner, but lost again by a big margin nationally to Sunrise. Tonight there’s AFL on Seven with the Cats playing Port, while Janet King returns to the ABC and Ten has Masterchef at 7.30pm.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (28.3%)
  2. Seven (27.6%)
  3. Ten (19.9%)
  4. ABC (17.0%)
  5. SBS (7.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (19.1%)
  2. Nine (18.6%)
  3. Ten (14.2%)
  4. ABC (10.5%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

    1. ABC 2, Gem (4.4%)
    2. 7TWO (3.5)
    3. ONE (3.2%)
    4. GO (3.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

    1. Seven News  — 1.790 million
    2. House Rules (Seven) —1.579 million
    3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.515 million
    4. Nine/NBN News — 1.450 million
    5. Nine/NBN News (6.30pm)— 1.382 million
    6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.234 million
    7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.203 million
    8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.144 million
    9. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.099 million
    10. 7pm ABC News — 1.006 million

Top metro programs:

    1. Seven News — 1.110 million
    2. Nine News — 1.100 million
    3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.055 million
    4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.003 million

Losers: 7.30 – going backwards again

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.110 million
  2. Nine News — 1.100 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.055 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.003 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 883,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 677,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 627,000
  8. Ten Eyewitness News — 507,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 493,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 412,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 525,000
  2. Today (Nine) —464,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  190,000 + 88,000 on News 24) — 278,000
  4. Today Extra (Nine) — 190,000
  5. Studio 10 (Ten) — 128,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. TVHITS  (3.1%)
  2. LifeStyle  (2.3%)
  3. Fox 8  (2.0%)
  4. Sky News, Nick Jr (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 138,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 74,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 61,000
  4. The Flash (Fox8) — 54,000
  5. Rusty Rivets (Nick Jr) — 52,000