Seven’s night nationally, regionally and in the metros as House Rules cracked the 2 million viewer mark across the country, topping the national and metro listings for the first time with 2.05 million (1.27 million in the metros and 779,000 in the regions). It blew away Nine’s The Voice (1.31 million) by over 700,000 viewers nationally and left Ten’s Masterchef Australia nearly a million viewers behind on 1.05 million. That meant more than 4.4 million people watched House Rules, The Voice and Masterchef last night, underlining the strength of free to air TV. In the past three weeks or so House Rules has built its audience, while Masterchef and The Voice have both lost viewers. A year ago House Rules was struggling, but the cast and judges have both improved.

Seven’s regional performance last night produced some of the highest audience figures for the year (outside of sport). Seven News topped the night with 800,000 people. House Rules was second with 779,000. Seven News/Today Tonight was third with 646,000, with Home and Away next with 584,000. The 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia averaged 497,000. 

Ten’s MasterChef Australia was squeezed out again and failed to have an impact – it was just out rated by the network’s quiet performer, Have You Been Paying Attention with 1.11 million. It really should be the other way round and it is a sign of the lead-in’s weakness when the program that follows has better ratings.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (32.2%)
  2. Nine (25.0%)
  3. Ten (19.0%)
  4. ABC (18.6%)
  5. SBS (5.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (24.1%)
  2. Nine (18.3%)
  3. Ten (13.6%)
  4. ABC (13.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.0%)
  2. Gem (3.7%)
  3. 7mate (3.2%)
  4. GO (3.1%)
  5. ONE (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. House Rules (Seven) — 2.051 million
  2. Seven News  — 1.944 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.747 million
  4. Nine/NBN News (6.30pm) — 1.483 million
  5. Nine/NBN News — 1.463 million
  6. ACA (Nine) — 1.406 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.384 million
  8. The Voice (Nine) — 1.316 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.185 million
  10. 7pm ABC News — 1.180 million

Top metro programs:

    1. House Rules (Seven) — 1.272 million
    2. Seven News — 1.144 million
    3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.122 million
    4. Nine News — 1.116 million
    5. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.101 million

Losers: Masterchef Australia‘s ratings are starting to rot.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.144 million
  2. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.122 million
  3. Nine News — 1.116 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.101 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 993,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 788,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 660,000
  8. Australian Story (ABC) — 652,000
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 621,000
  10. Media Watch (ABC) — 588,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 535,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 437,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  177,000 + 87,000 on News 24) — 264,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 254,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 206,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 125,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 102,000
  2. AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 71,000
  3. The Big Bang Theory (Comedy Channel) — 67,000
  4. Monday Night With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 65,000
  5. NRL: 360 (Fox League) — 59,000