The Bachelor’s 2017 series return! So many roses slaughtered in the name of faux relationships! So many enhancements! It returned with a solid with 1.10 million national viewers (846,000 metro and 262,000 regional viewers) which was a bit lower than the 1.19 million a year ago (882,000 in the metros and 314,000 in the regions).

But the big news wasn’t the fact that The Bach  didn’t live up to 2016. No, it was the ratings hit Offspring took last night (now that Masterchef is no longer the lead-in) from having The Bach as the lead-in. You would have thought that The Bach would have helped, but it seems it was a hindrance. Offspring averaged 758,000 nationally last night, down 15% from 892,000 a week earlier. 

For Ten The Bach might have flashed out some younger female demos, which enabled the network’s main channel to slip past Nine (a Ninja let down night) into second place last night. Seven won the night. Tonight we find out if the ABC’s new medical series, Pulse, is still alive or needs a trip to the ICU. If it does, it will join the AFL Footy Show for its rebirth next Thursday night with Eddie McGuire back in the chair and Sam Newman trying to reclaim past glories (or rather atrocities). It could be a final throw of the dice for Newman. In the regionals, a Seven night with the News tops with 634,000 viewers, then Seven News/TT with 509,000, followed by Home and Away with 467,000, The 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia with 441,000 and then The Force with 435,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (27.2%)
  2. Nine (25.7%)
  3. Ten (23.2%)
  4. ABC (17.0%)
  5. SBS (7.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (18.2%)
  2. Ten (17.4%)
  3. Nine (16.8%)
  4. ABC (11.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (3.6%)
  2. 7TWO (3.3%)
  3. ONE (3.1%)
  4. ABC 2, 7mate (29%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.689 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.491 million
  3. Nine/NBN News (6.30pm) — 1.353 million
  4. Nine/NBN News — 1.348 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.180 million
  6. The Force (Seven) — 1.146 million
  7. Border Security (Seven) —1.127 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine)— 1.123 million
  9. The Bachelor – Return (Ten) — 1.108 million
  10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.059 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.055 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.025 million
  3. Nine News — 1.019 million

Losers: Ten will be surprised by the fall in the figures for Offspring from the Bachelor.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.055 million
  2. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.025 million
  3. Nine News — 1.019 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 982,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 796,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 706,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 603,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 574,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 469,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 384,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 452,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 426,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  157,000 + 87,000 on News 24) — 158,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 221,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 167,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 126,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. TVHITS  (2.1%)
  2. Fox8, Sky News (2.0%)
  3. LifeStyle, UKTV  (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 86,000
  2. Paul Murray Live (Fox Footy) — 61,000
  3. League Life (Fox League) — 57,000
  4. Mrs Brown’s Boys (UKTV) — 65,000
  5. Nella The Princess Knight (Nick Jr) — 51,000