Well House Rules ended for Seven last night, and the grand final and winner’s announcement couldn’t crack a million metro viewers — nor could the first part of Ten’s MasterChef final, or the ep of Australian Ninja Warrior on Nine. Did they cancel each other out? Perhaps, but it’s more viewer exhaustion with TV formats they know backwards. But it was worse than that for Seven in the metros — the House Rules winner’s announcement (915,000) was beaten by the first part of the MasterChef final with 960,000. Nine’s Ninja ep managed 916,000, which topped the audience for the grand final of House Rules’ 853,000. House Rules only finished higher in the national rankings because of two of its highest ever audiences this season in the regionals — 596,000 for the winner’s announcement and 546,000 for the grand final. You could say that House Rules ended with something of a belly flop in the metros.

Nationally, the winner’s announcement of House Rules looked better thanks to regional viewers and averaged 1.511 million and the Grand Final averaged 1.399 million. That’s OK, but the top programs on the night were Seven News (1.67 million nationally and Seven News/Today Tonight from 6.30 pm with 1.53 million. A year ago Ninja Warrior was regularly topping the night in the metros and nationally, now its down the list (1.249 million last night). Masterchef managed 1.242 million – that’s OK but nothing to boast about.

In the regions a win for Seven with the 6pm News won with 622,000, with the House Rules winner second with 596,000, the House Rules grand final third with 546,000,  Today Tonight was fourth with 486,000 and Home and Away was fifth with 411,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (27.7%)
  2. Nine (27.3%)
  3. Ten (22.6%)
  4. ABC (16.0%)
  5. SBS (6.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (19.4%)
  2. Nine (19.0%)
  3. Ten (18.3%)
  4. ABC (11.8%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (4.2%)
  2. 7TWO (3.3%)
  3. 7mate (3.0%)
  4. Gem, ONE (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.676 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.536 million
  3. House Rules: Winner Announcement (Seven) — 1.511 million
  4. House Rules: Grand Final (Seven) — 1.399 million
  5. Nine/NBN News 6.30  — 1.343 million
  6. Nine/NBN News — 1.316 million
  7. Australian Ninja Warrior (Nine) — 1.249 million
  8. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.242 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.160 million
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.135 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.054 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.050 million
  3. Nine News — 1.015 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.014 million

Losers: House Rules with a flat finale in the metros.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.054 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.050 million
  3. Nine News — 1.015 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.014 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 811,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 750,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) —582,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 576,000
  9. Media Watch (ABC) — 522,000
  10. Ten Eyewitness News — 422,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 456,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 358,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 234,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 209,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 155,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 83,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 92,000
  2. AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 85,000
  3. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 70,000
  4. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 62,000
  5. Outsiders (Sky News) — 55,000