Ninja champions one year, flopperoos the next. Nine’s Australian Ninja Warrior went head to head last night with Ten’s MasterChef  in the battle of the grand finals and MasterChef ended up an easy winner. The real story from last night was the collapse in the 2017 bubble around Ninja Warrior. Ninja’s 2017 grand final averaged 3.08 million, making it one of the most watched programs of 2017. Last night the final stage could only manage a touch over half that figure — 1.573 million. Last year’s final was helped by being broadcast two days after the final of MasterChef when Ninja ate into MasterChef’s audience.

The MasterChef winner announcement last night topped the night with 1.73 million. The grand final averaged 1.48 million which was down on last year. The two shows’ finals both did better than Seven’s House Rules final on Monday. House Rules did see a lift in audience over its long season, while MasterChef only really connected with its audiences in the finals. Ninja Warrior’s final was around 250,000 more than its opening and nowhere near the outright ratings knockout it was in 2017.

In regional markets Seven’s 6pm News was tops with 599,000 viewers, Seven News/Today Tonight was second with 476,000, then the grand final of Australian Ninja Warrior with 442,000, Ninja Warrior Final Stage with 434,000, and the MasterChef winner announcement with 422,000. Monday night’s 596,000 for the final of Seven’s House Rules was the best audience in the regions for those three programs this year.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (31.6%)
  2. Ten (25.4%)
  3. Seven (23.0%)
  4. ABC (14.7%)
  5. SBS (5.4%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.8%)
  2. Ten (21.3%)
  3. Seven (15.1%)
  4. ABC (10.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (3.9%)
  2. GO (3.5%)
  3. Gem (3.0%)
  4. 7TWO (2.70%)
  5. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Masterchef Australia Winner (Ten) — 1.731 million
  2. Seven News — 1.6650 million
  3. Australian Ninja Warrior Final Stage (Nine) — 1.573 million
  4. Australian Ninja Warrior Part Two (Nine) — 1.530 million
  5. Masterchef Australia Part 2 (Ten) — 1.480 million
  6. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.467 million
  7. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.353 million
  8. Nine/NBN News — 1.324 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.189 million
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.077 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Masterchef Australia Winner (Ten) — 1.309 million
  2. Australian Ninja Warrior Final Stage (Nine) — 1.139 million
  3. Masterchef Australia Part Two (Ten) — 1.126 million
  4. Australian Ninja Warrior Part Two (Nine) — 1.088 million
  5. Seven News — 1.066 million

Losers: No one — well, Australian Ninja Warrior. 2017 is so long ago.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.066 million
  2. Nine News — 995,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 993,000
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 991,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) —867,000
  6. 7pm ABC News —697,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 527,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 524,000
  9. Foreign Correspondent 460,000
  10. Ten Eyewitness News — 399,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 461,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 357,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 271,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 236,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 154,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 81,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 87,000
  2. Wentworth (showcase) — 77,000
  3. Jones & Co (Sky News) — 64,000
  4. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 62,000
  5. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 58,000