Bachelorettes, brides and blind dates blown out of the water by the ABC

The Bacherlorette’s penultimate episode for 2018 grabbed 825,000 nationally, but was easily beaten in total people and the key demos by Seven’s Bride and Prejudice (928,000), although both had to give way to the ABC’s Hard Quiz (1 million) and Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (986,000 nationally).

Ten didn’t help its cause by sneaking the ailing Blind Date from Monday nights to last night after The Bachelorette. Blind Date repaid that confidence by seeing another viewership collapse, down to just 400,000 nationally — a fall of more than 50%. Blind Date can run, but it can’t hide from its fate as the worst show of 2018. Host Julia Morris will be co-hosting I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! next year. Does anyone feel a flop coming on from the darkest of African jungles (backlit by TV studio lights)? 

In regional Australia, a conventional night: Seven’s 6pm News led with 483,000, then Seven News/Today Tonight with 476,000, Home and Away on 376,000, and the 7pm ABC News with 305,000, tied with Bride and Prejudice.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (30.9%)
2. Nine (25.4%)
3. Ten (18.6%)
4. ABC (18.3%)
5. SBS (6.9%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (21.3%)
2. Nine (16.5%)
3. ABC (13.3%)
4. Ten (11.7%)
5. SBS ONE (4.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. GO (4.2%)
2. 7TWO (3.7%)
3. 7mate 10Boss (3.5%)
4. 10Peach (3.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.432 million
2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.373 million
3. Nine/NBN News — 1.088 million
4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.077 million
5. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 1.008 million
6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.005 million
7. Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (ABC) — 986,000
8. Home and Away (Seven) — 955,000
9. 7pm ABC News — 934,000
10. Bride and Prejudice: The Forbidden Weddings (Seven) — 928,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers.

Losers: Blind Date.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 948,000
2. Seven News/Today Tonight —897,000
3. Nine News— 829,000
4. Nine News 6.30 — 817,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 718,000
6. 7pm ABC News – 629,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 615,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 460,000
9. 10 News First — 371,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 293,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 437,000
2. Today (Nine) – 348,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 250,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 215,000
5. Mornings (Nine) — 141,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 86,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Love It or List It Australia (LifeStyle) — 108,000
2. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 53,000
3. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 50,000
4. The Little Drummer Girl (BBC First) — 41,000
5. Credlin (Sky News) — 40,000