A flat night shows viewers ditching free-to-air

Nine’s night thanks to The Block (1.24 million nationally). Seven’s news (1.4 million) and Seven News/Today Tonight (1.39 million) dominated the most-watched list at first and second, respectively, and that was the night. Seven’s Bride & Prejudice added viewers to average 757,000 to finish eleventh nationally, but that’s because there was nothing on Ten or the ABC to hold viewers.

The real story was the 37.4% collective share of the network digital channels. Viewers again wanted to only watch one or two of the main channel offerings before moving online. In regional markets viewers were just as bored — Seven’s 6pm news and Seven News/TT had 500,000 viewers each, then Home and Away with 357,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm with 336,000 and The Block with 328,000. Just five programs with more than 300,000 viewers in regional Australia — a sign that viewers there are as done with free-to-air as their metro cousins are.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (32.0%)
2. Seven (27.7%)
3. Ten (17.8%)
4. ABC (13.8%)
5. SBS (8.6%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (21.0%)
2. Seven (17.4%)
3. Ten (11.0%)
4. ABC (9.9%)
5. SBS ONE (5.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. GO (4.9%)
2. 10 Bold (4.6%)
3. Gem (4.1%)
4. 7TWO (4.0%)
5. 7mate (3.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.400 million
2. Seven News/TT — 1.392 million
3. The Block (Nine) — 1.245 million
4. Nine/NBN News 6.30  — 1.089 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.047 million
6. Nine News — 1.035 million
7. Home And Away (Seven) — 946,000
8. 7pm ABC News  — 865,000
9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 819,000
10. 7.30 (ABC) — 805,000

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 899,000
2. Seven News/TT — 892,000
3. Nine News 6.30 — 820,000
4. Nine News — 789,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 751,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 607,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 545,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 439,000
9. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 405,000
10. Ten News First — 2983,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise — 446,000
2. Today — 291,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 223,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 194,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) —101,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 72,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 54,000
2. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 44,000
3. Jones & Credlin (Sky News) — 48,000
4. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 47,000
5. PML Later (sky News) — 44,000