The Bachelorette's Elly and Becky Miles (Image: Ten)

The last night of The Bachelorette. After Gogglebox ended last week, The Blondettes was the only local program left besides The Block (which is heading towards the end). It has become as common as a network public service announcement. The winners’ announcements had 754,000 national viewers, the lead up 651,000. Hardly moved and certainly nothing to boast about. A weak series. Friday night is worse — Nine repeats that hoary old fav, Twister, made in 1996. Saturday is worse — Netflix, Stan, etc etc etc.

There was some hangover from the US elections and that was best illustrated by the rarest of events: News Breakfast was the most-watched breakfast program in the metro markets for the first time ever — topping Sunrise and leaving Nine’s Today in its dust. That will change in coming weeks, but it does show when there’s a big news story, Nine no longer has the credibility of old. At night ABC News topped the ratings for the digital channels for the second night in a row with more viewers than Sky News.

In breakfast Sunrise led with 500,000 national and 308,000 metro viewers (the highest for some weeks); ABC News Breakfast averaged 451,000 and 310,000, and Today was third with 365,000 and 258,000.

In regional markets Seven News, 526,000; Seven News 6.30, 508,000; The 7pm ABC News, 345,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm 333,000; Home and Away, 330,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (28.9%)
  2. Seven (25.7%)
  3. ABC (18.6%)
  4. Ten (18.4%)
  5. SBS (8.4%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (19.61%)
  2. Seven (16.4%)
  3. Ten (12.5%)
  4. ABC (11.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. ABC News Breakfast (4.2%)
  2. 7mate (3.9%)
  3. 7TWO (3.6%)
  4. GO, 10 Bold (3.0%) 

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.525 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.480 million 
  3. Nine/NBN News   — 1.246 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30  — 1.219 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.088 million
  6. The Block (Nine) — 984,000
  7. A Current Affair (Nine)  —- 961,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 952,000
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 868,000
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 825,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or more.

Losers:  Weak except for ABC News Breakfast.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News  — 999,000
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 973,000
  3. Nine News — 849,000
  4. Nine News 6.30 —867,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 743,000
  6. ACA (Nine) — 669,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 667,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 508,000
  9. Ten News Firstat 6pm — 182,000
  10. The Project 6.30 (Ten) — 312,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 500,000/308,000
  2. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 451,000/310,000
  3. Today (Nine) — 365,000/258,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 250,000 
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 177,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 54,000


Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 80,000
  2. Alan Jones (Sky News) — 78,000
  3. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 72,000
  4. Credlin (Sky News) — 67,000
  5. Kennys (Sky News) — 50,000