(Image: Nine)

Sparkling Bodega and Chiko rolls for lunch at the Nine Network canteen today after the confected “cheating” scandal saw The Block reach its second 2021 peak audience in a row — 1.38 million national viewers. Cheating claims, it seems, is a common shtick for people or organisations under pressure.

And to add fizz to the faux bubble, Today’s metro ratings equalled those for Sunrise at 263,000 for the first time in months. Nationally Sunrise again won easily as Today just doesn’t rate as well in regional areas.

It was a night to lift Nine to a comfortable win over Seven. Nine News topped Seven in the metros, meaning Nine’s wins on the east coast outweighed Seven’s usual big margins in Adelaide and Perth. Nationally, Seven News still won easily because of big margins in the regions.

Hard Quiz rose to 904,000, though Question Everything sent nearly third of that audience fleeing for the hills — it averaged 623,000. The Bachelor on Ten got 556,000. Does anyone care?

Breakfast saw Sunrise on 465,000 national and 263,000 metro; Today, 361,000 and 263,000; and News Breakfast, 324,000 and 219,000.

Regional top five: Seven News, 654,000; Seven News 6.30, 632,000; Home And Away, 400,000; 7pm ABC News, 392,000; Nine News, 389,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (31.1%)
  2. Seven (30.1%)
  3. ABC (16.0%)
  4. Ten (15.7%)
  5. SBS (7.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.5%)
  2. Seven (17.4%)
  3. ABC (11.5%)
  4. Ten (9.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (6.6%)
  2. 7TWO, 7flix (3.1%)
  3. 10 Peach (2.8%)
  4. Gem (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.720 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.664 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.458 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.380 million
  5. The Block (Nine) —1.329 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.080 million
  7. 7pm ABC News — 1.076 million
  8. Home And Away (Seven) — 1.017 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 927,000
  10. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 904,000

Top metro programs: 

1. Nine News  — 1.069 million
2. Seven News — 1.066 million
3. Seven News 6.30—1.032 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.005 million

Losers: The Bachelor… 

Metro news and current affair

  1. Nine News — 1.069 million
  2. Seven News — 1.066 million
  3. Seven News 6.30 —1.032 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.005 million
  5. ACA (Nine) — 685,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 618,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 572,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 532,000
  9. Ten News First (ABC) — 373,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 296,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 465,000/263,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 361,000/263,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC) — 324,000/219,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 270,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 205,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) —  60,000

Top five Pay TV programs: N/A

  1. Credlin (Sky News) — 79,000
  2. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 77,000
  3. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 69,000
  4. Newsday (Sky News) — 69,000
  5. Alan Jones (Sky News) — 54,000