Big Brother bows out with a whimper, not a bang

Seven crowned its Big Brother champion last night, and just over half a million people cared enough to tune in. Far more were into what was cooking on Ten's MasterChef finale.

sonia kruger — Big Brother host Sonia Kruger (Image: Seven)

The 2022 edition of Seven’s Big Brother finished last night (582,000 nationally), as did Ten’s MasterChef Australia (1.171 million for the winner, 1.006 million for the lead-up — around 1.08 million average). The former generated a “So what?” from viewers, the latter moderate interest — enough to push Seven into third place for the second night in a row.

Australian Ninja Warrior Record Breakers (aka “offcuts of the series”) with 643,000 was enough to keep Nine in front after a solid night for the hour of news from 6pm (1.170 million average) and A Current Affair (1.012 million).

For all Seven’s chest-beating about how well BB was doing in streaming and seven-day viewing (and it was getting by percentage boosts in viewer numbers from a low base), the fact is last night’s final had weak ratings. So weak, in fact, that unlike previous years Seven failed to split the figures into the winner announcement and the lead-up, as Ten did with MasterChef last night.

Last night’s 582,000 national figure last night was almost half the 1.03 million for the 2021 winner announcement, 982,000 for the lead-up. That was an average for the entire program of just over 1 million, or more than 40% higher than last night. That’s flopperoo status. No wonder Seven wants to bury overnight ratings — it would allow it to hide a dud like BB. In fact, the lack of a split to highlight the winner’s announcement is a big tell that Seven just wanted BB buried on a cold Tuesday night.

Tonight it’s the final State of Origin game on Nine and then we are into the Commonwealth Games on Seven. And then the footy finals, and then Christmas at the end of the year.

Network channel share:

Nine (26.3%)
Ten (25.2%)
Seven (24.1%)
ABC (13.6%)
SBS (10.8%)

Network main channels:

Nine (19.0%)
Ten (18.9%)
Seven (16.4%)
ABC (9.6%)
SBS ONE (7.5%)

Top 5 digital channels:

7TWO (3.2%)
10 Peach (3.0%)
7mate (2.8%)
Gem (2.5%)
10 Bold (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

Seven News — 1.527 million
Seven News 6.30pm — 1.425 million
Nine News 6.30pm — 1.181million
MasterChef Australia: Winner Announced (Ten) — 1.171 million
Nine News — 1.159 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.012 million
MasterChef Australia: Grand Finale (Ten) — 1.006 million
The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 895,000
7pm ABC News — 871,000
Home and Away (Seven) — 717,000

Top metro programs: none with a million or more viewers last night.

Regional Top 5: Seven News, 573,000; Seven News 6.30pm, 527,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 331,000; Nine News 6.30pm, 312,000; Nine News, ACA, 305,000.

Losers: Big Brother.

Metro news and current affairs: