Mad As Hell host Shaun Micallef (Image: abc.net.au)

The champagne corks — OK, the spumante corks — popped at Seven this morning after My Kitchen Rules wandered into the top 10 most watched programs across the country last night. Yes, 10th place, but still! MKR averaged 715,000 — not quite the 767,000 of the Sunday night return, when there was some gold dust from the Commonwealth Games to help it along. The Block still topped the million mark with 1.068 million, but that was the lowest so far after 1.182 million on its return night.

MKR and The Block are stuck in their old formats and seem to be refighting previous battles without any new ideas (except that high metro property prices have forced Nine to take The Block to the regions). It’s Australian commercial TV’s version of the World War I battles of attrition in the wet trenches of France.

Nine still won the night in total people and the main channels, with Seven next, then the ABC and Ten (with The Masked Singer off until next Sunday night).

The ABC’s Mad As Hell is definitely fading with 581,000 — the new Labor government doesn’t present the satirical opportunities offered by ScoMo, Mr Potato Head and the rest of the Coalition gang. Not yet, anyway.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (31.9%)
  2. Seven (28.4%)
  3. ABC (15.9%)
  4. Ten (15.3%)
  5. SBS (8.4%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.3%)
  2. Seven (20.7%)
  3. ABC (11.2%)
  4. Ten (8.8%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 peach (3.7%)
  2. 7TWO (3.4%)
  3. 7mate (3.1%)
  4. Gem (2.9%)
  5. ABC News (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.454 million
  2. Seven News 6.30pm — 1.422 million
  3. Nine News 6.30pm — 1.087 million
  4. Nine News — 1.086 million
  5. The Block (Nine) — 1.068 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 943,000
  7. 7pm ABC News — 885,000
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 847,000
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 765,000
  10. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 715,000

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

Regional top 5: Seven News, 534,000; Seven News 6.30pm, 517,000; The Block, 320,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 319,000; Nine News 6.30pm, 295,000.

Losers: MKR, despite the top 10 finish.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 920,000
  2. Seven News 6.30pm — 905,000
  3. Nine News — 799,000
  4. Nine News 6.30pm — 793,000
  5. ACA (Nine) — 653,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 599,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 450,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 333,000
  9. Ten News First — 286,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 229,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 365,000/201,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 294,000/187,000
  3. ABC News Breakfast — 275,000/176,000
  4. ABC News Mornings — 230,000
  5. The Morning Show (Seven) — 210,000
  6. Today Extra (Nine) — 146,000
  7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 39,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 59,000
  2. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 49,000
  3. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 47,000
  4. Credlin (Sky News) — 49,000
  5. The Twelve (Fox Showcase), The World According To Rowan Dean (Sky News) — 40,000