Scene from Foreign Correspondent (Image: abc.net.au)

Tonight the T20 World Cup goes from ho-hum to must-watch as Australia plays Afghanistan and must win by a gazillion runs to have a chance of moving past England or NZ into the semi-finals and a chance to defend its title.

Last night saw a top report on Ukraine from Foreign Correspondent — ABC viewers clearly agreed as it racked up 527,000 nationally. Still, Q+A attracted only 354,000, so Foreign Correspondent viewers didn’t stick around for the weekly lecture and boring talkfest.

Ten has committed ratings hara-kiri — the Oaks Day horse racing got only 151,000. Ten’s news shifted from 5pm to 6pm for a 169,000 audience, less than half what it picked up from its usual 5pm start. At least The Real Love Boat Australia drew 176,000 — ratings king!

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (29.5%)
  2. Nine (27.4%)
  3. ABC (18.9%)
  4. Ten (15.7%)
  5. SBS (8.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (29.5%)
  2. Nine (27.4%)
  3. ABC (13.0%)
  4. Ten (8.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.9%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.0%)
  2. 10 Bold (3.6%)
  3. ABC Kids/Plus (3.1%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.8%)
  5. 9Life (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News 6.30pm — 1.376 million
  2. Seven News — 1.61 million
  3. Nine News 6.30pm — 933,000
  4. Nine News — 895,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 837,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 807,000
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 740,000
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 726,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 668,000
  10. Home and Away Late (Seven) — 667,000

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

Regional top 5: Seven News 6.30pm, 495,000; Seven News, 493,000; Home and Away, 283,000; Home And Away Late, 268,000; ACA, 262,000.

Losers: another weak Thursday night — no spark.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News 6.30pm — 881,000
  2. Seven News — 868,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 686,000
  4. Nine News — 650,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 583,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 544,000
  7. ACA (Nine) — 285,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 468,000
  9. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 373,000
  10. Q+A (ABC) — 253,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 370,000/227,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 288,000/189,000
  3. ABC News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 274,000/176,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 217,000
  5. ABC News Mornings (ABC) — 1872000
  6. Today Extra (Nine) — 127,000
  7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 33,000

Top 5 pay TV programs: unavailable