Bill and Tony starred on Q&A last night and without knowing it, viewers watched also a bit of entertaining biffo inside a forum. While Shorten tackled a long list of solid questions from the audience, he also went a few rounds with host Tony Jones and in the end probably won a narrow points decision. Q&A ran for 75 minutes last night from Penrith in Western Sydney and next Monday it is Tony v Mal in Brisbane. The difference with the stolid Q&A two weeks earlier was stunning — chalk and moving cheese.

So far as audience numbers went it did OK, but not as well as the previous Monday’s five header starring Barnaby Joyce and his tormentor, Tony Windsor. Q&A last night had 744,000 national viewers (with 547,000 metro and 196,000 regional people). Last week Q&A had 972,000 national viewers with 691,000 metro and 281,000 regional viewers. That’s pretty conclusive.

Seven and Nine shared Sunday night, and we got a similar result last night in metro markets. In the regions Seven was again an easy winner.

The Sunday night episode of House Rules did very well with more than 1.4 million national viewers. Last night House Rules again won the battle of the ‘reality’ programs with 1.691million national viewers. The Voice was weaker than it has been last night on Nine but still managed 1.385 million. Masterchef was solid without being impressive and had 1.198 million national viewers. But everyone claimed something of note from last night.

In regional markets Seven News was tops with 709,000 viewers; followed by House Rules with 701,000; Home and Away on 574,000; Seven News/Today Tonight with 551,000 and Nine News fifth with 457,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (29.3%)
  2. Nine (28.1%)
  3. Ten (19.0%)
  4. ABC (18.3%)
  5. SBS (5.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (22.1%)
  2. Seven (20.7%)
  3. Ten(14.6%)
  4. ABC (13.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO, 7mate (3.5%)
  2. ABC2 (3.1%)
  3. GO, ONE (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 2.076 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.710 million
  3. Nine News — 1.692 million
  4. House Rules (Seven) — 1.691 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.386 million
  6. The Voice (Nine) — 1.385 million
  7. ABC News — 1.2764 million
  8. Masterchef Australia (Nine) — 1.198 million
  9. Nine News 6.30 — 1.114 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.083 million

Top metro programs: 

  1. Seven News — 1.367 million
  2. Nine News — 1.235 million
  3. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.159 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.114 million

Losers: A reasonably solid night. Perhaps The Voice seemed a bit weaker from the previous week. Perhaps it was the holiday. Q&A was entertaining, but lost viewers from the previous Monday.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.367 million
  2. Nine News — 1.235 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.159 million
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.114 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 905,000
  6. ABC News – 903,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 719,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 689,000
  9. Australian Story (ABC) — 672,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC) — 555,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 295,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 275,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 235,000
  4. Today Extra (Nine) — 142,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC,  90,000 + 44,000 on News 24) — 134,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 105,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 1 (5.5%)
  2. Fox Footy (4.4%)
  3. showcase (3.2%)
  4. Fox 8  (2.5%)
  5. Nick Jr, beIN Sports (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Cronulla v North Qld (Fox Sports 1) — 352,000
  2. Game of Thrones (showcase — 342,000
  3. Game of Thrones (showcase — 287,000
  4. NRL: St George v Canterbury (FoxSports 1) – 248,000
  5. AFL: Melbourne v Collingwood (Fox Footy) — 246,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.