Masterchef wraps up tonight and tomorrow night and it has been a good series for Ten. Last night the final three contenders were chosen and Masterchef was the most watched program in metro markets with 1.321 million people and 1.708 million nationally (and second behind Seven’s News).

As a result Ten won the metro main channels, but not total people, which Seven won. Ten won the major demos (as it did last week with Masterchef) which will please advertisers. But no joy for Ten in the regionals, even with the old WIN network as its new affiliate. Seven won the regions quite easily.

Ten’s Spelling Bee managed 627,000 national viewers (and 484,000 metro and 143,000 regional) from 6.30 to 7.30 as a lead in to Masterchef. Ten will smile and say it’s pleased, but they are low figures, even for a network with low expectations.

Seven News was the most watched program in the regions with 612,000, with Sunday Night on 538,000, Nine News was on 509,000, Border Security, 419,000 and Grand Designs NZ was fifth with 391,000.

Tara Brown (She of Adventures in Beirut) returned to 60 Minutes last night with a two part report on a particularly nasty murder in inner Sydney. Viewers didn’t really care. They preferred Sunday Night’s report on Carl Williams children. Sunday Night had 1.467 million national viewers (and 928,000 in the metros). 60 Minutes had 1.058 million national viewers and 756,000 in the metros. If this is a fair summation of the audience’s reaction to Ms Brown (and her return to 60 Minutes was heavily promoted by Nine), then the network has a lemon on its hands. But let’s look at the figures over the next month. At first glance, last night’s figures showed a scepticism about the program with Ms Brown back in the line up, and she introduced the program, so the negative reaction from viewers was even more marked.

Last week, Seven’s Sunrise had a narrow won in the metros over Today: 321,000 to 312,000, and won nationally as well.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (28.1%)
  2. Nine (25.6%)
  3. Ten (25.4%)
  4. ABC (14.4%)
  5. SBS (6.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Ten (20.2%)
  2. Seven (17.9%)
  3. Nine (17.5%)
  4. ABC (10.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7flix (3.8%)
  2. GO (3.5%)
  3. 7TWO, 7mate (3.2%)
  4. ONE (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.824 million
  2. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.708 million
  3. Nine News — 1.665 million
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.467 million
  5. Border Security (Seven) — 1.150 million
  6. ABC News — 1.104 million
  7. Grand Designs NZ (ABC) — 1.058 million
  8. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.058 million
  9. David Attenborough The Hunt (Nine) — 789,000
  10. Billy Connolly’s Tracks Across America (Seven) — 687,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Masterchef Australia — 1.321 million
  2. Seven News — 1.212 million
  3. Nine News — 1.156 million

Losers: Nine and Seven were pretty light on, again, giving Ten a clear run with the finals of Masterchef. 60 Minutes, thumbs down from viewers with Tara Brown back on board.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.212 million
  2. Nine News  — 1.156 million
  3. Sunday Night (Seven) — 928,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) – 756,000
  5. ABC News – 726,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News — 366,000
  7. SBS World News — 165,000

Morning TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, 264,000, 106,000 on News 24) — 370,000
  2. Landline (ABC) — 305,000
  3. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 290,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) – 282,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 168,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy (4.7%)
  2. Fox Sports 1  (3.8%)
  3. Fox Sports 5 (3.2%)
  4. Fox Sports 3 (2.6%)
  5. Foxtel Movies Premiere (2.1%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Port Adelaide v GWS (Fox Footy) – 208,000
  2. NRL: St George v Wests Tigers (Fox Sports 1) — 196,000
  3. NRL: Cronulla v Newcastle (Fox Sports 1) — 166,000
  4. AFL: Hawthorn v Richmond (Fox Sports 3) – 155,000
  5. F1: Hungarian Grand Prix  (Fox Sports 5) — 134,000

*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.