Masterchef Australia did the business for Ten last night: 2.505 million (1.875 million metro/629,000 regional viewers) with the Grand Finale lead-up averaging 2.276 million (1.711 million metro/565,000). Both very solid figures, but both well under the figures for the 2015 final. The winner’s announcement last year had 2.71 million national viewers and the Grand Finale lead-up had 2.35 million.

The Winner’s Announcement last year cracked the 2 million mark with 2.13 million, while the lead up had 1.84 million viewers. The loss nationally was just over 7% and around that for the metro markets. The 2015 performance was a big jump from the weak 2014 series, but it seems the recovery has already peaked.

In regional areas, Seven News was tops with 702,000, beating out the Winner’s Announcement of Masterchef with 629,000; the Grand Finale lead in was next with 565,000 people, Seven News/Today Tonight was fourth with 563,000 and Home and Away was fifth with 548,000. Seven won Total people in the regions with a share of 33.4%, from Ten with 27.2%, but Ten won the main channels with a share of 20.1% to Seven’s 19.0% and that’s the battle that matters.

And that was that. Nothing else mattered last night, except the coverage of the NT child abuse story on 7.30. Solid. News 24 was solid on the issue all day as well.

Roots on SBS tonight: take a look. It’s a remake of the 70’s original which changed TV story telling forever and gave us the mini series and factional TV drama in all its forms. The final episode of this series of Mad As Hell with Governor General Shaun Micallef presiding. And on Ten, the new series of The Bachelor starts (yuk).

Remember last week’s vid of Michelle Obama singing in a car with US late night TV host James Corden? It’s called Carpool Karaoke. Well, CBS is turning it into a 16 part series (the host hasn’t been named), and the network signed a licensing deal with Apple Music. The segment will continue on James Corden’s program, The Late Late Show according to CBS.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (32.2%)
  2. Nine (25.0%)
  3. Ten (19.0%)
  4. ABC (18.6%)
  5. SBS (5.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (24.1%)
  2. Nine (18.3%)
  3. Ten (13.6%)
  4. ABC (13.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.0%)
  2. Gem (3.7%)
  3. 7mate (3.2%)
  4. GO (3.1%)
  5. ONE (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Masterchef Australia Winner Announced (Ten) — 2.505 million
  2. Masterchef Australia Grand Final (Ten) — 2.276 million
  3. Seven News  — 1.878 million
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.702 million
  5. Nine News — 1.495 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.339 million
  7. Nine News 6.30  — 1.281 million
  8. ABC News — 1.232 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.200 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.185 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Masterchef Australia Winner Announced (Ten) — 1.875 million
  2. Masterchef Australia Grand Final (Ten) — 1.711 million
  3. Seven News — 1.176 million
  4. Nine News — 1.152 million
  5. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.139 million
  6. Nine News 6.30 — 1.067 million

Losers: No one really, not with the Grand Final of Masterchef on Ten

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.176 million
  2. Nine News — 1.152 million
  3. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.139 million
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.067 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 849,000
  6. ABC News – 837,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 813,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 630,000
  9. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 535,000
  10. Ten Eyewitness News — 474,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 318,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 297,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  119,000 + 57,000 on News 24) — 176,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 166,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 139,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 77,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Open Mike (Fox Footy) – 104,000
  2. Wentworth (SoHo) — 95,000
  3. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 77,000
  4. Back Page (Fox Sports 1) — 77,000
  5. Cricket: First Test, Sri Lanka v Australia (Fox Sports 4) – 67,000

*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.