House Rules ruled again last night with 1.85 million national viewers. Nine was weak without The Voice and Love Child (717,000 nationally and just 473,000 in the metros) seems like it’s heading for a long, long break. Masterchef  Australia (1.19 million) perked up but the continuing publicity and social media sniff about one particular judge may harm the show. Seven’s Seven Year Switch managed 998,000 national viewers to mop up the post House Rules time slot. Nine’s Last Resort is nowhere to be seen.

In regional markets another strong night for Seven: Seven News was tops with 726,000, House Rules was next with 705,000, Seven News/Today Tonight was third with 576,000, with Home and Away fourth with 546,000 and the 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia was fifth with 489,000. All up, Seven won the night in metro and regional markets in total people, the main channels and the main demos.

Tonight it’s the first State of Origin game on Nine which will rate its socks off in Sydney and Brisbane and in regional areas of NSW and Queensland — and do well in Melbourne. Seven leads the week in total people and the main channels — Nine will get that back tonight with the Origin game, but it will be battling to hang on given there are AFL games on Seven tomorrow night, Friday night and on Saturday that will dominate in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (30.5%)
  2. Nine (23.7%)
  3. Ten (21.9%)
  4. ABC (17.8%)
  5. SBS (6.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (22.2%)
  2. Nine (16.6%)
  3. Ten (15.7%)
  4. ABC (12.8%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. Eleven (3.6%)
  2. 7mate (3.5%)
  3. Gem (3.2%)
  4. ABC 2 (3.0%)
  5. 7TWO (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.85 million
  2. House Rules (Seven) — 1.85 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.65 million
  4. Nine/NBN News — 1.38 million
  5. Nine/NBN News (6.30pm) — 1.35 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.35 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.23 million
  8. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.19 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.19 million
  10. 7pm ABC News — 1.14 million

Top metro programs:

  1. House Rules (Seven) — 1.14 million
  2. Seven News — 1.13 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.07 million
  4. Nine News — 1.05 million
  5. Nine News 6.30 — 1.02 million

Losers: Nine — just not enough content.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.13 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.07 million
  3. Nine News — 1.05 million
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.02 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 874,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 790,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 627,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 586,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 520,000
  10. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 457,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 550,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 453,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  177,000 + 84,000 on News 24) — 261,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 231,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 207,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 117,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. TVHITS  (2.8%)
  2. Nick Jr (2.1%)
  3. Fox 8/Fox Sports 505/Sky News  (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 80,000
  2. Wentworth (showcase) — 74,000
  3. Curious George (Nick Jr) — 58,000
  4. Back Page (Fox Sports 501) — 57,000
  5. NRL: 360 (Fox League), Rusty Rivets (Nick Jr)  — 56,000