MasterChef was the last reality style program standing and it benefited with a solid 1.21 million national viewers last night for Ten. The real story however is how Seven lost the night, thanks to the sliding figures for The Single Wives from 7.30. It averaged 524,000 nationally (down from 571,000 a week ago) and 343,000 in the metros (379,000). Home and Away managed 1.06 million national viewers from 7pm, so the loss for the next hour was just over 50%. Call it ratings self harm, call it ratings obstinacy — whatever it is, Seven lost the night last night because of that hour of failure. Ten’s Pointless at 6pm, in Family Feud country, with a national average last night of 398,000 — not working.

In the regions,Seven’s 6pm News was on top with 588,000 viewers, followed by Seven News/Today Tonight with 474,000, Home and Away with 408,000, then The Chase Australia’s 369,000 from 5.30pm, and the 7pm ABC News with 348,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (25.5%)
  2. Seven (24.9%)
  3. Ten (19.9%)
  4. ABC (17.4%)
  5. SBS (12.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (17.2%)
  2. Seven (16.0%)
  3. Ten (14.8%)
  4. ABC (12.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (7.9%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (4.3%)
  2. 7TWO (3.5%)
  3. 7mate (3.2%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy, ONE (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.623 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.478 million
  3. Nine/NBN News  — 1.285 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.279 million
  5. MasterChef Australia (Ten)  — 1.217 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.084 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.069 million
  8. 7pm ABC News — 1.044 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 957,000
  10. Anh’s Brush With Fame (ABC) — 968,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News– 1.035 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.013 million

Losers: Seven and The Single Wives.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.035 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.013 million
  3. Nine News—970,000
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 950,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) —757,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 696,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 575,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) —535,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 428,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 298,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 450,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 340,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 254,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 222,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 164,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 84,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 88,000
  2. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 66,000
  3. Criminal Minds (TV HITS), NRL: 360 (Fox League) — 59,000
  4. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 52,000