Ratings the front bar
The Front Bar (Image: Channel 7)

One of Nine’s worst nights for a while with The Footy Show reaching a new low — 185,000 nationally, 142,000 in the metros and just 85,000 in Melbourne, its base and the AFL heartland. Seven’s The Front Bar averaged 509,000 nationally, 399,000 in the metros and 263,000 in Melbourne.

In breakfast, the stability shown on Monday and Tuesday for Nine’s Today evaporated and the audience fell to 270,000 nationally and 182,000 in the metros. Sunrise’s audience also slid to 455,000 and 273,000 (it was over 300,000 on Monday and Tuesday). In the 6 to 7pm news battle another big loss for Nine — with a 348,000 national margin in favour of Seven’s 6pm News and 368,000 in favour of the 6.30 part of Seven News (with Today Tonight).

Overall it was Seven’s night as My Kitchen Rules found new viewers with Married At First Sight off the scene (1.33 million nationally). The final episode of Hard Quiz on the ABC grabbed 1.01 million viewers (for the second Wednesday in a row and showing Nine, Seven and Ten how a modern quiz program is supposed to go) and The Weekly With Charlie Pickering also jumped into the national top 10 with 956,000. The second night of Bachelor in Paradise pulled in 682,000 — down just 5,000 from Tuesday’s debut. In regional markets it was Seven’s night with the 6pm News averaging 515,000, Seven News/Today Tonight, 505,000, My Kitchen Rules, 452,000, Home and Away, 380,000 and The Chase Australia (5.30pm), 347,000.

Network channel share:
Seven (32.1%)
Nine (24.2%)
Ten (18.7%)
ABC (18.3%)
SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:
Seven (23.6%)
Nine (15.5%)
ABC (13.9%)
Ten 11.1%)
SBS ONE (4.3%)

Top 5 digital channels:
10 Bold (5.1%)
GO (3.3%)
7mate (2.9%)
Gem, 9Life (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:
Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.55 million
Seven News — 1.53 million
My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 1.33 million
Nine/NBN News 6.30, Nine/NBN News — 1.18 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.10 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.03 million
Hard Quiz (ABC) — 1.01 million
7pm ABC News — 999,999
The Weekly With Charlie Pickering (ABC) — 956,000

Top metro programs:
Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.05 million
Seven News — 1.02 million

Metro news and current affairs:
Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.05 million
Seven News — 1.02 million
Nine News — 901,000
Nine News 6.30 — 897,000
A Current Affair (Nine) – 739,000
7pm ABC News —670,000
7.30 (ABC) — 631,000
The Project 7pm (Ten) — 477,000
10 News First — 410,000
The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 262,000

Morning (National) TV:
Sunrise (Seven) — 455,000 (Metros: 273,000)
Today (Nine) — 270000 (Metros: 185,000)
News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) —261,000
The Morning Show (Seven) — 202,000
Today Extra (Nine) — 126,000
Studio 10 (Ten) — 73,000

Top five pay TV programs:
Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 177,000
Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 155,000
AFL 360 (Fox Footy) — 64,000
The Bolt Report (Sky News), NRL: 360 (Fox League) — 54,000