Networks duke it out for second best

Seven won total people, Nine edged out Seven in the main channels, Ten did well with The Bahcelorette (808,000 nationally), Love Island (403,000 nationally) remained as a reminder to viewers of how low Nine can go, and Gruen (897,000) lost ground on the ABC.

But a closer look shows that The Block’s fading hold on viewers (1.12 million) barely kept Nine’s main channel in front of Seven’s main channel (boosted by the news hour from 6pm — 1.38 million — and Home and Away — 916,0000). The Bachelorette failed to help Ten past the ABC, although it did some good in the demos. The collective share of the digital channels at 32.6% again underlined how poorly viewers thought of the main channel offerings. Seven returned The Good Doctor — 847,000 — which was OK but the days of a million or more are gone. It used to hold up Monday and Tuesday nights, now its on Wednesdays.

And that was a boring night of free to air TV.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (28.0%)
2. Nine (27.0.%)
3. Ten (19.10%)
4. ABC (17.3%)
5. SBS (8.5%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (18.9%)
2. Seven (18.8%)
3. ABC (12.9%)
4. Ten (11.6%)
5. SBS ONE (5.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 10 Bold (5.3%)
2. Gem (3.1%)
3. 7TWO (3.0%)
4. GO (2,9%)
5. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.399 million
2. Seven News/TT — 1.373 million
3. The Block (Nine) — 1.127 million
4. Nine/NBN News 6.30  — 1.049 million
5. Nine News — 998,000
6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 984,000
7. Home And Away (Seven) — 916,000
8. 7pm ABC News  — 877,000
9. Gruen (ABC) — 897,000
10. The Good Doctor (Seven) — 847,000

Losers: The usual suspects (Flop Island)

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 916,000
2. Seven News/TT — 890,000
3. Nine News 6.30 — 797,000
4. Nine News — 770,000
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 697,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 620,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 517,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 473,000
9. Ten News First — 330,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 246,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise — national: 488,000; metro: 293,000
2. Today — national: 294,000; metro: 197,000
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 235,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 199,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) —118,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 81,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Love It Or List It Australia (LifeStyle) — 88,000
2. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 54,000
3. Richo & Jones (Sky News) — 49,000
4. The Bolt Report (Sky News), Blue Bloods (TV Hits) —47,000