The Bachelor's Jimmy Nicholson (Image: Ten)

Why did the ABC pull the episode of Win The Week at the last minute last night? Its substitute was a repeat of an ep from the Hard Quiz Kids which attracted 737,000 and beat the debut of the new series of The Batchelor with 568,000.

The repeat out-rated the usual figures (502,000 the previous Wednesday) for Win the Week, which is a harsh, grating program.

Yes The Bachelor did well for Ten and with the younger demos (16 to 39) but how can 245,000 people watching in the 16 to 39 demo nationally (of which 30,000 are in the regions) be termed a ratings win? Seven News had more viewers in the demo in Sydney than did The Bach.

The Bach had more viewers in the demo nationally than Farmer Wants A Wife on Seven (190,000) but Farmer out-rated The Bach two to one in the regions for the demo (69,000). In the more important 25 to 54 demo, Farmer simply swamped The Bach — 439,000 nationally to 346,000 for The Bach. 

Farmer averaged 1.40 million nationally and was the most watched non-news program on the night for the finale of this year’s harvest — a winner for Seven for a second year, with new life breathed into a dead Nine idea

The Olympics soccer game between Australia and NZ (Australia won 2-1) got 916,000 and cleaned up for Seven, pushing it to a very dominant win (a reviving transfusion for the post Tour de France hangover).

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (34.3%)
  2. Nine (25.1%)
  3. Ten (17.5%)
  4. ABC (15.5%)
  5. SBS (7.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (26.4%)
  2. Nine (18.1%)
  3. Ten, ABC (10.7%)
  4. SBS ONE (5.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 Bold (3.7%)
  2. 7TWO (3.4%)
  3. 7mate (2.9%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.5%)
  5. ABC News, Gem (2.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.956 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.828 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.568 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.449 million
  5. Farmer Wants A Wife (Seven) — 1.406 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.209 million
  7. 7pm ABC News — 1.178 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.097 million
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 989,000
  10. Tokyo Olympics, Day 2 Night (Seven) — 916,000

Top metro programs: 
1. Seven News  — 1.260 million
4. Nine News — 1.220 million
3. Seven News 6.30 — 1.188 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.116 million

Losers: The Bachelor.

Metro news and current affair

  1. Seven News — 1.260 million
  2. Nine News — 1.220 million
  3. Seven News 6.30 —1.188 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.116 million
  5. ACA (Nine) — 860,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 816,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 680,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 533,000
  9. Ten News First (ABC) — 423,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 332,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 465,000/271,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 361,000/245,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC) — 332,000/220,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 292,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 215,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) —  62,000

Top five Pay TV programs: 

  1. Credlin (Sky News) — 72,000
  2. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 62,000
  3. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 57000
  4. The Kenny Report (Sky News) — 54,000
  5. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 49,000