(Image: supplied)

Olympic gold news is now old news, as The Voice and The Block returned last night to remind us of the ordinariness of Australian commercial TV. Last night’s ratings for both The Voice (1.912 million) and The Block (1.032 million) will be ignored because of the “halo” of the games hanging around Seven. Tonight, however, sees a level ratings field with no golden game distractions.

The Block’s audience was around level with the 2020 series. But it always starts slowly and builds because many viewers can’t stand the building process, and those that do become trapped in the mire once they start their own projects.

The Voice should do better but what will be of interest is how many of the opening 1.912 million viewers it retains over the next week or so. Seven successfully revitalised Nine’s discarded Farmer Wants A Wife after a couple of goes and showed up Nine’s lack of program renovation skills (time to call in the TV management version of The Block?) So next, The Voice?

With the Olympics gone to Paris in 2024, there’s no more distractions and our COVID lockdowns are going to be even more boring — Queensland at 10am, Gladys B an hour later, and sometime after that Saint Dan of Victoria. Some days (Fridays and Saturdays especially), they all look and sound the same — talking heads barking and lecturing. Throw in the odd long smirk courtesy of Scotty and what a day. Not even Netflix or Prime can wash away the pains in my brain. 

Breakfast: Insiders, 705,000; Weekend Sunrise, 624,000; Sports Sunday, 415,000; Weekend Today, 369,000; Landline, 375,000;
Regional Top 5: Seven News, 687,000; The Voice, 583,000; Tokyo Games: Countdown to The Closing Ceremony, 522,000; Tokyo Games Closing Ceremony, 432,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (43.7%)
  2. Nine (23.9%)
  3. Ten (15.6%)
  4. ABC (10.2%)
  5. SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (38.1%)
  2. Nine (17.7%)
  3. Ten (10.2%)
  4. ABC (7.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (2.8%) 
  2. 10 Bold (2.5%)
  3. GO (2.3%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.1%)
  5. Gem (1.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 2.207 million
  2. The Voice (Seven) — 1.912 million
  3. Tokyo Games Day: Countdown to the Closing Ceremony (Seven) — 1.767 million
  4. Tokyo Games Day: Closing Ceremony (Seven) — 1.723 million
  5. Nine News — 1.515 million
  6. 7pm ABC News — 1.074 million
  7. Tokyo Games: Day 16 — Afternoon (Seven) — 1.051 million
  8. The Block (Nine) — 1.032 million
  9. Tokyo Games: Day 16 — Mornings (Seven) — 1.587 million
  10. Joanna Lumley’s Britain (ABC) — 768,000

Top metro programs: 

  1. Seven News — 1.520 million
  2. The Voice (Seven) — 1.329 million
  3. Tokyo Games: Closing Ceremony (Seven) — 1.291 million
  4. Tokyo Games Countdown to the Closing Ceremony (Seven) — 1.245 million
  5. Nine News — 1.079 million

Losers: None — The Olympics distorts viewing patterns

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.520 million
  2. Nine News — 1.079 million
  3. 7pm ABC News — 705,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 452,000
  5. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 404,000
  6. The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 325,000
  7. Nine Late News — 274,000
  8. Ten News First — 271,000
  9. Nine Late News — 246,000
  10. SBS World News — 195,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 705,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 624,000
  3. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 415,000
  4. Landline (ABC) — 375,000
  5. Weekend Today (Nine) — 369,000
  6. Offsiders (ABC) — 275,000

Top 5 pay-TV programs:

  1. NRL: Gold Coast vs North Qld (Fox League) — 192,000
  2. AFL: Hawthorn vs Collingwood (Fox Footy), NRL: Canterbury vs Wests (Fox League) — 169,000
  3. NRL: Sunday Ticket (Fox League) — 142,000
  4. AFL: Footscray vs Essendon (Fox Footy) — 128,000