The Winners: MasterChef topped the night for Ten with 2.012 million viewers from 7.30pm. Seven News was 2nd with 1.502 million people and Today Tonight followed with 1.489 million. The Gruen Transfer averaged a very solid 1.407 million at 9pm for the ABC. Nine News was 5th with 1.381 million and Specks and Specks won the 8.30pm slot with 1.318 million people, picking up viewers from having The Gruen Transfer following it. A Current Affair was 7th with 1.222 million people, Seven returned Highway Patrol to 7.30pm and it averaged 1.211 million. Seven’s 8.30pm program, Police Under Fire averaged 1.134 million and beat Ten’s Lie Top Me which was next with 1.110 million people. The 7pm ABC News averaged 1.091 million viewers in 11th spot and Home and Away averaged 1.089 million people, ahead of Nine’s repeat of Two and a Half Men at 8pm with 1.067 million.

The Losers: Nine. Hey Hey it’s Saturday from 7.30pm to 9.30pm had just 801,000 viewers so Nine bombed.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne. Today Tonight won everywhere. ACA surprisingly fell in Melbourne after Nine News won. The 7.30 Report averaged 779,000. Lateline averaged 342,000, Lateline Business, 192,000. Ten News, 907,000, the late News/Sports Tonight, 372,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 214,000, the late edition, 155,000. 7am Sunrise, 366,000, 7am Today, 299,000.

The Stats:

FTA: Seven won All People, Ten won the demos, thanks mostly to MasterChef. Seven finished with a share of 26.9%, from Ten with 25.1%, Nine on 23.6%, the ABC, 19.7% and SBS, 4.6%. Seven won Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Ten won Adelaide, Nine won Melbourne (thanks to the AFL Footy Show and strong performance by the News). Seven leads the week with 28.2%, from Nine with 26.1% and Ten on 23.7%.

Main Channel: Seven won with a share of 25.2%, from Ten with 24.7%, Nine on 22.0%, ABC 1, 17.1% and SBS ONE with 4.0%. Seven won Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Ten won Adelaide and Nine won Melbourne. Seven leads the week with 25.9%, from Nine with 23.3% and Ten on 22.5%.

Digital: ABC 2 won with a share of 2.0%, from 7TWO with a share of 1.8%, with GO third on 1.6%, ABC 3 and SBS TWO on 0.6% each and ONE on 0.4%. The six FTA digital channels had a total share of 7.0%, Adelaide and Perth had the peak share totals with around 8.5-8.8% each.

Pay TV: Seven won with 22.6%, from Ten with 21.0%, Nine on 19.8%, the ABC, 16.5%, Pay TV with 13.5% and SBS on 3.9%. The 11 FTA digital channels had a total share of 86.5%, Pay TV’s 13.5% was shared among 100-plus channels.

Regional: A win for Prime/7Qld for the second night in a row with a share of 28.9%, from WIN/NBN with 28.1%, SC Ten with 22.5%, the ABC, 16.2% and SBS, 4.5%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with a share of 26.8%, from WIN/NBN with 25.4%. GO won the digitals with 2.7%, from 7TWO with 2.1% and ABC 2, 1.6%. WIN/NBN leads the week with a share of 29.5%, from Prime/7Qld with 28.5%.

(All shares on the basis combined overnight, 6pm to midnight All People)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Hey Hey it’s Dying, sorry Saturday. Just 801,000 viewers for two hours on Nine last night from 7.30 pm. It needs to go and Nine needs to put us out of our misery. Even in his home city, Daryl Somers efforts were only appreciated by 314,000 people; that was the 14th most watched program in the market. MasterChef‘s regional jaunt was watched by more than double that.

The question is, can Nine let Hey Hey continue? It won’t be there next week because of the State of Origin, but it will be back the week after because Kylie Minogue is on.

MasterChef went bush (well to outer south western Sydney) and had a challenge with the girls from the Country Women’s Association. Over 2 million voyeurs, ooops, viewers watched what ended up as a bit of culinary bloodsport and probably one of the highlights of this series.

The Gruen Transfer again showed last night why it’s a one off program with great producers. It’s look at MasterChef and product placement was far tougher and harder edged than any of the sloppy knife jobs attempted by rival programs on Nine and Seven, or by the News Ltd tabloids.

The Gruen Transfer‘s examination of MasterChef last night and what it showed and how it was explained, should be taken on board by Ten and producers, Fremantle. They will ruin the brand by their greed and people getting tired of seeing these messages.Viewers might not notice the ads in program, but tell them that they are there and teach them how to spot them (as The Gruen Transfer did last night) and ratings will suffer.

Nine showed the AFL Footy Show last night in southern states: 481,000, with 306,000 watching in Melbourne. That was its best audience for three weeks.

TONIGHT: The black hole for Seven post 7.30pm, except the Matty Johns Show in Sydney and Brisbane. Apart that, it’s not “must watch” TV.

Nine has Sea Patrol. Ten has MasterChef and a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm. Is Ten really that short of material that they are wasting this program in repeat with the first season not finished? The answer is no, look down south where there’s an AFL game on Ten tonight, with the telecast starting at 8pm, to allow the half hour episode of MasterChef to be shown.

So Ten is going for a filler in Brisbane and Sydney when the game is on, plus an episode of Law And Order SVU and Medium. SBS has Family Feast at 7.30pm. Warning: Cougar Town is on Seven from 9.30pm to 10.30pm. Directly against the NRL Footy Show on Nine in Brisbane and Sydney. A race to the bottom for the hour.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports