The Winners:

  1. MasterChef (Ten)  (7.30pm) — 2.019 million
  2. State of Origin (Nine) (8pm) — 1.804 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.479 million
  4. Seven News (6pm) — 1.454 million
  5. Nine News (6pm) — 1.289 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) 6.30pm) — 1.230 million
  7. The Gruen Transfer (ABC) (9pm) — 1.197 million
  8. Spicks and Specks (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.151 million
  9. ABC News (7pm) — 1.125 million
  10. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.057 million

The Losers: The NSW Rugby League team and League fans in Melbourne who missed the Storm’s Billy Slater’s bit of magic near the end. Hey Hey had 637,000 viewers, including 338,000 in Melbourne, just 75,000 in Sydney and 69,000 in Brisbane, after the football finished. No one wants to watch it. It’s dead.

News & CA:

Seven had a better night, it was more competitive in Sydney at 6pm and in Melbourne at 6.30pm, so the News and Today Tonight won nationally and in every market.

  1. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.479 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.454 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.289 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) 6.30pm) — 1.230 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.125 million
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 941,000
  7. The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 758,000
  8. Ten’s late News/Sports Tonight (10.30pm) — 353,000
  9. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 255,000
  10. SBS News (6.30 pm) — 193,000
  11. Lateline Business (ABC) (11pm) — 124,000

In the mornings:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 359,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 264,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Of course Nine won here with a share of 33.1%, from Ten with 23.3%, Seven with 21.3%, the ABC on 16.4% and SBS with 5.9%. Nine now leads the week with a share of 28.2%, from Seven on 26.2% and Ten on 24.1%.
  • Main Channel: Nine won this as well thanks to Origin, with a share of 31.3%, from Ten on 22.8%, Seven with 19.6%, ABC 1, 14.4% and SBS TWO, 5.5%. Nine leads the week with 25.1%, from 23.2% for Ten and 23.0% for Seven.
  • Digital: GO and 7TWO shared the night with 1.7% apiece, from ABC 2 on 1.6%, ONE and ABC 3 on 0.5% each and SBS TWO on 0.4%. That’s a total share for the six digital channels of 6.4%. 7TWO leads the week with a share of 3.2% from GO on 3.0%.
  • Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 28.1%, from Ten with 19.8%, Seven on 18.1%, the ABC, 14.0%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels shared the 12.1% AND SBS was on 5.0%. The 11 FTA channels had a total share of 87.9%.
  • Regional: A bigger win for Nine here through WIN/NBN with a share of 41.4%, from Prime/7Qld with 19.8%, SC Ten on 19.7%, the ABC, 13.8% and SBS, 5.2%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with a share of 39.3%. Daylight was second and third. GO won the digitals 2.1%, 7TWO on 1.1% and ABC 2 on 1.0%. WIN/NBN leads the week with 32.5%, from Prime/7Qld on 25.5%

Major Markets:

  • Sydney: Origin pushed Nine to win the night overall and the main channels. 7TWO and ABC 2 won the digitals. Nine now leads Sydney from Ten, then Seven.
  • Melbourne: Nine won Melbourne with faded Hey Hey helping and Seven running dead. Ten was second, then Seven. Ten won the main channels from Nine and Seven. 7TWO won the digitals from GO. Nine leads the week from Seven.
  • Brisbane: A big win to Nine with the Origin game. Nothing else mattered. GO won the digital battle, from 7TWO and ABC 2. Nine leads the week from Ten and Seven.
  • Adelaide: A different shape to the night with Ten winning from Seven and Nine. It was the same in the main channels and GO won the digitals from ABC 2 and 7TWO. Seven leads the week from Ten and Nine.
  • Perth: A win to Ten from Seven and Nine and the same for the main channels, MasterChef doing to job for Ten. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC2, Seven leads the week from Ten and Nine.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: For the second time in as many years, MasterChef has bested the Rugby League State Of Origin; in 2009 it was the dead game 3 of last year, like last night.

MasterChef‘s won was because female viewers dominated the remote and the origin result was known. MasterChef topped all the female demos and the combined. MasterChef‘s army cooking stunt was just that: a stunt, but loved by viewers.

State of Origin: With the series decided and the game not going live in Melbourne, a drop in the audience for Game 3 of Origin was expected. 1.804 million for Game three vs. 2.156 million for Game 2 and a record 2.455 million for Game 1. The Sydney audience last night was 809,000, against 946,000 for Game 2 and 1.179 million for the first game in May.

In Brisbane, last night 681,000 saw Queensland grab a late win, against 849,000 for Game 2 (a record) and 842,000 for the first game. In Melbourne 215,000 people watched the game on delay at 9.30pm. 271,000 watched the second game and 328,000 the first. Steven Allen from Fusion points out that the combined audience for the three games this year was a record, up 1% on last year.

So Hey Hey it’s Saturday is to die for the greater good of the Nine Network’s bottom line — and it’s three programs short of the first half of the year. That’s always a bad sign for the program’s future as it means the Network is costing cutting the easy way. Even though the program got 2 million plus figures when it was wheeled out last year. Moving Hey Hey to Saturdays won’t save it.

TONIGHT: Apart from the Matty Johns Show in Sydney and Brisbane, Seven has the usual blank space. Apart from MasterChef and the finale of Glee (sob) on Ten, there’s nothing much on elsewhere. Nine has another Sea Patrol, which is getting even more repetitious insofar as storylines are concerned. The ABC has the second of its three Miracles at 8.30pm. SBS has the Tour De France,at 6pm for the highlights of the previous stage and today’s stage from 10pm. Avoid Cougar Town on Seven at 9.30pm with back to back episodes.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports