The Winners

  1. MasterChef (Ten) (7.30pm) — 2.243 million reported, 2.27 million adjusted for the late finish.
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.550 million.
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.497 million.
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.483 million.
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.316 million.
  6. Criminal Minds (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.173 million.
  7. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7pm — repeat) — 1.110 million.
  8. Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.071 million.
  9. Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Great Debate (Ten) (8.30pm) — 1.043 million, 1.01 million adjusted for the late start.
  10. ABC News (7pm) — 1.042 million.
  11. Home And Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.038 million.
  12. Criminal Minds (Seven) (9.30 — repeat) –1.015 million.

MasterChef dominated, of course. What was odd was the way the audience vanished for Nine’s Rescue Special Ops. 917,000 from 8.30 – 9.30pm was weak. Criminal Minds did well on return for Seven. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Great Debate for Ten held around half the MasterChef audience, which wasn’t bad.

The Losers No one again, not up against MasterChef with the eight layered cake of death last night.

News & CA

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.550 million.
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.497 million.
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.483 million.
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.316 million.
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.042 million.
  6. The 7 PM Project (Ten) (7pm ) — 995,000. (1.03 million adjusted to later start/finish times)
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 931,000.
  8. Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 755,000.
  9. Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 691,000.
  10. Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 674,000.
  11. Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 665,000.
  12. The 7.30 Report (ABC) — 648,000.
  13. Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 298,000.
  14. SBS News (6.30pm) — 217,000.
  15. Ten’s late News/Sports Tonight (11pm) — 135,000
  16. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.10pm ) — 119,000.
  17. SBS late News (9.30pm ) — 93,000.

Mornings:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 379,000.
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 317,000.

A lot of politics last night, mostly on the ABC, but the news programs were dominated as well. Kerry O’Brien and Julia Gillard had a draw at The 7.30 Report. Nine News won Melbourne, its only success. Seven won the 6pm News and Today Tonight won the 6.30pm battle of the current affairs shows.

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven won with a share of 27.2%, from Ten on 25.7%, Nine with 24.5%, the ABC, 15.3% and SBS, 7.3%. Ten leads the week with 29.6%, from Seven with 26.0% and Nine on 24.8%. Ten said it won All People from 6pm to 10.30pm in the three network commercial battle, as well as all the demos that matter, 16 to 39, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54.
  • Main Channel: Ten won with a share of 24.5%, from Seven with 24.1%, Nine on 22.0%, ABC1, 13.2% and SBS ONE, 6.6%. Ten leads with 28.0%, from Seven on 23.0% and Nine on 21.2%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 3.1%, from GO on 2.5%, ABC2 on 1.4%, ONE, 1.2%, and ABC3 and SBS TWO on 0.7% each. That’s a total share of 9.6% for the six FTA digital channels. GO leads the week with 3.6%, from 7TWO with 3.1%. Adelaide had the peak share for the digital channels last night, 13.7%.
  • Pay TV: Seven won with a share of 22.6%, from Ten on 21.3%, Nine on 20.3%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels on a collective 14.6%, the ABC with 12.7% and SBS on 6.1%. The 11 FTA channels had a total share of 85.4%.
  • Regional: A win to Prime/7Qld with a share of 28.4%, from WIN/NBN on 26.8%, SC Ten on 23.4%, the ABC, 15.0% and SBS, 6.4%. Prime/7Qld won the digital battle with a share of 26.0%, WIN/NBN were on 24.4%, SC Ten on 22.6%. GO and 7TWO drew the digital battle with 2.4% each. ABC 3 finished with a share of 1.0%. WIN/NBN lead the week with a share of 28.2%, from prime/7Qld with 26.0%.

Major Markets:

  • Sydney: It was Seven, Ten and Nine overall and in the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC2. Ten leads the week from Seven and Nine.
  • Melbourne: It was Ten, from Nine and Seven overall and in the main channels, with GO tied the digitals with 7TWO. Ten leads the week from Nine and Seven.
  • Brisbane: It was Seven, Nine and Ten overall, but Seven, Ten and Nine in the main channels. GO won the digitals from 7TWO with ONE and ABC2 tied for third. Ten leads the week from Nine and Seven.
  • Adelaide: It was Seven from Ten and Nine overall, but Ten from Seven and Nine in the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC2. Ten leads the week from Seven and Nine.

Perth: Seven won here from Ten and Nine in both the overall and the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals from GO and ABC2. Ten leads the week from Seven and Nine.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Another funny cake on Masterchef. In fact it was The Cake Of Death. With the 2.27 million who watched in the metro markets and 682,000 in regional areas, the national audience last night was around 2.95 million.

There’s talk a desperate Seven Network is looking at doing a local version of the Japanese cooking show Iron Chef which runs on SBS on Saturday evenings. The idea would be to run it next year. And why? One word answer, MasterChef. Seven is desperate give us so much food that we will be sick of it (and not watch MasterChef as much). That’s why Seven made My Kitchen Rules very similar to MasterChef.

In the same vein Ten has bought the rights to a new UK program called Don’t Stop Believing. It was partly dreamed up by ad group, Group M Entertainment, (which is part of Group M, which in turn is controlled by ad giant, WPP). Shine, the Lizzie Murdoch company is there (She gets hold of MasterChef Australia soon). Channel Five (owned by Fremantlemedia’s parent, RTL) in the UK is the other owner. London reports say Channel Five is so broke that Group M Entertainment is largely financing the program. Will it be a case of who pays the piper, places the ads?

Ten wants this untested program to counter Seven’s X Factor and to nurture when it has to pull the plug on Australian Idol. Watch for the product placement on this little number with group M and WPP and their vast stable of clients involved.

TONIGHT: MasterChef on Ten and Packed to the Rafters on Seven. Foreign Correspondent on the ABC. The Tour de France at 6pm and 10pm on SBS. Nine a repeat of a Top Gear.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports