The Winners: Doesn’t it gladden the heart to see an interesting documentary beat average shows like Grey’s Anatomy and CSI? But that’s what The Real King’s Speech did on the ABC last night. Of course the movie about a certain client helped warm up the audience, but it was a quality program. Grey’s Anatomy averaged 782,000 for Seven and CSI, 774,000 for Nine, more than 260,000 behind The Real King’s Speech on 1.049 million.

Nine’s Footy Shows: 678,000 — 316,000 in Melbourne for the AFL one, 132,000 in Sydney and 57,000 in Brisbane for the irrelevant NRL program.

  1. MasterChef Australia (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.633 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.262 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.117 million
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.102 million
  5. The Real King’s Speech (ABC) (8.30pm) — 1.049 million
  6. ABC News (7pm) — 1.007 million

The Losers: Airways, Seven, 7.30 pm, 676,000. Not good enough and its lost it. Tiger has such an unappealing name now.

News & CA: Nine News won Sydney and Brisbane, Seven won the rest. TT lost Brisbane, won the rest. 6.30 With George Negus had 652,000 viewers all up last night.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.262 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.117 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.102 million
  4. ABC News (7pm) — 1.007 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 990,000
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 951,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 640,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 582,000
  9. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 415,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.15pm) — 301,000
  11. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (10.30pm) — 237,000
  12. SBS News (6.30pm) — 185,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 174,000
  14. Lateline Business (ABC) (10.50pm) — 153,000
  15. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (11pm) — 141,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 384,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 356,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 27.1% from Nine (3) on 25.2%, Ten (3) was on 24.4%, the ABC (4) ended with 17.9% and SBS (2) was on 5.3%. Seven leads the week with 28.3% from Nine on 26.0% and Ten with 25.5%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won narrowly with 19.7%, From Nine on 19.6% and Ten with 19.0% (a very close night). ABC 1 was on 14.9% and SBS ONE, 5.3%. Seven leads the week with 21.3% from ten on 21.1% and Nine on 20.2%.
  • Digital: Eleven won with 4.2% from 7TWO on 4.1%, 7mate was on 3.2%, Gem was on 2.9%, GO, 2.8%, ABC 2, 2.5%, ONE was on 1.2%, ABC 3, 0.8%, News 24 and SBS TWO were on 0.6% each. That’s a total share of FTA prime time viewing last night of 22.9%. 7TWO leads the week with 3.7%, from 7Mate on 3.3% and Eleven on 3.1%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 22.2%, from Nine (3) on 20.6%, Ten (3) was on 20.0%, Pay TV (100 plus channels) ended with 15.2% (its highest share of the week so far), the ABC (4) was on 14.6% and SBS (2) was on 4.3%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share of prime time viewing last night of 84.8%, with the digitals accounting for 17.9% and the five main channels, 67.1%.
  • Regional: WIN/NBN (3 channels) won with a share of 29.3%, from prime/7Qld (3) with 29.2%, SC Ten (3) was on 21.1%, the ABC (4) was on 15.6% and SBS (2) ended with 4.8%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 22.6% to Prime/7Qld’s 18.8%. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.5% from 7mate on 4.8% and Eleven with 4.0%. The 10 digital channels had a total FTA viewing share in prime time of 25.9%. Prime/7Qld still leads the week with 30.1% from WIN/NBN on 27.9%.

Major Markets: Seven won overall and in the main channels in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth where Ten was second and Nine third. In Melbourne and Brisbane, Nine got up ahead of Seven. Ten was second in the main channels in Melbourne and Seven third. 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney and Melbourne and drew Adelaide with Eleven. Eleven had a big win in Perth. Gem won Brisbane. Seven leads the week in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Nine leads in Brisbane.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Seven may have won, but MasterChef again proved unstoppable at 7.30pm. Time for Nine to give Getaway a holiday of its own, the 642,000 for the half hour from 8pm is not very good.

MasterChef was very popular in regional areas last night, picking up the slack from the night before. Its 541,000 audience made it the most watched program in regional areas and gave it a national audience of 2.174 million on the night.

TONIGHT: AFL in the south on Seven, NRL, Australia vs. NZ on Nine from 7.30pm. The Secret History of Eurovision on SBS at 7.30pm. Jonathon Creek is back on the ABC in Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man. It’s also on 7TWO on Monday nights. My head hurts with the confusion. Better Homes and Gardens is back on Seven at 7.30pm. MasterChef on Ten at 7.30pm.

Saturday: AFL and NRL on Ten and Foxtel. Dr Who on the ABC and then Spooks. Nothing much else on anywhere. The Inspector Morse repeat on 7TWO and then The Good Life episodes afterwards are vintage TV, the best things on the night.

Sunday: Chats in the morning. AFL and NRL on Seven, Nine and Foxtel during the day and evening. Nine’s comeback? Blood Brothers at 8.30pm about particularly odd Sydney murders. Lisa McCune plays a well known Sydney Crown prosecutor after a fashion. Lots of deep and meaningful glances. Nine also has a new series at 6.30pm called In Their Footsteps. Australians retrace their ancestors wartime experiences.

Ten has MasterChef after Merlin returns at 6.30pm. It could be past its use by date. Ditto about Dancing with the Stars on Seven at 6.30pm. That means Sunday Night has a 10 week holiday, which is unfortunate. The ABC has the first of a two partner of Moby Dick, or whale watching, the Boston way.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports