The Winners: Seven won the night, albeit with a bits and pieces schedule. As expected, Ten’s prospects for the rest of this year took a big nose dive, with MasterChef finished for the year.

The 9.30pm second episode of Body of Proof averaged a reasonable 902,000. Ten’s Can of Worms at 8.30pm averaged 745,000, up 200,000 from its figures in the past few weeks.

  1. The Block (Nine) (7pm) — 1.550 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.475 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.380 million
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.251 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.208 million
  6. Unlikely Animal Friends (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.202 million
  7. Body of Proof (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.092 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.080 million

The Losers: Ten’s schedule, led by The Renovators which had 786,000 viewers, which is weak to say the least. Hot in Cleveland on Nine at 8pm, 637,000 after more than 1.5 million had watched The Block. Rescue Special Ops on Nine at 8.30pm, 756,000.

News & CA: Nine News won Sydney, Seven News won the rest. ACA won Melbourne, TT won the rest. Today started the week with a win over Sunrise in the morning. Lateline Business found tens of thousands more people watching late last night as world markets crumbled.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.475 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.380 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.251 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.208 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 921,000
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 726,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC) (8pm ) — 704,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 694,000
  9. Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 662,000
  10. Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 647,000
  11. Media Watch (ABC) (9.15pm) — 641,000
  12. Ten News (Ten) (5pm) — 631,000
  13. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 448,000
  14. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 310,000
  15. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) — 192,000
  16. Lateline Business (ABC 1, 11.05 – 11.35 pm) — 172,000
  17. SBS News (6.30pm) — 165,000
  18. SBS News (6.30pm) — 134,000

In the morning:

  1. Today (Nine) (7am) — 366,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 359,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 32.1% from Nine (3) on 27.3%, Ten (3) was on a distant 18.9%, the ABC (4) was on 16.9% and SBS (2) ended with 4.8%. Seven now leads the week with 26.9% from Ten on 26.7% and Nine on 26.3%.
  • Main Channel: Seven won with 23.7% from Nine on 20.7%, ABC 1 was on 13.2%, Ten was on 13.1%, and SBS ONE was on 4.3%. Ten still leads with 21.0% from Seven on 20.4% and Nine on 19.8%.
  • Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 4.7%, from GO and Eleven on 4.1% each. 7Mate was on 3.6%, Gem was on 2.5%, ABC 2 ended on 2.3%, ONE was on 1.7%, News 24 and ABC 3 finished with 0.7% each and SBS TWO was on 0.6%, that’s an FTA viewing share of 25.0% in prime time. GO leads with 4.0% from 7TWO on 3.6% and Eleven on 3.5%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 26.2% from Nine (3) on 22.3%, Pay TV (200 plus channels) was third with 15.6%, with Ten (3) on 15.5%. the ABC (4) ended with 13.8% and SBS (2) was on 4.0%. The 15 FTA channels had an 84.4% share of primetime TV viewing last night. The 10 digital channels had a total share of 20.0%, the five main channels were on 64.4%.
  • Regional: A bad night for Ten. Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won overall with 32.7% from WIN/NBN (3) on 31.4%, the ABC (4) finished third with 16.7%, SC Ten (3) was 4th on 14.2% and SBS (2) ended with 5.0%. WIN/NBN won the main channels with 24.3% from Prime/7Qld on 23.8% and ABC 1 on 12.6%, SC Ten fell to 8.9%. 7TWO won the digitals with 4.6% from 7mate on 4.3% and GO with the same figure. The 10 digital channels had an FTA viewing share last night of 27.0%, Prime/7Qld leads the week on 29.7% from WIN/NBN on 28.8%.

Major Markets: Seven won Sydney overall and in the main channels, as well as Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Nine won both in Melbourne. In Sydney, the ABC beat Ten into third overall and in the main channels, and snuck into third spot in the main channels in Perth. Perth is Nine’s worst market and for it to finish ahead of Ten tells us just how irrelevant Ten’s offerings were last night for viewers. GO won Sydney, 7TWO won Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Eleven won Brisbane. Nine leads Ten and Seven in Sydney, Seven leads Nine and Ten in Melbourne, Seven leads Nine and Ten in Brisbane and Ten and Nine in Adelaide and Perth.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Life without MasterChef was always going to be tough for Ten, but to be beaten by the ABC in the metro markets in the main channels (and especially in Sydney, overall and in the main channels) and overall and the main channels in the regions, was probably a depth to which the network thought it would never slumpd. The Renovators can’t hold a candle to MasterChef, even in this year’s weak form.

Nine did very well in Melbourne because The Block is located there and they just love their own, hence 552,000 people watched, the highest audience for any program last night in the country. The Block couldn’t support the rest of Nine’s schedule and Seven got home.

The Renovators was the big disappointment. As many in TV Land had suspected, once MasterChef had gone as a lead in, this flat, dull unoriginal program struggled. Not good news for Ten, nor the producers, Shine Australia, who takeover MasterChef next year.

The Block was the most watched program nationally with an audience of 2.119 million with 569,000 in regional markets and 1.550 million in the five metro markets.

TONIGHT: The Block on Nine. The Renovators on Ten, and a saving grace, Modern Family. Foreign Correspondent on the ABC. Insight on SBS. Seven returns Four Weddings and has Winners & Losers at 8.30pm, a female viewer skewing line up. Also on SBS, a good documentary at 8.30pm, Science Under Attack.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports