The Winners: Seven was clearly dominant. Won everything. Ten and Nine brought up the rear.

The ABC did well with The Slap (858,000).

  1. Beauty and The Geek Australia (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.371 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.136 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.097 million
  4. Four Weddings (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.093 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.062 million
  6. Nine News (6pm) — 1.014 million

The Losers: Not a very inspiring night for TV viewing. Nine slipped two repeated episodes of The Mentalist into last night’s line-up instead of the advertised CSI Miami and The Chase. The first The Mentalist episode averaged 483,000, the second, at 10.30pm, 294,000 which won the 10.30-11.30pm timeslot..

News & CA: Nine News beat Seven News in Sydney by 78,000 viewers, 283,000 to 205,000. That was after Hot Seat beat Deal or No Deal in Sydney by 81,000 viewers, 161,000 to just 80,000.

Nine News also won Melbourne 388,000 to 360,000. But unlike earlier in the week, the strength didn’t stay with ACA, and Today Tonight won all five metro markets.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.136 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.097 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.014 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 855,000
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 855,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 686,000 (+26,000 on News 24 simulcast)
  7. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 615,000
  8. Ten News (5pm) — 485,000
  9. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 360,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.25pm) — 250,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 146,000
  12. SBS News (9.30pm) — 124,000
  13. Lateline Business (ABC) (11pm) — 88,000 (+23,000 on News 24 at 8.30pm)

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 385,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 347,000

The Stats:

  1. FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 32.8%, from Nine (3) on 24.0%, Ten (3) was on 19.5%, the ABC (4) was on 18.6% and SBS (2) ended on 5.1%. Seven leads the week with 31.6% from Nine on 27.7% and Ten with 19.2%.
  2. Main Channel: Seven won with 25.7% from Nine on 17.2%, ABC 1 was on 14.2%, Ten was on 13.2% and SBS ONE ended on 4.4%. Seven leads the week with 23.9% from Nine on 21.5%, Ten on 13.5% and ABC 1 on 12.9%.
  3. Digital: Eleven and GO shared the win with 4.1% each, from 7TWO on 3.7%, 7mate was on 3.4%, ABC 2 and Gem were on 2.8% each, ONE was on 2.2%, News 24 was on 0.9%, SBS TWO was on 0.7% and ABC 3 ended on 0.6%. That’s an FTA viewing share last night of 25.3%. 7TWO leads the week with 4.2% from GO on 3.7% and Eleven on 3.6%.

Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 27.4%, from Nine (3) on 20.1%, Ten (3) was on 16.3%, the ABC (4) was on 15.5%, pay TV (200-plus channels) was on 14.0% and SBS (2) ended on 4.3%. the 15 FTA channels had a total share of viewing last night of 86.0%. The 10 digital channels had a share of 21.1% and the five main channels, 63.9%.

The five most-watched pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 (2.98%)
  2. Lifestyle (2.78%)
  3. Fox Sports 1 (2.41%)
  4. TV 1 (2.25%)
  5. Nickelodeon Jr (1.77%)

The five most-watched pay TV programs were:

  1. Grand Designs (Lifestyle) — 69,000
  2. America’s Got Talent (Fox 8) — 61,000
  3. Coronation Street (UKTV) — 58,000
  4. Golf: Asian Pro Tour (Fox Sports 2) — 58,000
  5. Eastenders (UKTV) — 57,000

Regional: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 31.6%, from Nine (3) on 26.7%, SC Ten (3) was on 21.8%, the ABC (4) was on 16.6% and SBS (2) ended on 4.5%. Prime/Qld won the main channels with a share of 22.9% from WIN/NBN on 18.6%. GO won the digital with 4.9% from Eleven and 7TWO on 4.4 each and 7mate on 4.3%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA viewing share last night of a high 29.3%. Prime/7Qld lead the week on 32.3% from WIN/NBN on 28.8%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets last night were:

  1. Seven News — 551,000
  2. Beauty and The Geek Australia — 519,000
  3. A Current Affair — 443,000
  4. Home and Away — 443,000
  5. Four Weddings — 434,000

Major Markets: A clean sweep for Seven, overall and the main channels in all five metro markets. In Sydney the ABC pushed Ten out of third overall and the main channels. In Melbourne, Brisbane, Ten was third overall, but the ABC was third in the main channels and Ten fourth. In Adelaide, Ten was second overall and the main channels and Nine was third overall. But the ABC relegated Nine to fourth spot in Adelaide. In Perth it was the ABC second behind Seven and Ten third and Nine was also fourth, both overall and the main channels. In the digitals, Eleven won Melbourne and Brisbane. 7mate was Adelaide and Perth and 7TWO and GO shared a win in Sydney. Nine still leads Seven and Ten in Sydney. Elsewhere its Seven from Nine and Ten.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: They might not be everyone’s viewing cup of tea, but Four Weddings and Beauty and The Geek Australia nailed last night for Seven by a mile.

The five top programs last night nationally were:

  1. Beauty and The Geek Australia — 1.890 million
  2. Seven News — 1.686 million
  3. Four Weddings — 1.525 million
  4. Home and Away — 1.501 million
  5. Nine News — 1.437 million

Tonight: World Cup Rugby playoff for third and fourth, Australia versus Wales. Nine and Fox Sports. Better Homes and Gardens on Seven. Scott & Bailey on the ABC at 8.30. House on Ten at 8.30.

Saturday: Rockwiz on SBS at 9.30pm is the highlight. Boring movies on Nine, Seven and Ten. Seven has a repeat of Grey’s Anatomy scheduled for 12.20am Sunday and another at 1.20am. Go figure. The ABC has Doc Martin (fresh) and a repeat of Poirot. Taggart is on 7TWO at 8.40 pm.

Sunday: Morning chats. How many will watch The Bolt Report at 10am? Nine and Foxtel have the World Cup Rugby final this evening from about 6.30. Nine then has Underbelly: Razor. Seven has Sunday Night and Wild Boys. Ten has Merlin, Junior MasterChef and Terra Nova. The ABC has the second episode of Wide Open Road. SBS has Dateline.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports