The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A close night. Seven and Nine were neck and neck, Seven winning overall, Nine the main channels, which is still the main game.

MasterChef on Ten at 7pm, 943,000, was easily beaten by The Block on Nine with 1.215 million in the five metro markets. MasterChef averaged 1.294 million nationally, The Block, 1.685 million.

The Footy Shows for Nine averaged 701,000 nationally, which is down on recent figures. The AFL Footy Show fell to 293,000 from 9.30pm in Melbourne, which is also low by recent levels. The NRL Footy Show in Sydney had 171,000 viewers and in Brisbane it averaged 108,000. No real State of Origin bounce there.

Tonight: AFL on Pay TV and Seven. NRL on Nine. A new Silent Witness on ABC 1 (with a reported cut in the amount of vision of the dead bodies and bones and other bits). Also watch Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell at 8pm.

Of course, how could I forget, Eurovision starts tonight, continues tomorrow night and ends on Sunday night, all on SBS ONE.

Ten has a MasterChef masterclass. Ten also has The Living Room, which is looking like a cheap and lightweight attempt to match Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens. The Giro d’Italia wraps up on SBS TWO tonight, Saturday and ends on Sunday night, late.

Saturday: AFL on Seven (main and 7mate) and on Pay TV which also has NRL coverage. A new New Tricks on ABC 1 is the only other highlight for the night. Talking about new tricks, don’t forget Eurovision on SBS ONE.

Sunday: The morning chats (more Craig Thomson…). NRL on Nine and Pay TV. AFL on Seven and Pay TV. Dancing with the Stars on Seven, followed by Downton Abbey. Ten has MasterChef and Modern Family. Nine has The Block and 60 Minutes. Don’t forget the Eurovision finale on SBS ONE and the final time trial in the Giro d’Italia on SBS TWO. ABC 1 has the final episode of The Diamond Queen and then a Midsomer Murders repeat where Inspector Barnaby is sent to Azerbaijan to find out who has been killing the music at Eurovision.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

  1. Seven News — 1.881 million
  2. Nine News — 1.793 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.777 million
  4. The Block (Nine) — 1.685 million
  5. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.332 million
  6. MasterChef (Ten) — 1.294 million
  7. ABC News — 1.289 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.280 million
  9. Hot Property (Seven) — 1.103 million
  10. Ten News — 1.1069 million

The Metro Winners:

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.288 million
  2. Nine News (6pm)– 1.253 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.230 million
  4. The Block (Nine) (7pm) — 1.215 million
  5. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.087 million

The Losers: Law and Order SVU, 467,000 for Ten from 9pm. MasterChef should have really done better (again!). It did better against the State of Origin’s monster night on Wednesday.

Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney and Melbourne. Seven News won the rest. A Current Affair won Sydney, Melbourne, Today Tonight won the rest.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.288 million
  2. Nine News (6pm)– 1.253 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.230 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.087 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 905,000
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 794,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 627,000
  8. The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 579,000
  9. The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 461,000
  10. Lateline (ABC 1, 10.25 – 11 pm) — 236,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 170,000
  12. The Business (ABC) (11pm) — 136,000
  13. The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 46,000
  14. SBS News (10.30pm) — 43,000

In the morning: Sunrise moved back in front of Today.

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 370,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 359,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 165,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 121,000
  5. The Circle (Ten) (9am) –54,000
  6. News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 42,000  (+25,000)*
  7. Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 37,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 29.4%, from Nine (3) on 28.5%, Ten (3) was on 20.8%, the ABC (4) ended on 15.7% and SBS (2) was on 5.5%. Nine leads the week with 32.0% from Seven on 28.5% and Ten with 19.8%. Main Channels: Nine won with a share of 22.7% from Seven with 21.3%, Ten was on 14.4%, ABC 1, 11.6% and SBS ONE ended on 4.6%. Nine leads the week with 26.6% from Seven with 21.9% and Ten on 14.7%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 4.6%, from Eleven on 4.2%, GO and 7mate were on 3.5% each, ABC 2 was on 2.5%, Gem, 2.4%, ONE 2.3%. SBS TWO ended with 0.9%, and News 24 and ABC were on 0.8% each. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of 25.5%. 7TWO leads the week with 3.4% from 7mate on 3.2% and Eleven on 3.1%, with GO on 3.0%.

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 24.6%, from Nine (3) on 23.8%, Ten (3) was on 17.4%, Pay TV (200 plus channels) ended with 14.2%, the ABC (4) was on 13.1% and SBS (2) was on 4.6%. The 15 FTA channels share was 85.8%, with the five main channels share on 64.5% and the 10 digitals share totalling 21.3%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 (3.8%)
  2. Lifestyle (2.6%)
  3. TV 1 (2.2%)
  4. Sky News (2.0%)
  5. Fox Classic (1.8%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Grand Designs Australia (Lifestyle) — 120,000
  2. AFL: League Teams (Fox Footy) — 104,000
  3. Futurama (Fox 8) — 94,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 91,000
  5. Gold Rush (Discovery Channel) — 84,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 34.3%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 26.9%, SC Ten (3) was on 19.1%, the ABC (4) ended with 14.6% and SBS (2) was on 5.1%. The main channels were won by Prime/7Qld with 21.9% from WIN/NBN on 21.0%. 7TWO won the digitals with 6.8%, from 7mate on 5.6% and Eleven on 4.1%. the 10 digital channels had a total FTA share last night of 30.3%. WIN/NBN leads the week with 33.5% from Prime/7Qld on 30.0%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. Seven News — 593,000
  2. A Current Affair — 548,000
  3. Nine News — 538,000
  4. The Block — 470,000
  5. Home and Away — 443,000

Major Metro Markets: Nine won because of solid wins in Sydney and Melbourne (thanks to the News, A Current Affair and The Block, with the AFL Footy Show helping down South. Seven won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. In the digitals 7TWO won Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. 7mate won Perth, Eleven won Brisbane. Nine leads Seven and Ten in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven leads Nine and Ten in Adelaide and Brisbane.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports