The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Thank you Q&A. Last night’s edition was intelligent, funny and critical, and more importantly with a minimum of current political argy bargy and pap. There was more discussion than debate and some wonderful repartee from Barry Humphries and Miriam Margolyes, with contributions from Jacki Weaver, John Hewson and David Marr.

Viewers agreed with me: 816,000 five metro market viewers and a national total of 1.180 viewers, which is a very good result.

The rest of the night saw Nine’s The Voice steady at 1.979 million (2.666 million), up a fraction of the previous week’s 1.934 million (five metro markets, 2.653 million national). That saw Nine win the night, helped by The Block (1.333 million metro viewers, 1.8 million nationally). Both programs helped Nine do very well in all the demos, with the only competition Seven’s Revenge which slipped out of the schedule with 1.469 million metro viewers and a very good 2.031 million nationally.

The Block is bombing badly in Adelaide and Perth where it averaged 85,000 and 113,000 viewers respectively, a very weak result. Viewers don’t identify with it in these markets. The Voice was still solid in Adelaide and Perth with top five finishes last night. The Voice is still solid in regional markets.

MasterChef struggled: it averaged 1.040 million viewers (1.45 million nationally) and still has some solid support among metro viewers, but not in the regions or in Perth where it has lost its support and finished outside the top 10 programs with 100,000 viewers. MasterChef wasn’t enough to keep Ten in third sport in Sydney overall and in the main channels, or in Melbourne in third spot in the main channels. The fade is now clearly confirmed.

Oddly, A Current Affair bombed badly in regional markets: it averaged 1.090 million viewers in the five metro markets, but that only rose to 1.164 million nationally: just 74,000 regional viewers.

Not surprisingly the most watched program on pay TV last night was the NRL game between Canterbury and Easts which averaged 299,000 viewers

Tonight: Foreign Correspondent on ABC 1 at 8pm. Packed to the Rafters on Seven at 8.30pm, MasterChef on Ten at 7pm and The Block on Nine at 7pm.

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

  1. The Voice (Nine) — 2.666 million
  2. Revenge (Seven) — 2.031 million
  3. Seven News — 1.969 million
  4. Nine News — 1.882 million
  5. The Block (Nine) — 1.829 million
  6. The Force (Seven) — 1.535 million
  7. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.512 million
  8. ABC News — 1.479 million
  9. MasterChef (Ten) — 1.449 million
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.355 million

The Metro Winners:

  1. The Voice (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.979 million
  2. Revenge (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.469 million
  3. Seven News (6pm) — 1.369 million
  4. The Block (Nine) (7pm) — 1.333 million
  5. Nine News (6pm) — 1.332 million
  6. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.288 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.090 million
  8. MasterChef (Ten) (7pm) — 1.040 million
  9. ABC News (7pm) — 1.029 million
  10. The Force (Seven) (8pm) — 1.024 million

The Losers: Ten and Nine’s Tricky Business which averaged just 692,000 unadjusted for the correct end for The Voice. On a corrected basis, it averaged a bit better with 744,000 viewers. It’s still solid, but Tricky Business is a dud and again confirms that Nine struggles to make long form family friendly/interesting dramas.

Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, A Current Affair won Melbourne and Brisbane. SBS News at 10.30pm fell to a very low 34,000.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.369 million
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.332 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.288 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.090 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.029 million
  6. Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 816,000 (+71,000)*
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 742,000
  8. Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 677,000
  9. Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 674,000
  10. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 657,000
  11. Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 629,000
  12. The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 581,000
  13. The Project  (Ten) (6pm) — 422,000
  14. Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 297,000
  15. SBS News (6.30pm) — 167,000
  16. The Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 130,000
  17. The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 49,000
  18. SBS News (10.30pm) — 34,000

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning: Ten’s Breakfast had another so-so start to a week. The Circle though had a high 81,000.

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 397,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 384,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 201,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 117,000
  5. The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 81,000
  6. News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) –45,000 (+29,000)*
  7. Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 35,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 33.8% from Seven (3) on 27.8%, Ten (3) was on 18.0%, the ABC (4) was on 17.2% and SBS (2) ended with 3.2%. Nine leads the week with 30.0% from Seven on 27.8% and Ten with 19.5%. Main Channels: Nine won easily with 289% from Seven with 21.8%, ABC 1 was on 13.7%, Ten was on 12.7% and SBS ONE ended on 2.6%. Nine now leads the week with 24.8% from Seven on 22.0% and Ten on 14.1%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won the digitals with 3.4%, from Eleven on 2.9%, GO with 2.7%, 7mate on 2.6%, ONE was on 2.4%, ABC 2 was on 2.3%, Gem was on 2.2%, News 24 ended on 0.7%, SBS TWO, 0.6% and ABC 3, 0.5%. The 10 digital channels share last night in prime time was a moderate 20.3%. GO leads the week with 3.2%, with ONE, 7TWO and 7mate all on 2.9% each.

Metro including Pay TV:  Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 28.6% from Seven (3) on 23.5, Ten (3) was on 15.2%, the ABC (4) was on 14.5%, pay TV (200 plus channels) ended with 13.4% and SBS (2) ended with 2.7%. the 15 FTA channels had a total share of 86.6%, with the five main channels’ share on 69.6% and the 10 digital channels share a total of 17.0%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox Sports 2 (3.5%)
  2. Fox 8 (2.9%)
  3. Fox Classics (1.9%)
  4. Lifestyle (1.9%)
  5. A&E (1.8%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. NRL: Canterbury v Easts (Fox Sports 2) — 299,000
  2. The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 115,000
  3. AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 109,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 107,000
  5. NRL: Xtra (Fox Sports 2) — 94,000

Regional: WIN/NBN (3 channels) had a narrow overall win with a share of 30.7%, from Prime/7Qld (3) on 30.6%, SC Ten (3) was third with 18.2%, the ABC (4) was on 17.1% and SBS (2) ended on 3.3%. The main channels saw a bigger win for WIN/NBN with a share of 24.6%, with prime/7Qld on 21.5% and ABC 1 and SC Ten third on 13.1% each. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.2%, from 7mate on 3.8% and GO on 3.5%. The 10 digital channels FTA share last night was 26.2%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 30.6% from WIN/NBN on 27.9%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. The Voice — 686,000
  2. Seven News — 602,000
  3. Revenge — 562,000
  4. Nine News — 548,000
  5. The Block — 497,000

Major Metro Markets: Nine won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, overall and the main channels. Seven won Adelaide and Perth. In Sydney ABC/ABC 1 finished third overall and in the main channels, in Melbourne, ABC 1 was third in the main channels behind Nine and Seven. 7TWO won the digitals in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. ONE won Perth, Eleven won Sydney. Nine leads Seven and Ten in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven leads Nine and Ten in Adelaide and Perth.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports