The Voice hits a high note as 4.201 million tune-in

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Australian Story was the highlight missed by most Australian viewers last night. Only 737,000 watched the second story on Black Caviar and its UK adventure and breeding. It again underlines why Australian Story is (along with Foreign Correspondent, as we will see tonight), the best in the business. More than anything else, the two Australian Story reports on Black Caviar have gone a long way to explaining why she is so strongly supported by millions of people, many of whom will be watching her run as Ascot early Sunday at 12.45am.

As expected, viewers flocked to see the final of The Voice. On the preliminary figures, more than 3 million people watched the winner announced around 9pm in the five metro markets and a massive 4.2 million people watched nationally. So will the winner, Karise Eden, do well in the big wide, uncomfortable world, without the cloying, uncritical support of the judges?

For the entire broadcast of The Voice, the average audience was 2.786 million (from 7.33pm to 9.16pm). Tricky Business started right after that and instead of the 1.336 million or more viewers in the preliminary figures, it really was watched by 804,000 when adjusted for the later start around 9.16pm. So, despite the ostensible top 10 finish, it bombed.

MasterChef did well for Ten last night, holding above a million viewers in the five metro markets and 1.411 million nationally. Overall Ten squeezed between Nine, Seven and the ABC and finished the night fourth. It was the second weak night in a row where the ABC either did better or matched the performance of the commercial network.

On pay TV, the Monday night NRL game between Manly and Melbourne was watched by a very solid 344,000 viewers. That again underlines to Foxtel and Fox Sports how much they need rugby league (compared with the AFL).

Tonight: The last Packed to the Rafters for this season on Seven. That’s after Once Upon a Time at 7.30pm. Nine has The Block. Ten has MasterChef . For Ten, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms ends tonight, but, unfortunately, Being Laura Bingle continues. The ABC starts a six part series on a group of athletes going to the London Olympics at 8pm called Race to London and Foreign Correspondent has a 20 year special at 8.30pm. Both will be far better TV than the bungling Being Laura Bingle.

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

The Voice (winner announced) (Nine) — 4.201 million
The Voice (grand final) (Nine) — 3.579 million
Seven News — 2.043 million.
The Block (Nine) — 2.038 million
Nine News — 1.902 million
Revenge (Seven) — 1.710 million
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.483 million
ABC News — 1.477 million
MasterChef — 1.411 million
Home and Away — 1.380 million

The Metro Winners:

The Voice (winner announced) (Nine) (9pm) — 3.098 million
The Voice (grand final) (Nine) (7.30pm) — 2.654 million
The Block (Nine) (7pm) — 1.501 million
Seven News (6pm) — 1.366 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.320 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.244 million
Revenge (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.192 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.184 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.054 million
MasterChef (Ten) (7pm) — 1.048 million

The Losers: None really because of the size of the distortion to normal viewing by The Voice. Ten though was weak for a second night.

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

Seven News (6pm) — 1.366 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.320 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.244 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.184 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.054 million
Ten News (5pm) — 746,000
Australian Story (ABC) (8pm) — 737,000
Media Watch (ABC) (9.20pm) — 731,000
Q&A (ABC) (9.35pm) — 668,000 (+78,000)*
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 645,000
The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 595,000
Four Corners (ABC) (8.30pm) — 535,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 455,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 282,000
Ten News (10.30pm) — 187,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 160,000
The Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 142,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 47,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 47,000

*On News 24 simulcast

In the morning: Ten’s Breakfast was weak.

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 364,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 313,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 185,000
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 116,000.
News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 47,000 (+23,000)*
The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 39,000
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 20,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Nine (3 channels) won the night easily with a share of 37.9%, from Seven (3) on 25.4%, the ABC (4) was on 16.7%, Ten (3) was on 16.4% and SBS (2) on 3.6%. Nine leads the week with 38.4% from Seven on 27.0% with Ten on 15.4% and the ABC on 15.1%. Main Channels: Nine won with 32.6%, from Seven on 19.5%, ABC 1 was on 12.5%, Ten was on 11.5% and SBS ONE ended on 2.8%. Nine leads the week with 32.8% from Seven on 20.9%, with ABC 1 on 11.4% and Ten on 11.0%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 3.4%, from GO on 3.1%, Eleven with 2.6%, ABC 2 and 7mate on 2.5%, ONE and Gem were on 2.3%, SBS TWO was on 0.9%, ABC 3 and News 24 were on 0.8%. The 10 digital channels had a total FTA share last night of 21.2%. GO leads the week with 3.3% with 7mate on 3.1% and 7TWO on 3.0%.

Metro including Pay TV: Nine (3 channels) won the night easily with a share of 32.2%, from Seven (3) on 21.6%, the ABC (4) was on 14.2%, Ten (3) was on 13.9%, pay TV (200 plus channels) was on 13.0% and SBS (2) on 3.1%. The 15 FTA channels share last night was 87.0%, with the 10 digital channels share 18.0% and the five main channels share on 69%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox Sports 2 (3.7%)
Fox Sports 2 (2.7%)
Fox 8 (2.4%)
TV1 (2.1%)
Lifestyle (1.7%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

NRL: Manly v Melbourne (Fox Sports 2) 344,000
NRL: XTRA (Fox Sports 2) — 166,000
AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 102,000
Golf: US Open (final round) (Fox Sports 2) — 80,000
Family Guy (Fox 8) — 76,000

Regional: No difference here with WIN/NBN (3 channels) winning with 35.0% from Prime/7Qld (3) on 30.0% (a smaller margin than in metro markets). SC Ten (3) ended with 15.8%, the ABC (4) was on 15.5% and SBS (2) was on 3.8%. WIN/NBN had a big win the main channels, 28.2% to Prime/7Qld on 21.7%. ABC 1 beat Ten into third, 11.4% to 10.7%. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.0%, from GO on 4.0% and 7mate on 3.2%. The 10 digital channels had a total FTA share last night of 24.9%. WIN/NBN lead the week with 36.3% from Prime/7Qld on 30.7%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

The Voice (winner announced) — 1.122 million
The Voice (grand final) — 957,000
Seven News — 677,000
Nine News — 583,000
The Block — 537,000

Major Metro Markets: A very mixed night. Nine did well in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth where it won overall and the main channels. But Seven won Perth overall and the main channels (On Sunday night Seven won the main channels) as The Block, News, A Current Affair and Tricky Business held back the channel. The ABC and ABC 1 beat Ten into third in most markets- Sydney, Melbourne (overall was shared with Ten), the main channels in Perth and overall in Brisbane. 7TWO won the digitals in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. 7mate won in Melbourne, Go won Perth. Nine leads the week in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven leads in Perth.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports