Seven’s night, easily in metro markets (by six percentage points) and in regional markets Seven’s margin was far larger (over eight percentage points) , while the ABC beat Ten into third by 6 percentage points (and gave Southern Cross TV another miserable night).

It was a night where the results in some markets were perplexing. In Sydney and Perth, Seven won from the ABC (overall and the main channels) in second and Nine was third. In Melbourne Seven won from Nine and the ABC (overall) but Nine won the main channels with the same stuff on air in Sydney and Perth. And in Brisbane it was Nine from Seven and the ABC (both overall and the main channels) and in Adelaide it was Seven from Nine and the ABC (both).

And that oddity revolved around the different levels of popularity of the Amazing ’80s on Nine at 8.30pm and Big Brother at 7pm. In Sydney, both were rejected by viewers and were outside the  top 10 most watched programs. In Melbourne and Brisbane both were top ten. In Perth both finished outside the top 10, in Adelaide the 80’s program was 8th and Big Brother was outside the top 10. The results episode of The X Factor was top program in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, but in Melbourne it was second and 4th in Brisbane.

It was a night of curiously decisive and different choices in the metro markets. So much for those TV ‘experts’ and others who treat Australia as a homogeneous market and also ignore the far more conservative viewing habits of viewers in regional markets and their greater loyalty to some programs, such as The X Factor (as we saw last night) and Winners & Losers (tonight). One thing was clear last night — the ABC’s news and current affairs offering was very popular, especially at the start of the last week of a tiresome election campaign. For that reason, Ten was never in the hunt.

The X Factor’s results episode averaged 2.208 million national/ 1.393 million metro/ 815,000 regional viewers (which is a very, very big audience). Nine’s cut and paste quickie The Amazing ’80s  fell last night and discovered that simplistic nostalgia isn’t so popular — it had 1.128 million national/ 775,000 metro/ 353,000 regional viewers. Big Brother had 1.250 million national/ 918,000 metro/ 322,000 regional viewers for an eviction episode (which might explain its popularity in Melbourne and Brisbane, but not the rejection in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth). Seven’s Mr Selfridge is now on a two for the price of one run-out special with Seven doubling up episodes last night from 8.40pm. The first episode averaged 1.181 million national/781,000 metro/ 400,000 regional viewers. The second had 876,000 national/ 582,000 metro/ 204,000 regional viewers). Australian Story at 8pm on ABC1 had 1.357 million national/ 884,000 metro/ 473,000 regional viewers for the first of a two part story on Greg Norman.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (31.5%)
  2. Nine (25.6%)
  3. ABC (21.5%)
  4. Ten (16.8%)
  5. SBS (4.7%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (23.5%)
  2. Nine (19.6%)
  3. ABC 1 (16.1%)
  4. Ten (11.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.2%)
  2. 7mate (3.9%)
  3. GO (3.6%)
  4. ABC2 (3.3%)
  5. Eleven (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The X Factor: Results (Seven) — 2.208 million
  2. Seven News — 1.902 million
  3. Nine News — 1.863 million
  4. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.624 million
  5. ABC News — 1.509 million
  6. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.409 million
  7. Australian Story (ABC1) — 1.357 million
  8. Big Brother (Nine) — 1.250 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.243 million
  10. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.207 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The X Factor: Results (Seven) — 1.393 million
  2. Nine News — 1.253 million
  3. Seven News — 1.232 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.082 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.076 million
  6. ABC News — 1.014 million

Losers:  Ten’s Wanted at 8.30pm (653,000 national/ 448,000 metro/ 205,000 regional) and Blue Bloods at 9.30pm (267,000 national/ 189,ooo metro/ 78,000 regional viewers).Metro news and current affairs:

  1.  Nine News — 1.253 million
  2.  Seven News — 1.232 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.082 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.076 million
  5. ABC News — 1.014 million
  6. Australian Story (ABC1) — 884,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 791,000
  8. Q&A (ABC1, 684,000, 90,000 on News24) — 774,000
  9. Media Watch (ABC1) — 725,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC1) — 674,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 368,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 339,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1 54,000 + 43,000 on News24) –97,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 1 (3.2%)
  2. LifeStyle (2.2%)
  3. TV1, Fox 8 (2.0%)
  4. Sky News (1.8%)
  5. Fox Classics, Foxtel movies, Fox Sports 3 (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Parramatta v St George (Fox Sports 1) –226,000
  2. AFL: On The Couch  (Fox Footy) – 141,000
  3. Monday Night With Matty Johns (Fox Sports 1) – 127,000
  4. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 116,000
  5. AFL: Open Mike (Fox Footy) – 80,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.