Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: MKR’s dominance continues

“Phew!” went Seven TV executives when they viewed last night’s elimination episode of My Kitchen Rules a month or so ago: “We’ve had a narrow escape from ratings disaster, we live to rate another day.” Bonuses all round. Viewers would have realised that the you know who’s of My Kitchen Rules, Chloe and Kelly, came close to departing the mobile kitchen series last night, but they will live to moan another day about the competition, titillating viewers as they speak. And the ratings continue to spark! My Kitchen Rules producers will have to return Canberra duo, Andrew and Emilia to the loveable gang — probably when the competition hits the My Kitchen Rules industrial-sized kitchen fan. You have to share the Seven executives’ relief don’t you, not to share it would make you a cynic.

The ratings for last night tell us why Seven executives were relieved when they saw the finished episode. My Kitchen Rules absolutely blitzed the night with 3.030 million national/ 2.110 million metro/ 920,000 regional viewers. Everything else was left behind. Winners and Losers which followedMy Kitchen Rules averaged 1.483 million national/ 1.005 million metro/ 478,000 regional viewers, which saw Seven win the mid-evening. But more than have of the My Kitchen Rules audience didn’t stay the distance with Winners and Losers. Nine’s fresh episode of The Big Bang Theory saw its audience fall sharply from nearly 1.3 million metro viewers to just under a million and yet it was essentially the same program from the previous week — different storyline of course, but similar brand of humour. Another of those week-to-week vagaries of TV.

My Kitchen Rules‘ audience last night was up around a third on last week and was close to an all time high for a non finals episode (there were a couple of episodes in the 2013 competition that were a bit higher). That level of interest will be hard to sustain until Chloe and Kelly face the chop again. So Seven won the night in metro and regional markets and dominated the major demographics. Ten finished third overall and in the main channels in both metro and regional markets. Nine’s Today show is still struggling to regain the 300,000 mark in metro markets, Seven’s Sunrise remains well in front.

The Block lost a little ground — 1.492 million / 1.030 million metro/ 462,000 regional viewers. Ten’s Big Bash semi-final in Melbourne averaged 1.162 million national/ 742,000 metro/ 420,000 regional viewers in what was a solid showing after such a huge summer of cricket. Tonight it’s Sydney v Perth in Sydney.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (34.7%)
2. Nine (25.7%)
3. Ten (18.0%)
4. ABC (18.0%)
5. SBS (3.6%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (28.6%)
2. Nine (20.1%)
3. Ten (13.9%)
4. ABC1 (13.0%)
5. SBS ONE (2.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (3.5)
2. GO (3.0%)
3. ABC2 (2.7%)
4. 7mate (2.6%)
5. Gem (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 3.030 million
2. Seven News — 1.794 million
3. Nine News — 1.656 million
4. Home and Away (Seven)  — 1.591 million
5. The Block (Nine) — 1.492 million
6. Winners & Losers (Seven) — 1.483 million
7. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.463 million
8. The Big Bang Theory repeat (Nine) — 1.429 million
9. ABC News  – 1.309 million
10. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.249 million

Top metro programs:

1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.110 million
2. Seven News — 1.197 million
3. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.173 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.151 million
5. Nine News — 1.099 million
6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.048 million
7. The Block (Nine) — 1.030 million
8. Winners & Losers (Seven) — 1.005 million

Losers: Maybe The Project which saw around 100,000 viewers or more not tune into last night’s episode, or desert it for the second half of Seven or Nine’s News, ACA or Home and Away.Metro news and current affairs:

1.  Seven News — 1.197 million
2.  Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.173 million
3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.151 million
4. Nine News — 1.099 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 980,000
6. ABC News  – 918,000
7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 710,000
8. Ten Eyewitness News — 594,000
9. The Project (Ten) — 333,000
10. ABC Late Edition News — 241,000

Metro morning TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) – 345,000
2. Today (Nine) – 288,000
3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 133,000
4. News Breakfast (ABC1, 54,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 97,000
5. Mornings (Nine) — 83,000
6. Wake Up (Ten) — 50,000
7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 40,000

Top five pay TV channels:

1. TVHITS! – (2.9%)
2. Fox 8 – (2.7%)
3. LifeStyle – (21.8%)
4. A&E – (1.7%)
5. Crime & Investigation – (1.5%)

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Coronation Street (UKTV) – 51,000
2. The Simpsons (Fox 8 – 51,000
3. America’s Next Top Model (Fox 8) — 49,000
4. Vanderpump Rules (Arena) – 46,000
5. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 42,000

*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.