If I told you that Nine beat Seven last night (in metro markets at least), then you wouldn’t be really surprised. A raised eyebrow perhaps, but seeing Nine has a couple of recent Sunday night wins under its belt this year, it wouldn’t have been such a shock. And if I told you that Ten had another poor night, you wouldn’t really be surprised, would you? But you should. Last night was the worst night for Ten since the OzTAM system started. It is the second or third record low night the network has recorded this year in prime time, but last night was a doozy.

The network’s prime time main channel share was just 6.2% (the previous low of 6.3% last month), But in Melbourne it dipped to 5.1% and 5.2% in Adelaide, where the combined share of its digital channels, ONE (3.0%) and Eleven (3.1%) was 6.1%. In other words, more people watched the network’s two digital channels in Adelaide than the main channel, which is supposed to be the higher rating service which delivers more ad revenues. ABC1’s Rake (933,000/ 627,000/ 306,000 regional viewers) was again wonderful — the humour is what’s missing from Janet King. Seven’s Downton Abbey (1.658 million national/ 1.125 million metro/ 533,000 regional viewers) was back to its best last night — this is a better series so far than last year’s. The Block’s room reveals were top notch and pulled its biggest audience of the year. Nine’s Fat Tony & Co (aka the last Underbelly) was more than 300,000 viewers nationally behind. The T20 World Cup game on Gem (306,000) and Fox Sports  2 (161,000) had a total of 467,000 viewers last night (and in Perth from 4pm).

My Kitchen Rules  had 2.284 million national/ 1.545 million metro/ 739,000 regional viewers. It had another lunch truck outing with a blow up that looked highly emotional, which has an echo in tonight’s episode. I wonder at the sense of putting it to air, and then backing up tonight. Not much emotional sensitivity by Seven and the producers from what I saw last night. During the day, The Bolt Report returned to Ten and had its best figures this year and since going to an hour. But the quiet stand out so far this year on Sundays is Landline on ABC1 at noon — it had 495,000 national, 299,000 metro/ 196,000 regional viewers — its best figures for years.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (36.9%)
  2. Seven (34.0%)
  3. ABC (14.2%)
  4. Ten (11.1%)
  5. SBS (3.8%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (27.6%)
  2. Seven (25.5%)
  3. ABC1 (10.4%)
  4. Ten (6.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. Gem (5.8%)
  2. 7mate (5.7%)
  3. 7TWO (3.8%)
  4. GO (3.5%)
  5. Eleven (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 2.499 million
  2. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.171 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 2.150 million
  4. Nine News — 2.017 million
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 12004 million
  6. Seven News — 1.711 million
  7. Downton Abbey (Seven) — 1.658 million
  8. Fat Tony & Co (Nine) — 1.324 million
  9. ABC News — 1.275 million
  10. Ice Age Giants (ABC1) — 972,000

Top metro programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 1.758 million
  2. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.545 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.513 million
  4. Nine News — 1.425 million
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.307 million
  6. Downton Abbey (1.125 million)

Losers: Ten — appallingly bad figures. The repeat of the movie Kung Fu Panda at 6.30pm (463,000 national/ 298,000 metro/ 165,000 regional viewers) was beaten by Compass on ABC1, easily ( 593,000 national/406,000 metro/ 187,000 regional viewers). That’s a terrible result for Ten. So You Think You Can Dance Australia would have done better left there than shifted to Thursday nights to die slowly.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.513 million
  2. Nine News — 1.425 million
  3. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.307 million
  4. Seven News — 1.146 million
  5. ABC News — 863,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News – 422,000
  7. SBS World News — 181,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Weekend Today (Seven) – 335,000
  2. Insiders (ABC1, 209,000 + News 24, 92,000) — 311,000
  3. Weekend Sunrise (Nine) – 308,000
  4. Landline (ABC1) — 299,000
  5. Financial Review Sunday (Nine) — 178,000
  6. Offsiders (ABC1) — 153,000
  7. The Bolt Report (Ten, 10am) — 132,000
  8. The Bolt Report repeat (Ten, 4pm) — 129,00

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 2 (3.9)
  2. Fox Footy (3.1%)
  3. Fox Sports 1 (2.8%)
  4. TVHITS!, Fox 8  (2.2%)
  5. Fox Sports 3 (2.1%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: West Coast v Footscray (Fox Footy ) — 191,000
  2. Cricket: T 20 World Cup, Aust v Pakistan (Fox Sports 2)  – 161,000
  3. NRL: Canberra v Gold Coast (Fox Sports 1) – 153,000
  4. Top Gear: Burma Special Part 2 (BBC Knowledge) — 100,000
  5. AFL: Sunday Pre-Game Show (Fox Footy) – 81,000

*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.