Seven won the night from Nine, which did very well in Sydney and less so Melbourne, but lost Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth by big margins. Nine News at 6pm flogged Seven News by 90,000 in Sydney, 120,000 in Melbourne and 72,000 in Brisbane. Ten was fourth, behind the ABC. My Kitchen Rules had 2.421 million national/ 1.640 million metro/ 781,000 regional viewers.The Block had its best Wednesday night so far (and will be topped by the finale next Wednesday night) with 1.936 million national/1.366 million metro/ 570,000 regional viewers.  Mad as Hell (hosted by Shaun, ‘the bomb thrower’ Micaleff had 941,000 national/ 616,000 metro/ 325,000 regional viewers. Remember when Ten used to have programs like Thank God You’re Here and Good News Week — programs with a bit of zing and guts — and tried to entertain viewers? Those were the days, eh?

Seven’s The Blacklist last night had a baddie nicknamed The Undertaker, who convinced people to murder someone and commit suicide. Ten doesn’t need something that extreme, but it does need something out of left field and in a similar vein — a person in charge of making viewers change their minds and watch Ten in greater numbers. Perhaps a team of TV whisperers from Ten might be the answer? After last night’s weak returns for Puberty Blues and Secrets and Lies on Monday night), the network needs something radical to happen. Lachlan Murdoch has fled to greener pastures at News Corp where decision making is easy and able to be hidden away. Ten was too exposed a position for an up-and-coming Murdoch mogul. Murdoch Junior has left behind at Ten a mess of his own making, with able assistance from the board containing representatives of Gina Rinehart, James Packer and Bruce Gordon. They are all culpable for Ten’s slow fade and destruction of value, but remain in the background and refuse to take responsibility.

Take Puberty Blues last night — 643,000 national/ 464,000 metro/ 179,000 regional viewers — around half a million viewers under what it deserves. Viewers just don’t believe Ten’s promotional hype any more about its line up. All  the network has left is the core of the core of its old audience watching and is gradually shrinking. The way viewing has gone since the start of ratings in February makes the looming start of the new series of Masterchef very problematic for the network.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (34.5%)
  2. Nine (30.7%)
  3. ABC (15.8%)
  4. Ten (14.2%)
  5. SBS (4.7%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (26.6?%)
  2. Nine (23.1?%)
  3. ABC 1 (10.6%)
  4. Ten (9.0%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.7%)
  2. GO (4.5%)
  3. Eleven (3.3%)
  4. 7TWO (3.2%)
  5. Gem (3.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.421 million
  2. The Block (Nine) — 1.936  million
  3. Nine News — 1.672 million
  4. Home and Away  (Seven) — 1.470 million
  5. The Blacklist (Seven) — 1.461 million
  6. Seven News — 1.346 million
  7. ABC News  – 1.272 million
  8. Nine News 6.30 — 1.098 million
  9. Inside Story (Nine) — 1.096 million

Top metro programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.640 million
  2. The Block (Nine) — 1.366 million
  3. Nine News — 1.163 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.098 million
  5. Seven News — 1.009 million

Losers: Ten. Puberty Blues deserved more viewers last night, but couldn’t find them on Ten.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.163 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.098 million
  3. Seven News — 1.009 million
  4. Seven News / Today Tonight — 994,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 973,000
  6. 7pm ABC News  – 848,000
  7. Inside Story (Nine) — 760,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC 1) — 666,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 610,000
  10. The Project 7 pm (Ten) — 538,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 364,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 327,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 145,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 118,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC 1, 63,000 + 48,000 on News 24) — 111,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 38,000
  7. Wake Up (Ten) — 34,000 

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (3.0%)
  2. TV1  (2.3%)
  3. LifeStyle  (2.0%)
  4. UKTV  (1.8%)
  5. Fox Classics  (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) – 124,000
  2. NRL: 360 (Fox Sports 1) — 73,000
  3. Family Guy, The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 68,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 62,000
  5. AFL: 360 (fox Footy), Futurama (Fox) – 58,000

*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.