As expected, the highly watchable but dying embers of the first series of The Block for this year ignited a big win for Nine last night. It will be the same tonight and tomorrow nights, along with the finale on Wednesday. The Block had more than 2.6 million viewers last night across Australia (2.654 million national/ 1.829 million metro/ 825,000 regional viewers). Nine also won in regional markets, while the ABC was third and Ten a more distant fourth.

Seven had a weak line-up last night, faced with the start of The Block’s final week. It had Sunday Night which was sub-par, a weak special on chef Manu (from My Kitchen Rules, back tonight and tomorrow night with the start of the finals), while Downton Abbey tanked as well. But Seven’s line up was again disrupted by the AFL game between North Melbourne (who won in an upset) and Port Adelaide last night — it had 738,000 national viewers (Nine still won the Adelaide market) and 263,000 on Pay TV on Fox Footy (1.001 million all up).

Ten lifted its game and failed to record its third record low main channel share in a row. Its share last night was 8.6%, up from 5.9% the week before —  still not good enough. But in regional areas Ten’s main channel share was still a very low 6.6%. It is a big week ahead for the Ten Network — its 2013-14 interim results, and yet another record weekly low ratings share to chew over (13.7% last week for All People, down from 13.8% the week before). Its main channel share slipped to a new low of 8.1%  for the weekend, down from 8.8% the week before.

In the morning there was no real impact from the end of daylight saving in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Insiders >did well in the morning, thanks to the WA Senate poll. It had  472,000 national viewers. The Bolt Report on Ten had 163,000 national viewers for the 10am broadcast and 179,000 for the 4pm repeat. They were about normal.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (34.9%)
  2. Seven (30.4%)
  3. ABC (15.4%)
  4. Ten (14.2%)
  5. SBS (5.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (27.6%)
  2.  Seven (23.5%)
  3. ABC1 (10.1?%)
  4. Ten (8.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.9%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (4.5%)
  2. 7TWO (4.0%)
  3. 7mate (3.0%)
  4. Eleven (2.9%)
  5. Gem (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) – 2.654 million
  2. Nine News — 2.225 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 2.010 million
  4. Seven News — 1.723 million
  5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.370 million
  6. My France With Manu (Seven) — 1.281 million
  7. ABC News — 1.230 million
  8. Downton Abbey (Seven) — 1.078 million
  9. Ice Age Giants (ABC1) — 924,000
  10. Jonathon Creek (ABC1) — 681,000

Top metro programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) – 1.829 million
  2. Nine News — 1.550 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.372 million
  4. Seven News — 1.232 million

Losers: Ten.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.550 million
  2.  60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.372 million
  3. Seven News — 1.232 million
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 892,000
  5. ABC News — 808,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News – 504,000
  7. SBS World News —  176,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 335,000
  2. Insiders (ABC1, 224,000, 71,000 on News 24) — 295,000
  3. Weekend Today (Nine) – 282,000
  4. The Bolt Report repeat (Ten) — 130,000
  5. Financial Review Sunday (Nine) — 125,000
  6. The Bolt Report (Ten) — 120,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy  (7.7%)
  2. Fox Sports 1 (2.5%)
  3. Fox 8 (2.4%)
  4. TV1  (2.3%)
  5. Fox Sports 2  (2.1%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: North Melbourne v Port Adelaide (Fox Footy) – 263,000
  2. AFL: Essendon v Carlton (Fox Footy) — 245,000
  3. NRL: Melbourne v Gold Coast  (Fox Footy) – 186,000
  4. AFL GWS v Melbourne (Fox Sports 1) – 170,000
  5. Real Housewives of Melbourne (Arena) – 83,000

*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.