What do you say about a night when a repeat of The Checkout (called Factory Seconds) and MasterChef Australia stood out as the programs to watch? Yes, Home and Away was on screen on Seven, but in terms of programs that drag you to the screen and hold your attention, those two were the best options. MasterChef bounced to average 1.351 million national/ 1.001 million metro / 350,000 regional viewers. The Checkout averaged 1.029 million national / 656,000 metro / 373,000 regional viewers. (Note that The Checkout had more regional viewers than MasterChef!)

Call The Midwife on ABC1 at 8.30pm is a bit soapy and predictable now in its third series. It was a top ten finisher like MasterChef Australia and The Checkout and averaged 1.172 million national/  801,000 metro / 371,000 regional viewers. The Checkout also had more viewers than Call The Midwife in regional markets. It’s a oncer for MasterChef on Thursday nights — next week its starts its usual Sunday to Wednesday run, but last night’s figures were the best for a Thursday night for years. That helped Ten into third, and Ten’s main channel into second place in front of Seven in Sydney and Melbourne (It’s the rebirth of Ten, I hear you all cry. Bubble all weekend. A vat of Bodega for all of Ten’s remaining executives. We’re back).

In the US, the Murdoch family’s Fox TV network is struggling with weak ratings and revenues (outside the Super Bowl this year). Its programming problems are similar to its affiliate in Australia, Network Ten. Fox’s killer TV app is American Idol and its ratings are at an all-time low: the first episode of the current season in January saw a 30% drop in viewers from a year ago. But like Ten with the weak MasterChef Australia and The Biggest Loser, Fox has nothing better, so this week it renewed Idol for a 14th season by revealing plans for auditions in 15 cities across the US later this year.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (36.4%)
  2. Seven (25.9%)
  3. Ten (22.6%)
  4. ABC (19.0%)
  5. SBS (6.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (19.9%)
  2. Seven (16.9%)
  3. Ten (16.3%)
  4. ABC1  (14.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO, 7mate (4.5?%)
  2. Eleven (3.6%)
  3. GO (3.5%)
  4. Gem (3.0%)
  5. ABC 2 (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.707 million
  2. Seven News — 1.568 million
  3. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.385 million
  4. MasterChef Australia — 1.351 million
  5. ABC News — 1.227 million
  6. Call The Midwife (ABC1) — 1.172 million
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.133 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) – 1.111 million
  9. Nine News 6.30 — 1.076 million
  10. The Checkout Factory Seconds (ABC1) — 1.029 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.154 million
  2. Seven News — 1.102 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.076 million
  4. Seven News / Today Tonight  — 1.019 million
  5. MasterChef Australia — 1.001 million

Losers: Just an ordinary night of TV.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.154 million
  2. Seven News — 1.102 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.077 million
  4. Seven News / Today Tonight  — 1.019 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 909,000
  6. ABC News — 848,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 762,000
  8. The Project 7pm  – 676,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 614,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 430,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 406,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 317,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 170,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC1,  72,000 + 48,000 on News 24) — 120,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 118,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 46,000
  7. Wake Up (Ten) — 29,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (2.5%)
  2. TV1  (2.3%)
  3. Fox 8  (2.2%)
  4. UKTV (1.9%)
  5. Disney Jr. (1.7%)

Top pay TV programs:

  1. River Cottage Australia (LifeStyle) – 103,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 84,000
  3. Foyle’s War (UKTV), Family Guy (Fox 8) — 65,000
  4. The Big Bang Theory (Comedy) – 62,000
  5. Gold Rush (Discovery), Futurama (Fox 8) – 61,000

 Tonight: Don’t forget Eurovision on SBS tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday night.

*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.