The Voice did it for Nine, helped by 60 Minutes, which benefited from having such a strong lead-in. Ten struggled. It had a tiny advantage in All People in the metros over the ABC, but in the main channels ABC1 was well ahead in the battle for third spot. In the regions it was closer, with Nine winning by less than half its metro 10 point margin. But the ABC easily beat Ten into third. Ten is not getting any lift at all in regional markets from the return of MasterChef. It is a metro program, unlike The Voice and House Rules which both had more than 700,000 regional viewers last night — very high audience figures.

The Voice was within 200,000 or so of its opening audience of 2.921 million with last night’s 2.724 million (1.966 million metro and 758,000 regional viewers) in a strong showing. Seven’s A Place To Call Home at 8.40pm won part of the next hour with more than 1.3 million national viewers. House Rules battled gamely (2 million national/ 1.277 million metro / 723,000 regional viewers), but that was a distant second to The Voice.

In the morning chats, Prime Minister Tony Abbott popped up on Insiders (would he have appeared if Barrie Cassidy was still host instead of Fran Kelly?). That saw the program’s audience jump by around 30-40,000 viewers nationally (more viewers in the metros). Ten’s The Bolt Report didn’t get any kick from the budget and his partisanship. It laboured, as did its 4pm repeat. All up, including its late night repeat, Insiders had 513,000 national viewers on ABC 1 and News 24 — 449,000 for the live broadcast, 64,000 for the repeat. The Bolt Report had a total of 325,000 for the 10am live broadcast (just 102,000) and the repeat (124,000). That was weak give it was the Sunday after the budget. So far the ABC (which is being chopped by the Abbott government in a fit of pique) has had the biggest boost from the budget and the political hoohaa surrounding it. And is Wake Up about to be put to sleep? Talk abounds this morning that Ten is about to shoot the program, along with more jobs.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (36.3%)
  2. Seven (26.5%)
  3. Ten (16.2%)
  4. ABC (16.1%)
  5. SBS (5.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (29.4%)
  2. Seven (19.4%)
  3. ABC1 (12.2%)
  4. Ten  (11.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.1%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.2%)
  2. GO (3.5%)
  3. Gem (3.3%)
  4. 7TWO, Eleven (2.9%)
  5. ONE (2.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Voice  (Nine) – 2.7
  2. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 2.438 million
  3. Nine News — 2.100 million
  4. House Rules (Seven) – 2.000 million
  5. Seven News — 1.960 million
  6. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.507 million
  7. A Place To Call Home (Seven) — 1.383 million
  8. ABC News — 1.230 million
  9. MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 1.203 million
  10. Inspector George Gently (ABC1) — 1.150 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The Voice  (Nine) – 1.967 million
  2. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.732 million
  3. Nine News — 1.500 million
  4. Seven News — 1.335 million
  5. House Rules (Seven) — 1.277 million

Losers: Ten got squeezed, again by The Voice and House Rules, and that meant Ten’s night was squeezed. Seven’s rearguard action against The Voice and Nine continued last night, but it was a big loss.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.732 million
  2. Nine News — 1.500 million
  3. Seven News — 1.335 million
  4. ABC News — 826,000
  5. Ten Eyewitness News — 485,000
  6. SBS World News — 217,000

Morning TV:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 322,000
  2. Insiders (ABC1 217,000 + News 24, 80,000) — 297,000
  3. Weekend Today (Nine) – 286,000
  4. Landline (ABC1) — 264,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC1) — 159,000
  6. Financial Review Sunday  (Nine) — 150,000
  7. The Bolt Report repeat  (Ten) — 124,000
  8. The Bolt Report  (Ten) — 102,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy (4.0%)
  2. Fox Sports 1 (3.1%)
  3. Fox 8  (2.7%)
  4. TVHITS!  (2.1%)
  5. LifeStyle  (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: St Kilda v Gold Coast (Fox Footy) – 237,000
  2. NRL: Canberra v Penrith (Fox Sports 1) – 190,000
  3. AFL: Ed & Derms Big Week in Footy (Fox Footy) – 107,000
  4. Rugby Union: NSW V Lions (Fox Sports 1) – 96,000
  5. AFL: Before The Bounce  (Fox Footy) – 93,000

*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.