The two cooking programs — Seven had Restaurant Revolution and The Hotplate on Nine — added precisely zilch to the TV viewing experience last night, but helped produce an underlining of the split in the national TV audience that has been growing for the past couple of years. You see it in the way programs on Nine and Ten are well supported in metro markets, but not so well supported, or even ignored in the regions. And we also see it in the way many programs on Seven are being strongly supported in the regions, even though they are moderate or weak performers in the metros.  And so it was last night.

Seven was  a narrow winner overall in the metros and a narrow second behind Nine in the main channels as Restaurant Revolution did poorly and The Hotplate did OK. But in the regions, Seven was an easy winner, with daylight second and third – it was quite an astonishing performance. Seven won overall in the regions with a share of 35.1% to Nine’s 24.0%, while in the main channels, Seven won with a share of 21.0% to Nine’s 14.8%.

Restaurant Revolution had more national viewers — 1.059 million to 1.038 million for The Hotplate. Nine’s program won the metros, 784,000 to 676,000, but in the regions, the tables were turned and Restaurant Revolution with 383,000 viewers easily beat THP with 254,000. But The Hotplate was helped by ACA running over time by four minutes. By the time both programs had ended around 9pm, Seven’s Restaurant Revolution was ahead in metro market while Nine’s The Hotplate had weakened. In the metros, Nine had more 16 to 54 viewers both overall and in the main channels. Tonight both eatery shows are back on our screens, which will make for an interesting reception from viewers.

In the morning Sunrise moved back in front of Today with 305,000 to 297,000 and in the evening the 7pm bit of The Project with 647,000 fell behind 7.30 with 708,000 metro viewers.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (27.4%)
  2. Nine (26.0%)
  3. Ten (20.1%)
  4. ABC (19.4%)
  5. SBS (7.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (18.7%)
  2. Seven (18.5%)
  3. Ten (13.5%)
  4. ABC (13.5%)
  5. SBS ONE (6.1%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.9%)
  2. GO, ABC 2 (4.2%)
  3. 7mate, ONE (4.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.579 million
  2. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.355 million
  3. Seven News — 1.351 million
  4. Home and Away (Seven) – 1.304 million
  5. ABC News  – 1.196 million
  6. Nine News 6.30 — 1.107 million
  7. Restaurant Revolution (Seven) — 1.059 million
  8. The Hotplate (Nine) — 1.038 million
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 1.020 million
  10. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.015 million

Top metro programs:

  1. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.162 million
  2. Nine News — 1.154 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.107 million
  4. Seven News — 1.011 million

Losers: Viewers of both Restaurant Revolution and The Hotplate – they are not really interesting programs. But these are establishing episodes, let’s see what happens next week. Perhaps they will build? That news and current affairs programs occupied the top six spots in the metro rankings last night tells us just how little viewers though of what was on offer.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.162 million
  2. Nine News — 1.154 million
  3.  Nine News 6.30 — 1.107 million
  4. Seven News — 1.011 million
  5. Seven News/Today Tonight — 958,000
  6. 7pm ABC News  — 820,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 708,000
  8. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 664,000
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 647,000
  10. Ten Eyewitness News — 554,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 305,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 297,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 164,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  100,000 + 40,000 on News 24) — 140,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 115,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 64,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (2.8%)
  2. Fox8  (2.6%)
  3. TVHITS (2.0%)
  4. UKTV, Universal (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 106,000
  2. Back Page (Fox Sports 1) — 100,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 77,000
  4. Pawn Stars Australia (A&E) — 64,000
  5. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle), NRL: 360 (Fox Sports 1) — 59,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. 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.