Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: Ten wins, but really Nine and Seven lose

Ten won the main channels in metro markets with the combination of I’m A Celebrity and the return of Gogglebox Australia.

Ten really won last night in metros by default — despite Nine topping total people in the metros. In the regionals it was Seven.

Ten won the main channels in metro markets with the combination of I’m A Celebrity and the return of Gogglebox Australia (which aired on Foxtel on Wednesday night). In fact it was more Seven and Nine running dead last night and handing Ten the win in the metros by default.

Celebrity managed 1.294 million national viewers (biggest ever Thursday audience, according to Ten), with no competition, and Gogglebox Australia averaged 1.010 million. That was the biggest season premiere audience according to Ten. End of night, Ten wins.

Tonight though, Ten goes backwards. Nine has the first of three international tip and run games between Australia and Sri Lanka tonight, Seven has Better Homes and Gardens. Ten has The Living Room and then the unwatched Graham Norton Show. The ABC has a new QI (groan) and repeats of Vera and The Weekly With Charlie Pickering. Apart from the tip and run cricket, it will be a night to avoid.

Last night’s second episode of Newton’s Law saw a near 19% slide in viewer numbers — from a national 1 million for the debut a week ago to 819,000. In the metros the audience fell to 546,000 from 695,000 — the loss of 149,000 made up most of the national slump. That’s a loss of more than 20%. Seeing its a program aimed at urban viewers in younger demos (with Claudia Kavan as the headliner), that is a big message to the ABC from the audience — it is not attractive.

The top five programs in regional markets were: Seven News with 529,000, Home and Away with 471,000, Seven News/Today Tonight with 451,000, with I’m A Celebrity fourth with 348,000 and the 5.30pm bit of The Chase Australia with 345,000.

Network channel share: