The AFL game last night on Seven between Geelong and Port Adelaide was one of the best this season (796,000 nationally) — many and rapid lead changes, hard fought, but mostly without rancour or “jumper punching”. Only a few points in it, with Geelong grabbing the lead from a snap shot in the dying embers of the match. Last night’s game was how all football codes should be played. Will next Wednesday’s extravaganza in Brisbane (Origin 2017) be similarly close and energetic? Geelong versus Port Adelaide and Masterchef Australia (1.26 million, the most watched non-news program of the night) were the only programs with colour and movement last night. Tonight, Swans play Hawthorn — is it revenge time?

The return of Janet King (766,000 nationally) to the ABC line up though should improve things in coming weeks. For the third night in a row 7.30 was weak – its 477,000 metro audience was the lowest of the week, as was the 720,000 national figure. Regionally Seven News was tops with 659,000 people, with Seven News/Today Tonight 2nd with 521,000, followed by The 5,30pm part of The Chase Australia with 446,000, followed by Masterchef Australia with 362,000 and the pm ABC News was 5th with 327,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (30.6%)
  2. Nine (24.7%)
  3. Ten (21.9%)
  4. ABC (16.3%)
  5. SBS (6.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (20.4%)
  2. Ten(16.6%)
  3. Nine (16.5%)
  4. ABC (11.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.3%)
  2. 7mate (3.6%)
  3. Gem (3.4%)
  4. ONE (3.3%)
  5. ABC 2 (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.616 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.395 million*
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.269 million
  4. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.261 million
  5. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.217 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.117 million
  7. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.043 million
  8. 7pm ABC News — 1.007 million
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 830,000
  10. AFL: Geelong v Port Adelaide (Seven, 606,000, 190,000 on 7mate) — 796,000

*Pre-empted in Adelaide by the AFL

Top metro programs: No program with a million ore more viewers

Losers: Weak night, 7.30 again

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 980,000
  2. Seven News — 957,000
  3. Nine News (6.30pm) —939,000
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight —874,000*
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 801,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 608,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 551,000
  8. Ten Eyewitness News —493,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) —477,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 374,000

*Pre-empted in Adelaide by the AFL

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 522,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 444,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC,  179,000 + 85,000 on News 24) — 264,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 228,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 198,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 117,000