Seven’s night, but a hollow victory because audiences were down 20% or more as holidays, Easter and weak offerings on Seven, Nine and Ten in non-AFL markets turned viewers right off. The AFL Footy Show on Nine saw its audience retreat to 367,000 nationally and 205,000 (but higher than the first two weeks on a Thursday). Seven’s Front Bar did OK — 300,000 nationally and 153,000 in Melbourne — considering it is a much cheaper program that the multi-million dollar production that is the Nine offering. 

Ten again ran fourth, well behind the ABC. In fact, it was the national broadcaster that was the real star last night. By maintaining quality programs, the ABC in fact was the top network for two hours from 7pm to 9 pm as the News (1.07 million), 7.30 with 865,000, Hard Quiz with 961,000 and Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell with 896,000 dominated the commercial opposition.

In regional markets, Seven News topped the night with 505,000, Seven News/Today Tonight was second with 457,000, Home and Away was third with 392,000, the 7pm ABC News was fourth with 359,000. The 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia was fifth with 319,000. Tonight and over the break, footballs of all shapes —  NRL, AFL, Rugby, A League and other soccer — will dominate viewing.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (30.5%)
  2. Nine (26.4%)
  3. ABC (18.8%)
  4. Ten (17.0%)
  5. SBS (7.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (19.1%)
  2. Nine (18.0%)
  3. ABC (13.1%)
  4. Ten (11.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.4%)
  2. 7mate, 9Life (3.5%)
  3. GO, ABC Kids/Comedy (3.1%))

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.377 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.331 million
  3. 7pm ABC News — 1.070 million
  4. Nine/NBN News  6.30pm — 1.068 million
  5. Nine/NBN News — 1.033 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) —998,000
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 994,000
  8. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 961,000
  9. Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (ABC) — 896,000
  10. 7.30 (ABC) — 865,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers

Losers: Ten and Seven and Nine viewers – offered rubbish.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News/Today Tonight —874,000
  2. Seven News — 872,000
  3. Nine News (6.30pm) — 820,000
  4. Nine News — 798,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 727,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 711,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 607,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 426,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 392,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 253,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 414,000
  2. Today (Nine) —372,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 202,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC, 150,000 + 71,000 on News 24) — 221,000
  5. The Morning Show (Seven) — 202,000
  6. Today Extra (Nine) — 146,000
  7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 90,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 174,000
  2. Selling Houses Australia (LIfeStyle) — 148,000
  3. Ugly House To Lovely House (LifeStyle) — 73,000
  4. AFL: On The Couch (Fox Footy) — 67,000
  5. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 61,000