Oh dreary me, what a night of TV. The total people figures were meaningless — a narrow win for Seven — the main channels (won by Nine) were more accurate but the real tale from the night was that MasterChef is working for Ten (1.18 million last night and the most watched non-news program). Nine, Seven and Ten all said they won something — total people, demos, 25 to 54’s.

The story from this week and last night is that Seven is facing weeks of depressing figures because House Rules is a dud — 1.04 million nationally. It is no MKR. Hughsie (633,000 nationally, not good enough) remains a problem for Ten though and weak after MasterChef. The ABC did OK — Gruen (1.03 million nationally) is still popular, Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery  (900,000 nationally) is shaping up as the best series so far.

Since Jessica Rowe and Ita Buttrose have left, the audience for Studio 10 slid sharply. Yesterday morning it averaged 77,000 nationally, the day before, 80,000, a week ago Wednesday, 100,000. Viewers are voting with their remotes. 

In regional markets Seven News with 606,000 was tops, with Seven News/Today Tonight next with 513,000, then Home and Away with 480,000, House Rules with 424,000 (which is keeping it alive) and the 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia with 377,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (26.7%)
  2. Nine (25.9%)
  3. Ten (20.7%)
  4. ABC (18.6%)
  5. SBS (8.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (18.5%)
  2. Seven (16.8%)
  3. Ten (15.4%)
  4. ABC (13.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (6.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.0%)
  2. GO, ONE (3.1%)
  3. 7mate (2.9%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.900 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.148 million
  3. The X Factor (Seven) — 1.597 million
  4. Nine News — 1.455 million
  5. 800 Words — 1.414 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.348 million
  7. 7pm ABC News — 1.304 million
  8. The Chaser Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.185 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.132 million
  10. 7.30 (ABC) — 1.108 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.022 million

Losers: It was an average night in very many ways.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.022 million
  2. Seven News — 996,000
  3. Nine News — 952,000
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 927,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 859,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 723,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 580,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 551,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 403,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 328,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) —444,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 362,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, News 24) — 219,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 217,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 166,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 77,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 177,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 79,000
  3. Grand Designs Australia (LifeStyle) — 70,000
  4. Paul Murray Live (At Beef Australia) (Sky News) — 62,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox8) — 51,000