sonia kruger
Big Brother host Sonia Kruger (Image: Seven)

Seven boasted about winning last night as Big Brother returned to our screens but the ratings reality wasn’t Seven’s to boast about. Big Brother was weak — not quite MasterChef Australia weak, not quite DOA, but a life support team is standing by. Its audience shrank sharply, down about 25% from its start in June last year.

At least Nine’s Lego Masters struggled back above that level last night to average 1.01 million, still well short of last week’s return ep figure of 1.12 million.

Ten’s MasterChef Australia was again squeezed: 725,000 and fourth behind Seven, Nine and the ABC. So weak was Ten last night that it was beaten in the main channels by the ABC and finished fourth on the night, even though it was third in total people.

So now we have returning 2020 COVID hits in Lego Masters, Big Brother and MasterChef Australia all underperforming or struggling. And even though it had a reasonable outing, Nine’s Married At First Sight suffered a fall in audience numbers across its 2021 season and for the finale.

And by the way, the Oscars telecast on Seven yesterday averaged 282,000. In the US the broadcast averaged less than 10 million, the lowest ever. The early figure was 9.85 million against more than 23 million for last year.

Breakfast: Sunrise, 55,000 nationally and 269,000 metro; Today, 326,000 and 226,000; News Breakfast, 252,000 and 158,000.

Regional top five: Seven News, 634,000; Seven News 6.30, 588,000; Home and Away, 393,000; 7.30, 343,000; 7pm ABC News, The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 357,000

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (28.6%)
  2. Nine (26.9%)
  3. Ten (19.3)
  4. ABC (17.1%)
  5. SBS (8.2%)


Network main channels:

  1. Seven (20.9%)
  2. Nine (19.5%)
  3. ABC (12.9%)
  4. Ten (10.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.8%)


Top 5 digital channels:

  1. 10 Bold (5.2%)
  2. 7TWO (3.3%)
  3. 7mate, 10 Peach (2.7%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy/Plus (2.4%)


Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.740 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.701 million
  3. Nine News — 1.323 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.316 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) —1.106 million
  6. 7pm ABC News — 1.070 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.038 million
  8. Lego Masters (Nine)— 1.015 million
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 939,000
  10. Big Brother Arrival (Seven) — 927,000


Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News 6.30 — 1.113 million
  2. Seven News — 1.105 million
  3. Nine News — 1.039 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.014 million


Losers: Big Brother and MasterChef Australia weak

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News 6.30 — 1.113 million
  2. Seven News — 1.105 million
  3. Nine News — 1.039 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.014 million
  5. ACA (Nine) —782,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 714,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 596,000
  8. Australian Story (ABC) — 564,000
  9. Four Corners (ABC) — 539,000
  10. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 489,000


Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 455,000/269,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 326,000/226,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC) — 252,000/158,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — n/a
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 179,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 49,000


Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 88,000
  2. AFL: On the Couch (Fox Footy) — 76,000
  3. Credlin (Sky News), Paul Murray (Sky News) — 70,000
  4. Alan Jones (Sky News) — 66,000