The Winners: Seven News was tops with 1.289 million, Today Tonight was second with 1.217 million and Nine News was 3rd with 1.149 million. The 7pm ABC News was 4th with 1.096 million, the Monday repeat of Two and a half Men was 5th with 1.088 million (and 407,000 desperates in Melbourne who watched). A Current Affair was 6th with 1.081 million, the repeat of The Mentalist on Nine at 8.30pm averaged 1.041 million (and 414,000 in Melbourne, the highest audience in the country last night for any market). The Middle, which started on Nine last night at 8pm averaged 1.027 million. Seven’s The Force averaged 993,000 at 7.30pm and Destroyed in Seconds averaged 954,000 at 8pm for Seven. How I Met Your Mother (repeat) at 7pm for Seven averaged 885,000 and the Funniest Home Videos strip at 7pm averaged 867,000. Elders with Andrew Denton at 8pm averaged 804,000 for the ABC.

The Losers: Malcolm in the Middle, 653,000 at 6.30pm for Ten. Fine for Ten, but for viewers, second time around after being on Nine? Top Gear, repeat, SBS, 7.30pm, 735,000. Yes I know why SBS is running this program, but it is tiring. Futurama on Ten at 8pm, 549,000, Supernatural on Ten at 8.30pm, 546,000. Hello, anyone home last night watching Ten? Ten News with 720,000 viewers was the most watched program for the network last night and it isn’t in prime time.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne. The 7pm ABC News in Sydney with 334,000, was second to Seven with 346,000 and ahead of Nine with 318,000. Nine News was much stronger in Melbourne with 406,000, as was ACA with was watched by 383,000 to TT‘s 347,000. TT won elsewhere and won nationally. After the 7pm ABC News million plus audience, The 7.30 Report averaged 842,000. Lateline averaged 289,000. Ten News averaged 720,000. The late News/Sports Tonight, 278,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 196,000, the late News at 9.45pm, 318,000. 7am Sunrise, 374,000, 7am Today, 293,000.

The Stats: Seven won with a 6pm to Midnight All People combined share of 28.3%, from Nine with 26.1%, the ABC was third with 18.5%, ten was next with 16.2% and SBS was on 11.0%. Seven leads the week 29.2% to 27.0% for Nine.

In regional markets Seven won with 27.1%, from WIN/NBN’s main channel with 25.1%, the ABC’s main channel with 15.7%, Southern Cross (Ten) on 15.4% and SBS on 12.8% for the main channel.

Digitally: 7TWO won with 3.40% (Seven’s main channel was on 24.00%), from Nine’s Go on 2.10% (Nine main channel on 24.000%) and ABC 2 also on 2.10 (With ABC 1 on 15.80% and ABC 3 with 0.60%). Ten’s ONE was on 0.80% (Ten’s main channel was on 15.30%), SBS TWO was on 0.20% and SBS ONE was on 10.70%. You might note from those figures that SBS TWO was beaten by ABC 3, the kids channel. All up the FTA digital channels averaged 9.3% of the audience.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Another night of summer TV going, how many is it to the start of ratings? Seven won, Nine did well, Ten faded, the ABC did OK, FTA digital TV was popular, as was SBS. The cricket yesterday was more interesting than last night. Let’s hope that’s the same this afternoon.

Man Vs. Wild on SBS at 8.30 m, 505,000. Between 7.30 m and 9.30pm Ten was 5th with SBS in front of it. Nine’s Flashpoint averaging just 527,000. The second episode of Supernatural on Ten averaged 518,000 at 9.30pm. That put both networks in a battle for third and fourth. Seven’s movie, Out of Time ,at 8.30pm, with 735,000, clearly beat Nine and Ten, plus SBS and the ABC (Lillies at 8.30pm, 580,000) and that won the night for Seven after it was weakish from 7pm to 8.30pm. The 7.30 Report with 842,000, beat Top Gear on SBS at 7.30pm, as did the Andrew Denton Elders at 8pm.

TONIGHT: The Circuit on SBS, it’s the second series at 8.30pm. Everything else is dross (Gary Unmarried on Seven, or White Collar on Ten), or same old, same old, Survivor Samoa on Nine. Perhaps Jailbirds on the ABC at 8pm might be worth a look, but it’s got little of the special stuff that made The Choir of Hard Knocks such a winner.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports