The Winners: MasterChef won with 1.693 million viewers last night. It was an elimination episode. They are brutal. Seven News was second with 1.517 million, with Nine News very close behind in 3rd with 1.501 million. Today Tonight was 4th with 1.443 million and A Current Affair was 5th with 1.324 million. Nine’s 8.30pm program, The Mentalist, averaged 1.289 million and the 7pm repeat of Two and a Half Men averaged 1.204 million. The 8pm Nine program, The Big Bang Theory averaging 1.201 million. The fresh episode of Two and a Half Men at 7.30pm averaged 1.194 million. The 7pm ABC News was 10th with 1.067 million and Home and Away was 11th with 1.020 million.

The Losers: Seven’s Monday night schedule, it had the look of a boring set of programs. Apart from the News and Today Tonight, Home and Away at 7pm was the only program with a million viewers. That was very, very poor. And the network can’t blame MasterChef for all the damage. Nine isn’t being as hurt as Seven is.

News & CA: Seven News may have won nationally, but that was due to the margins in Adelaide and Perth. In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane it lost to Nine News in one of the weaker nights it has had this year. Today Tonight lost Sydney and Melbourne to ACA, and won nationally because of the usual big margins in Adelaide and Perth. And to make life more miserable for Seven, Today beat Sunrise, 386,000 to 370,000 in the morning battle. Today was stronger in Sydney and Brisbane.

Ten News averaged 919,000. The late News/Sports Tonight, 196,000. Nine’s Nightline, 251,000. The 7.30 Report, 754,000. Lateline was watched by 320,000, but that was because Q&A averaged 582,000. Lateline Business averaged 154,000. Four Corners averaged 795,000 and Media Watch, 646,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 197,000, 192,000 for the late edition.

The Stats:

FTA: Nine won here with a share of 29.1%, from Seven with 26.8%, Ten with 21.7%, the ABC, 16.2% and SBS on 6.3%. Nine won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Seven won Adelaide and Perth, thanks to their stronger digital channel in both markets. Nine leads the week, 33.3% from Seven with 27.3%.

Main Channel: Nine won here and won all five metro markets. It finished with a national share of 26.9%, from Seven with 22.9%, Ten on 20.5%, ABC 1, 14.5% and SBS ONE, 5.9%. Nine leads the week with a share of 30.0%, from Seven with 24.2%.

Digital: 7TWO won with 3.8%, from GO with 2.2%, ABC 2 with 21.4%, One with 1.0% and ABC 3 and SBS Two both with 0.4% each. The six FTA digital channels had a total share of 9.2%, GO leads the week with 3.4%, from 7TWO with 3.1%.

Pay TV: Nine won with a share of 24.4%, from Seven with 22.4%, Ten with 18.2%, Pay TV with 14.2%, the ABC, 13.6% and SBS, 5.3%. The 11 FTA channels had a total share of 85.8%, Pay TV had the 14.2% reported over more than 100 channels.

Regional: A win here as well for Nine with WIN/NBN on 29.6%, Prime/7Qld on 25.2%, SC Ten on 19.3%, the ABC, 18.9% and SBS, 6.9%. The main channels were won by WIN/NBN with 27.7%, from prime/7Qld with 22.1%. 7TWO won the digitals with a share of 3.0% from GO with 1.9% and ABC 2, 1.7%. WIN/NBN lead the week with 33.0% from Prime/7Qld with 26.6%.

(All shares on a combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People basis)

Glenn Dyer’s comments: A solid win to Nine last night as Seven’s weaknesses continued. The Network is either running dead for a while, or has run out of ideas. The weakness in News and Current Affairs, especially in Sydney at 6pm, continue. That’s linked to the change of reader to Chris Bath, but there’s a lack of oomph in the network’s performance most nights at the moment. Today‘s win yesterday over Sunrise would have made for a rotten morning this morning at Seven’s News and Current Affairs division in Sydney.

MasterChef was solid again last night, in most respects its tighter than last year. The judges are a bit more theatrical this year because they have more experience and confidence. Matt Preston is less flamboyant it seems, which is a pity. Just every now and then there’s a hint of “I’m MasterChef” from each of them, which should be knocked on the head. On nights like last night (and tonight) MasterChef stands out.

MasterChef helped Ten win all the major demos last night again. Seven was badly squeezed.

TONIGHT: Foreign Correspondent on the ABC. MasterChef on Ten, and Bondi Rescue, with NCIS. Seven has Australia’s Got Talent. Nine has Top Gear. An average night. Insight is on SBS at 7.30pm looking at the NRL after the Storm scandal.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports