The Winners: The last final of Australia’s Got Talent topped the list with 1.939 million people from 7.30pm for Seven, pushing MasterChef on Ten back to second with a very strong 1.756 million people, also at 7.30pm. Seven News averaged 1.553 million people, Modern Family, 1.481 million for Ten at 8pm and Today Tonight was 5th with 1.480 million. Ten’s NCIS averaged 1.444 million from 8.30pm for the season finale. Nine News was 7th with 1.383 million and A Current Affair was 8th with 1.263 million people. Grey’s Anatomy was 8th with 1.153 million on Seven and the 7pm repeat of Two and a Half Men averaged 1.135 million for Nine. Home and Away was 11th with 1.111 million. The 7pm ABC News was next with 1.051 million and Top Gear averaged 1.049 million from 7.30pm to 9pm.

The Losers: A good night for viewers who had what they wanted, it seems from the overnights. Nine again ran dead.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne, as did Today Tonight. Both covered the Sydney air crash quite well from the scene last night. Seven had a very interesting graphic of the plane’s final moments. Ten News had solid coverage as well and averaged 951,000. Ten’s late News/Sports Tonight averaged 401,000. The 7.30 Report averaged 676,000 and was squeezed by Australia’s Got Talent and MasterChef. Foreign Correspondent averaged 599,000 at 8pm. Lateline, 204,000, Lateline Business, 130,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 158,000. 7am Sunrise, 380,000, 7am Today, 286,000.

The Stats:

FTA: Seven won everywhere last night and finished with a share of 32.2%, from Ten with 24.5% and Nine on 21.0%, The ABC finished with a share of 13.8% and SBS, 8.6%. Seven leads the week with 27.5% from 24.7% for Nine and 24.2% for Ten.

Main Channel: Seven won every metro as well and finished with a share of 30.5%, from Ten with 23.8%, Nine on 19.0%, ABC 1 with 12.0% and SBS ONE on 8.0%. Seven leads the week with a share of 24.8%, from Ten with 23.2% and Nine on 21.9%.

Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 1.6%, from GO on 1.5%, ABC 2, 1.4%, ONE on 0.7%, SBS TWO, 0.6% and ABC 3, 0.4%. That was a total share of 6.2% for the six FTA digital channels. GO leads the week with a share of 2.8%, from 7TWO with 2.7%.

Pay TV: Seven won with a share of 27.6%, from Ten with 21.0%, Nine on 18.0%, Pay TV with 11.9%, the ABC, 11.8% and SBS, 7.4%. The 11 FTA channels shared the total of 88.1%, Pay TV’s 100 plus channels shared the 11.9% reported.

Regional: A win to Prime/7Qld with a share of 34.9% from WIN/NBN with 23.5%, SC Ten with 23.2%, the ABC on 12.4% and SBS, 6.0%. prime/7Qld won the main channels with a share of 33.5%, from SC Ten with 22.4% and WIN/NBN with 21.8%. GO won the digitals with a share of 1.8%, from, 7TWO with 1.4%. Prime/7Qld leads the week on 28.7%, from WIN/NBN with 27.5%. The State of Origin tonight will reverse that position.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The second half of the final of Australia’s Got Talent did the business for Seven, as expected last night. The more than 1.9 million viewers took the average to the two weeks to around 1.8 million, so a very strong hit. But it does raise the question, what will the X Factor be late in the year? How different will it be to Australia’s Got Talent? Ten couldn’t make it work in 2005. 

MasterChef was interesting, but it is contrived. Modern Family was mad … the confusion in the family over the world (insult?) “gold digger”, was hilarious.

The NZ vs. Slovakia World Cup game averaged a solid 547,000 last night for SBS from 9pm. Another sporting triumph for a soccer minnow. 233,000 watched this game in Sydney.

Top Gear was a repeat of a program on SBS. It averaged just over a million viewers because of what was on Seven and Ten from 7.30pm to 8.30pm and beyond; but it was a boy’s own adventure episode.

TONIGHT: There’s a certain football game in Brisbane between NSW and Qld in a code that can only be described as antediluvian. The ABC has Spicks and Specks and then returns The Gruen Transfer at 9pm. Ten has MasterChef. Seven has a movie (a repeat) and is running dead. And there’s World Cup soccer on SBS ONE and SBS TWO.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports