Junior MasterChef plates up for the final time

Well, Junior MasterChef has come and gone and on the whole it was OK ... for metro viewers.

The Winners: Junior MasterChef did the business for Ten last night, the network winning everything. But one note: the finale and the winner announcement did not top the series opening episode audience of 2.2 million. While very popular, the audience was half that for the adult version finale and announcement. Junior MasterChef started strong, dropped away, came back in the last fortnight and finished strongly.

Junior MasterChef result (Ten) (8.37pm) — 1.853 million
Junior MasterChef finale (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.532 million
Seven News (6pm) — 1.378 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.352 million
Nine News (6pm)– 1.212 million
Undercover Boss Australia (Ten) (9.30pm) — 1.192 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.131 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.125 million
The X Factor (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.119 million
Two and a Half Men (Nine) (7.30pm) — 1.083 million
Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.078 million

The Losers: Nine, its repeat episodes of Two and a Half Men were squashed by the final Junior MasterChef and by The X Factor.

News & CA: Seven News and TT beat Nine News and ACA. ACA was much weaker than expected for a Monday night. In the mornings, Sunrise jumped to well over 400,000 viewers, with over 100,000 on Today. No doubt that will shrink over the rest of the week.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.378 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.352 million
Nine News (6pm)– 1.212 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.131 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.125 million
The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 872,000
The 7.30 Report (ABC) (7.30pm) — 821,000
Ten News (5pm) — 810,000
Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (10.30pm) –432,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 200,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.25pm) — 185,000
SBS News (9.30pm) — 124,000
Lateline Business (ABC) (11pm) — 107,000

In the morning:

Sunrise (Seven)(7am) — 437,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 342,000

The Stats:

FTA: Ten won with a share (two channels) of 27.5%, from Seven (3) with 27.1%, Nine (3), on 24.9%, the ABC (4), 14.9% and SBS, 5.6%. Seven leads the week with 28.3% from Ten with 25.7% and Nine on 25.0%.
Main Channel: Ten won with a share of 26.9%, from Seven on 22.6%, Nine on 20.3%, ABC 1, 12.2% and SBS ONE, 5.0%. Seven leads the week with 24.2%, from Ten on 24.0% and Nine with 19.8%.
Digital: GO won a low night with a share of 2.6%, from 7Mate on 2.5%, 7TWO on 2.1%, Gem on 1.9%, ABC 2 on 1.7%, SBS Two and ONE on 0.6% each, ABC 3 on 0.5% and News 24 on 0.4%. That’s a total FTA share of 12.9%, a bit lower than usual. GO leads the week with 3.2%, from 7Mate on 2.2% and Gem on 2.1%.
Pay TV: Ten won with 23.0% (two channels), from Seven on 22.7% (3), Nine on 20.8% (3), Pay TV (100 plus channels), 13.7%, the ABC (4), with 12.4% and SBS with 4.7% (2). That left the 14 FTA channels with a total of 86.3% of the viewing, split between 10.9% for the nine digital channels and 75.4% for the five main channels.
Regional: Prime/7Qld won with a share of 28.5% from WIN/NBN on 27.7%, SC Ten on 24.4%, the ABC with 13.5% and SBS on 5.9%. In the main channels, SC Ten and Prime/7Qld drew with 23.8% each. GO won the digitals on 2.9% from 7Mate and Gem on 2.4% each. The nine digitals had an FTA share of 14% between them. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 29.2% from WIN/NBN on 27.5%.

Major Markets: Ten did well, Nine was squeezed. The digital battle was mixed.

Sydney: Ten won overall and in the main channels from Seven and Nine. GO won the digitals from 7Mate and 7TWO. The digitals had an FTA share of 12.9%. Foxtel had a share of 16.6%. Seven leads the week from Ten and Nine.
Melbourne: Ten won overall and in the main channels with Nine second in both and Seven third. 7Mate won the digitals from GO and ABC 2. The digitals had an FTA share between them of 11.7%. Ten leads the week from Nine and Seven. Foxtel’s share was 13.0%.
Brisbane: Seven won overall from Ten and Nine. Ten won the main channels from Seven and Nine. GO won the digitals from 7Mate and 7TWO. The nine digital channels had a total FTA share of 13.5%, Foxtel, 12.8%. Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
Adelaide: Seven won overall from Nine and Ten. Ten won the main channels from Seven and Nine. 7TWO won the digitals from Gem and ABC 2. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 16.3%. Foxtel’s share was 8.5%, Seven leads the week from Nine and Ten.
Perth: Seven won both overall and in the main channels, from Ten and Nine. GO won the digitals, from Gem and 7TWO. Seven leads the week from Ten and Nine. The nine digital channels had an FTA share of 15.9%, Foxtel’s share was 13.9%.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Well, Junior MasterChef has come and gone and on the whole it was OK … for metro viewers. It did OK in regional areas, but didn’t quite have the same impact for Ten or its affiliate Southern Cross. It still did well, the winner announcement averaged 647,000 in regional areas, making it the top program on the night. That gave a total national audience of 2.5 million. The finale (the rest of the program, up to the big announcement) averaged 515,000 in regional areas (which was 4th, against 2nd in metro markets), making the total national audience, about 2.047 million people.

TONIGHT: Get the tissues out, and have your therapist on the phone or at the end of your email, Twitter or Facebook, because Packed to the Rafters ends with another weepie episode tonight. Talk about going to the well too often. With all this tearing up, no wonder the drought has broken across much of Australia.

Nine’s sad tonight, running dead — a repeat of a repeat of a UK Top Gear at 7.30pm, then a Richard Hammond science-based program at 9pm. Ten has a solid alternative to Seven with The 7pm Project, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, NCIS and Good News Week which was shifted from last night by the final of Junior MasterChef.

The ABC goes thru the motions with The 7.30 Report a highlight. SBS has an interesting program at 7.30pm called How Mad Are You?

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports