The Winners: The Footy Shows, nationally, 719,000, with 334,000 in Melbourne for the AFL version after 310,000 for Between the Lines as a lead in. The NRL Footy Show, 157,000 in Sydney, 68,000 in Brisbane. Fans don’t care, it was the 22nd most watched program in Sydney, 29th in Brisbane. The Good Wife on Ten at 8.30 pm, 850,000 viewers, the best this year so far.

  1. MasterChef Australia (Seven) (7.30pm) — 1.571 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.262 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.235 million
  4. Nine News (6pm) — 1.058 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) (7pm) — 1.050 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.021 million
  7. ABC News (7pm) — 1.018 million

The Losers: Between the Lines. Last night it debuted, 696,000. Another stutter for host Eddie McGuire. Sport is supposed to be his strength. Third after The Good Wife on Ten and Seven’s Grey’s Anatomy. Getaway, Nine, 8 pm, 651,000. Desperate Housewives on Seven at 9.30pm, 601,000.

News & CA: Seven News had a clean sweep over Nine News last night at 6pm. Today Tonight won everywhere bar Brisbane where it lost to ACA by 1000 viewers. 6.30 with George Negus, 409,000. OK, 310,000 for the repeat, a solid 719,000 for the night.

Tony Abbott’s budget reply at 7.30pm, 472,000, Wayne Swan’s on Tuesday night, 588,000. The post Wayne talk at 8pm Tuesday, 497,000, the post Tony chat at 8pm last night, 472,000.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.262 million
  2. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.235 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.058 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.021 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 1.018 million
  6. The 7pm Project (Ten) (7pm) — 808,000
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 656,000
  8. 7.30 (Budget reply) (ABC) (7.30pm) — 477,000
  9. 7.30 (Budget reply analysis)  (ABC) (8pm) — 472,000
  10. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (6.30pm) — 409,000
  11. 6.30 with George Negus (Ten) (10.30pm) — 310,000
  12. Late News/Sports Tonight (Ten) (11pm) — 203,000
  13. SBS News (9.30pm) — 196,000
  14. SBS News (6.30pm) — 172,000
  15. Lateline (ABC) (10.30pm) — 144,000
  16. Lateline Business (ABC) (11.05pm) — 98,000

In the morning:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 391,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 321,000

The Stats:

  • FTA: Seven (3 channels) won overall with 28.0% from Nine (3) on 26.9%, Ten 93) was on 25.1%, the ABC (4) was on 14.3% and SBS (2) ended with 5.8%. Seven leads the week with 31.2% from Ten on 24.9% and Nine on 24.1%.
  • Main Channel: Ten won with a share of 20.0% from Nine on 19.7% and Seven with 19.5%. ABC 1 was on 10.2% and SBS ONE was on 5.0%. Seven leads the week with 23.7% from Ten on 18.9% and Nine with 18.0%.
  • Digital: 7TWO with 5.3% won, with GO on 3.7%, Eleven on 3.6%, Gem on 3.4%, 7mate on 3.2%, ABC 2, 2.4%, ONE, 1.6%, ABC 3, 1.0%, SBS TWO, 0.8% and News 24, 0.7%. That’s a total share of 25.7% of FTA prime time viewing for the 10 channels. 7TWO leads the week with 4.3%, from GO on 3.4% and 7mate on 3.2%.
  • Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 23.2% from Nine (3) on 22.3%, ten (3) was on 20.8%, Pay TV (100 plus channels) was on 14.1%, the ABC, (4), was on 11.8% and SBS (2) ended with 4.8%. The 15 FTA channels had total viewing share last night of 85.9%, made up on 21.3% for the digitals and 64.6% for the five main channels.
  • Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with 29.8%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 27.0%, with SC Ten (3) on 23.6%, from the ABC (4) with 14.5% and SBS (2) on 5.1%. WIN/NBN won the main channels from 19.9%, from Prime/7Qld with 19.8% and SC Ten on 17.5%. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.9% from Eleven on 4.2% and 7mate on 4.1%. the 10 digital channels had a total FTA share of prime time last night of 28.9%. Prime/7Qld with 32.4% leads the week from WIN/NBN on 26.4%.

Major Markets: A mixed night. Overall: Seven won Sydney and Adelaide from Nine and Ten, Brisbane and Perth from Ten and Nine. Nine won Melbourne both overall and the main channels. Main channels: Ten won Sydney and Brisbane, Nine won Melbourne and Adelaide, Seven won Perth. Digitals: 7TWO won Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Eleven won Brisbane. Seven leads the week everywhere. Ten is second in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Nine is second in Brisbane and Adelaide.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Ten won All People closely, Seven did better in the demos than its second place would indicate. MasterChef‘s elimination was a bit stunning seeing the first recipe was so hard. With 572,000 viewers in regional areas (it was Number 1), it’s national audience rose to 2.14 million, including 1.571 million in metro markets.

So Dick Smith plans to restart his food manufacturing company, so what does he do to get free publicity? The two main PR outlets, Today Tonight and A Current Affair were both unquestioning and dumb. Attack imported food and foreign food companies (cue the shot of Kraft’s vegemite, which has been owned by the US company since the 1920’s!)

TONIGHT: AFL on Seven in the south, a big game, Collingwood vs. Geelong. In the north a big NRL game, Dragons vs. the Dogs on Nine. MasterChef on Ten, Better Homes and Gardens on Seven (check your guides in the south). The ABC has Jonathon Creek in a repeat and Collectors. And how could I forget, the Eurovision song competition on SBS from 8.30pm.

Saturday: AFL on Ten (Swans are playing) and Foxtel, NRL on Foxtel. FA Cup Final later in the night on SBS, after Eurovision. Spooks perhaps on the ABC which is developing into a soap opera.

Sunday: Ignore then morning chats, full of tree killers talking about the great carbon emitting event of the week, the budget. NRL on Nine, AFL on Seven, both on Foxtel, Dancing With The Stars on Seven, MasterChef on Ten, In Their Footsteps on Nine. Eurovision final on SBS.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports