The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Nine’s night. Seven was again weak, possibly because of the weak repeats in Sydney and Brisbane. The Block (1.342 million in the five metro markets and 1.930 million nationally), was the most watched program.

For the second time this week, A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw tried to find and mount the moral high horse (this time on the Craig Thomson prostitute claim that Today Tonight seems to have destroyed the night before). It was an ugly sight to see Ms Grimshaw waxing lyrical on this tawdry story, especially when you remember the damage she and her program did to Clive James with the Leanne Edelsten ambush.

The Footy Shows: 774,000 in the metros and 1.024 million nationally), which is about average, with 304,000 for the AFL version in Melbourne. The NRL version was watched by 189,000 and 126,000 in Sydney and Brisbane respectively. A small State of Origin lift?

Tonight: AFL on Seven (in southern markets) and Pay TV. NRL on Nine. Ten has a MasterChef master class. The ABC has Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell and Silent Witness. Seven has Better Homes and Gardens in the northern markets.

Saturday: NRL on Pay TV, AFL on Seven and Pay TV. Death in Paradise is a new series on ABC 1. Seven has movies (Pirates of the Caribbean). Nine has the Australia v Wales Rugby Union Test (as does Pay TV). Ten has The Graham Norton Show.

Sunday: The morning chats. Landline on ABC 1. Mabo, a movie at 8.30pm. Ten has MasterChef. Last Man Standing at 6.30pm is a new series. Nine has NRL (as does Pay TV). The Block and then The Mentalist on Nine. Seven has Dancing with the Stars and then Downton Abbey.

Monday: The Voice on Nine, AFL on Seven and Pay TV in the afternoon. Seven has Revenge at night. The ABC has its hours of news and current affairs, Julia Gillard flies solo on Q&A. Ten has MasterChef and another Last Man Standing episode. NRL on Pay TV.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

  1. The Block — 1.930 million
  2. Seven News — 1.906 million
  3. Nine News — 1.689 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.512 million
  5. MasterChef — 1.371 million
  6. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.281 million
  7. ABC News — 1.279 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.279 million
  9. Hot Property (Nine) — 1.195 million
  10. Modern Family (Ten) — 1.175 million

The Metro Winners:

  1. The Block (Nine) (7pm) — 1.342 million
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.257 million
  3. Nine News (6pm) — 1.145 million
  4. Hot Property (Nine) (8pm) — 1.070 million
  5. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.036 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.001 million

The Losers: Seven, should be doing better. It wasn’t as competitive last night as it wanted, and only has itself to blame. CSI on Nine at 8.30pm, 585,000. Beaten by Silk on ABC 1. That tells the story, Silk is new and moderately interesting, CSI is stale ratings filler. Grey’s Anatomy on Seven at 9pm, 581,000. Another program past its view by date.

Metro News & CA: Seven News won Sydney, but lost Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven won Adelaide and Perth by big margins. Today Tonight won Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. A Current Affair won Melbourne and Brisbane.

  1. Seven News (6pm) — 1.257 million
  2. Nine News (6pm)– 1.145 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.036 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.001 million
  5. ABC News (7pm) — 904,000
  6. Ten News (5pm) — 763,000
  7. The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 632,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 627,000
  9. The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 515,000
  10. Lateline (ABC) (10.25pm) — 239,000
  11. SBS News (6.30pm) — 173,000
  12. The Business (ABC) (11pm) — 107,000
  13. SBS News (10.30pm) — 43,000
  14. The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 43,000

In the morning: Ten’s Breakfast was again weak and is still stuck around levels that Ten’s old hour news from 6am was achieving.

  1. Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 357,000
  2. Today (Nine) (7am) — 354,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 196,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 142,000
  5. The Circle (Ten) (9am) — 69,000
  6. News Breakfast (ABC) (6am) — 49,000 (+26,000)*
  7. Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 29,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 29.2%, from Seven (3) on 26.8%, Ten (3) was on 22.0%, the ABC (4) was on 16.3% and SBS (2) ended on 5.7%. Nine leads the week with a share of 30.3% from Seven on 28.5% and Ten with 20.5%. Main Channels: Nine won the main channels with 23.5%, from Seven on 18.5%, Ten was on 15.5%, ABC 1 was on 12.1% and SBS ONE was on 4.5%. Nine leads the week with 24.9%, with Seven on 21.2% and Ten was on 15.0%.

Metro Digital: 7TWO won the night with a share of 4.4%, from Eleven with 4.2%, 7mate on 3.9%, GO on 3.7%, ABC 2 with 2.8%, ONE was on 2.3%, Gem was on 2.0%, SBS TWO was on 1.1%, and News 24 and ABC 3 ended with 0.7%. The 10 digital channels FTA share last night was 25.8%. 7TWO and 7Mate lead the week with 3.7%. Eleven is next with 3.3%.

Metro including Pay TV: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 24.1%, from Seven (3) on 22.1%, Ten (3) was on 18.2%, Pay TV (200 plus channels) was on 15.1%, the ABC (4) was on 13.5% and SBS (2) ended on 4.7%. The 15 FTA channels share of viewing last night was 84.9%, with the five main channels’ share on 63.6% and the 10 digital channels share, 21.3%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 (3.0%)
  2. TV1 (2.3%)
  3. Lifestyle (2.3%)
  4. Fox Classics (1.9%)
  5. A&E (1.5%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Grand Designs Australia (Lifestyle) — 119,000
  2. AFL: League Teams (Fox Footy) — 105,000
  3. Gold Rush (Discovery) –90,000
  4. AFL: AFL 360 (Fox Footy) — 87,000
  5. Storage Wars (A&E) — 68,000

Regional: Prime/7Qld (3 channels) won overall with a share of 31.3%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 29.0%, SC Ten (3) was on 20.1%, the ABC (4) was on 14.8% and SBS (2) ended with 4.8%. the main channels were won by WIN/NBN with 22.6%, from Prime/7Qld on 20.5%. 7TWO won the digitals with 5.7% from 7mate on 5.5% and Eleven on 4.6%. the 10 digital channels had a total FTA share last night of a high 29.95. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 31.5%, from WIN/NBN on 30.5%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. Seven News — 650,000
  2. The Block — 588,000
  3. Nine News — 544,000
  4. A Current Affair — 510,00
  5. Home and Away — 454,000

Major Metro Markets: Another usual night. Nine won overall and the main channels in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Seven won both in Adelaide and Perth. 7TWO won Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Eleven won Sydney and Brisbane. Nine leads the week in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven leads in Adelaide and Perth.

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

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports