The Checkout and Nine’s The Block last night enlivened what was a average night of viewing — although the end of the Carlton-Richmond AFL game kept me up late and was worth the at times dreary play earlier in the game.

Seven’s schedule was broken up to accommodate the AFL game in Melbourne and Adelaide markets. That meant weakish returns for Seven in Sydney and Brisbane where Nine did very well. In fact  Nine won well with The Block having another very solid audience of 2.036 million national/ 1.434 million metro / 598,000 regional viewers. That’s believed to be a Thursday night record for the program. Nine also did well in regional areas. The ABC easily beat Ten into third spot in both the metros and regionals. Ten’s main share again failed to get into double figures — 9.9% in the metros and 8.0% in the regionals. The ABC was a solid third in all five metro markets. The AFL game averaged 1.070 million on Seven (657,000, main channel, 176,000 on Gem and 237,000 on Fox Footy).

The star last night (for me) was The Checkout on ABC1 at 8 pm — another solid, edgy effort for us consumers. It should now be a staple of the ABC’s programming each year. It is probably the best ‘service’ show on TV in that it helps viewers while being entertaining and not dull. The explanation of “free range” chickens last night was up to the top effort last year with the explanation of permeate in milk. The combination of The Chaser‘s irreverence and solid facts is devastatingly simple and good to watch — it had 1.300 million national/ 823,000 metro/ 477,000 regional viewers. That’s a series peak for the program nationally, in metro and regional markets and well deserved. It was the fifth most watched program across the country last night. By way of contrast, Ten’s sadsack So You think You Can Dance Australia had 426,000 national/ 333,000 metro/ 93,000 regional viewers.

Nine’s News whacked Seven’s efforts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Nine won Sydney 365,000 to 223,000, a winning margin of 142,000. In Melbourne Nine won with 350,000 to 250,000, a margin of 100,000. In Brisbane it was a win to Nine by 79,000. In the morning Seven’s Sunrise still won (again), but Nine’s Today had its second or third morning this week above 300,000 viewers — are things looking up for the underperformer of 2014? The ABC’s News Breakfast continues to average more than 100,000 metro viewers on ABC1 and News 24, while poor Ten’s flops, Studio 10 (51,000) and Wake Up (38,000) continue to languish.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (31.6%)
  2. Seven (28.9%)
  3. ABC (19.7%)
  4. Ten (14.7%)
  5. SBS (5.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.9%)
  2. Seven (21.0%)
  3. ABC1 (13.5%)
  4. Ten (9.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.6%)
  2. GO (4.0%)
  3. Gem (3.8%)
  4. ABC2 (3.5%)
  5. 7TWO (3.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine ) – 2.036 million
  2. Nine News — 1.706 million
  3. Seven News — 1.355 million
  4. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.315 million
  5. The Checkout (ABC 1) — 1.300 million
  6. ABC News  – 1.276 million
  7. Janet King (ABC 1) — 1.218 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.170 million
  9. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.116 million
  10. Nine News 6.30 — 1.067 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The Block (Nine ) – 1.434 million
  2. Nine News — 1.160 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.067 million

Losers: Ten, again, and Seven’s news broadcasts in Sydney and Melbourne — easily beaten last night by Nine.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.160 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.067 million
  3. Seven News — 983,000
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) – 965,000
  5. Seven News / Today Tonight — 909,000
  6. ABC News  – 851,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 729,000
  8. Ten Eyewitness News — 579,000
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 579,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 346,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 373,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 336,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 176,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC1, 68,000  + 48,000 on News 24) — 116,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 115,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 51,000
  7. Wake Up (Ten) — 38,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy   (4.2%)
  2. LifeStyle  (2.6%)
  3. TVHITS  (2.5%)
  4. Fox 8  (2.4%)
  5. Sky New  (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Richmond v Carlton (Fox Footy) – 237,000
  2. AFL: Thursday Night Footy on Fox (Fox Footy) – 92,000
  3. Grand Designs (LifeStyle), The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 67,000
  4. Location Location Location (LifeStyle) – 53,000
  5. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) – 51,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.