Only two sleeps to go and The Block becomes just another Melbourne property story, at least until the end of the year when the series returns to ride what it hopes will still  be the Melbourne property boom (the looming reported oversupply notwithstanding, of course). The Block had 2.160 million national/ 1.485 million metro / 660,000 regional viewers last night on Nine — good, but not enough to get past  Seven’s My Kitchen Rules with 2.376 million national/ 1.603 million metro/ 773,000 regional viewers.

But the big difference on the night was the 1.812 million/ 1.227 million metro/ 595,000 regional viewers for Nine’s Love Child, which clearly beat Revenge, Seven’s fading soap, which had just 1.192 million/ 807,000 metro / 385,000 regional viewers. That 600,000-plus viewers watching Nine was the difference between winning and losing. Nine’s victory only came off the back of solid victories in Sydney and Melbourne. Seven still prevailed in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (though Nine had more viewers than a year ago in these markets). In regional markets it was a similar story with Nine in front, Seven close up in second and then the ABC and Ten in a distant 4th with its main channel share just 7.8%, well under the 10% share in metro markets.

The ABC’s line up last night was especially strong, from Australian Story‘s examination of Kerry Packer’s life (more than 1.2 million national viewers), to the Four Corners expose on Sydney financier Ian Lazar, to Media Watch‘s story on the unique legal action confronting News Corp’s Sunday Herald Sun (and not because your’s truly was quoted on it), to the Q&A from Shanghai. All top notch programs.  Ten did better with the paid for story on Schapelle Corby on The Project which lifted its 7pm audience by more than 100,00 viewers to 1.0661 million nationally (and 774,000 in metro markets) , and the 5 pm Eyewitness News, which saw its audience up to 1.012 million nationally and 768,000 metro viewers because  of the Corby story. Ten’s two programs are the only ones to have gained viewers from running a Corby story this year.

The latest series of Game of Thrones was “fast tracked” on Pay TV yesterday — the first broadcast at 3.30pm on Showcase had 115,000 viewers, with the repeat at the more friendly time of 7.30pm attracting 158,000 viewers.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (32.0%)
  2. Nine (31.7%)
  3. ABC1 (17.2%)
  4. Ten (14.9%)
  5. SBS (4.3%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (25.7%)
  2. Seven (24.7%)
  3. ABC1 (12.8%)
  4. Ten (10.0%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO, 7mate  (3.7%)
  2. 7TWO (3.6%)
  3. Eleven (2.5%)
  4. ONE (2.4%)
  5. ABC2, Gem (2.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.376 million
  2. The Block (Nine) — 2.160 million
  3. Nine News — 1.900 million
  4. Love Child (Nine) — 1.812 million
  5. Seven News — 1.674 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.536 million
  7. ABC News — 1.336 million
  8. Australian Story (ABC1) — 1,261 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.246 million
  10. Revenge (Seven) — 1.192 million

Top metro programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.603 million
  2. The Block (Nine) — 1.485 million
  3. Seven News — 1.296 million
  4. Nine News — 1.293 million
  5. Love Child (Nine) — 1.227 million
  6. Nine News 6.30 — 1.191 million
  7. Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.163 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.048 million

Losers: Ten and its Secrets & Lies – 576,000 national/ 409,000 metro/ 167,000 regional viewers. Should have been better given the boost by Eyewitness News and The Project.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.296 million
  2. Nine News — 1.293 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.191 million
  4. Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.163 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.048 million
  6. ABC News — 892,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC1) — 863,000
  8. The Project (Ten) — 774,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 768,000
  10. 7.30 (ABC1) — 715,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 358,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 324,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 165,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC1, 83,000 + 55,000 on News 24) — 138,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 120.000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 59,000
  7. Wake Up (Ten) — 37,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 1 (2.7%)
  2. Fox 8  (2.4%)
  3. TVHITS!  (2.2%)
  4. LifeStyle  (2.1%)
  5. Disney (2.0%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: North Qld v Newcastle (Fox Sports 1) — 215,000
  2. Game of Thrones repeat  (showcase) – 158,000
  3. Monday Night Footy With Matty Jones (Fox Sports 1) – 118,000
  4. Game of Thrones  (showcase) – 115,000
  5. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 101,000

*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.