Glenn Dyer's TV ratings: Ten's prayers answered by Offspring

Ahh, Nina, Nina, Nina, back in our viewing hearts once again, thanks to the new season of Offspring. Ten is so happy. Even MasterChef Australia lifted in anticipation of her return last night. So thanks to Nina and her Offspring, Ten ended a solid third in metro markets, and the usually Ten-sceptical regional TV viewers who rediscovered their affair with Nine pulled Ten up to a clear third. Ten should be renamed the Nina (Offspring) Network. Nothing else works for them. I can hear Ten programmers wishing for Offspring every night! Will MasterChef name a dish after her?

The absence of The Voice also helped MasterChef. But House Rules had another solid night and was the most watched program nationally. Offspring did very well with 1.220 million national / 931,000 metro / 289,000 regional viewers and won the timeslot, easily. It was strongly supported by female viewers across all demographics. MasterChef had 1.227 million national/ 888,000 metro / 339,000 regional viewers, but was beaten by half a million viewers by Seven’s House Rules with 1.725 million national / 1.073 million metro / 652,000 regional viewers.

Nine’s 6pm News had wins in Melbourne by 87,000, and 32,000 in Brisbane. In Sydney though, is there a narrowing of the gap? Seven lost by 24,000 viewers last night. Nine’s margin has been a lot bigger this year. Seven won the metros. In the morning Sunrise got a clear lift from its post budget coverage caravan in Canberra. Today went backwards by shedding viewers. News Breakfast on ABC1 and News 24 added viewers as well.

Network channel share:

Seven (30.8%)
Nine (27.2%)
Ten (21.1%)
ABC (15.8%)
SBS (5.1%)

Network main channels:

Seven (20.3%)
Nine (19.7%)
Ten (15.6%)
ABC1 (9.9%)
SBS ONE (3.9%)

Top 5 digital channels:

7TWO (5.7%)
7mate (4.8%)
Gem (3.8%)
GO (3.7%)
Eleven (3.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

House Rules (Seven) — 1.725 million
Nine News — 1.718 million
Seven News — 1.711 million
The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.658 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.389 million
The Big Bang Theory repeat (Nine) — 1.293 million
MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 1.227 million
Offspring (Ten) — 1.220 million
The Blacklist (Seven) — 1.204 million
ABC News — 1.183 million

Top metro programs:

Seven News — 1.194 million
Nine News — 1.151 million
The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.131 million
Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.122 million
House Rules (Seven) — 1.073 million
Nine News 6.30 — 1.065 million

Losers: Viewers, tonight — abandoned by the commercial networks (all third-tier programs). The ABC has Call The Midwife, and that is not a reference to what we can expected in Bill Shorten’s Budget Address in Reply speech tonight at 7.30pm (‘Do we have to watch him, Mum?’). But it might apply if Sarah Ferguson gives him a whack or three at 8pm, like she delivered to Smokin’ Joe the Treasurer on Tuesday night.Metro news and current affairs:

Seven News — 1.194 million
Nine News — 1.151 million
Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.122 million
Nine News 6.30 — 1.065 million
A Current Affair (Nine) — 964,000
ABC News – 808,000
7.30 (ABC1) — 705,000
The Project (Ten) — 663,000
Ten Eyewitness News — 645,000
The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 457,000

Morning TV:

Sunrise (Seven) – 383,000
Today (Nine) – 299,000
The Morning Show (Seven) — 152,000
News Breakfast (ABC1 82,000 + 59,000 on News 24) — 141,000
Mornings (Nine) — 129,000
Studio 1o (Ten) — 47,000
Wake Up (Ten) — 34,000

Top five pay TV channels:

TVHITS! (2.6%)
Fox 8 (2.4%)
LifeStyle (2.1%)
Sky News (2.0%)
Crime & Investigation (1.8%)

Top pay TV programs:

AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 80,000
Family Guy (Fox 8) – 67,000
Crimes That Shook Australia (Crime & Investigation), NRL: 360 (Fox Sports 1) — 64,000
NCIS (TVHITS!) – 60,000
Futurama (Fox 8) – 57,000

*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.