A closeish night in the metros, especially in the main channels, with Seven sneaking in front and Ten grabbing a good share of the demos thanks to The Bachelor. In the regions it was another easy win by Seven, overall and the main channels. The ABC shared third overall with Ten, but its main channel pushed Ten and The Bach back to fourth spot. Nine’s The Block faded badly.

But the big change last night was the now very rare topping of the metro most watched list by Seven News, thanks to bigger wins that in recent months in Adelaide and Perth, which offset the now usual losses to Nine News along the east coast in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven News had 1.005 million metro viewers, against Nine’s 984,000. Nationally though the tables were turned and Nine News had 1.416 million viewers and Seven News 1.280 million. Nine’s The Block was pushed out of the national top 10 to 11th with 1.055 million, which is still OK, but nothing to write home about. It will be a tough few weeks for The Block.

The return of Gruen to the ABC was welcome, and the latest episode of Utopia was doubly so. Gruen finished fourth nationally with 1.318 million viewers, Utopia was 10th with just over a million. The Bachelor had 1.197 million. Seven’s duo, The Force (1.353 million) and Border Security (1.325 million) were second and third nationally and did extra well in regional markets,

In the morning another a solid win for Seven’s Sunrise with 350,000 metro viewers, while Nine’s Today was stuck on 282,000.

And my apologies. A bad email snafu meant I completely stuffed up the metro results of Tuesday night yesterday. Seven won the metros from Nine and Ten. The regional figures were OK. Seven won with a share of 27.5% from Nine with 25.6%, Ten with 22.8%, the ABC with 17.7% and SBS on 6.4%. Seven won the main channels as well. Seven won both more clearly in the regions.

Stephen Colbert’s debut as host of the CBS Late Show drew 6.6 million viewers. While that was smaller than the audience who watched Jimmy Fallon in his debut as host of The Tonight Show on NBC in February of last year (11.3 million), it was more than double Tuesday’s audience for The Tonight Show, which drew 2.9 million.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (27.3%)
  2. Nine (24.8%)
  3. ABC (20.8%)
  4. Ten (20.7%)
  5. SBS (6.3%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (17.3%)
  2. Nine (17.1%)
  3. ABC (16.0%)
  4. Ten (14.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.5%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (6.1%)
  2. 7mate, Gem (4.0%)
  3. GO (3.7%)
  4. Eleven (3.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.416 million
  2. The Force (Seven) — 1.353 million
  3. Border Security (Seven) — 1.325 million
  4. Gruen (ABC) – 1.318 million
  5. Seven News — 1.280 million
  6. ABC News — 1.268 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.232 million
  8. The Bachelor (Ten) — 1.197 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.141 million
  10. Utopia (ABC) — 1.115 million

Losers: Yes, the Bach did well with younger viewers, especially females. But that’s like peering in the window of The Butcher, or the meat department at Woolies – raw meat can be interesting, but repelling, but certainly not nourishing. Finished products such as Gruen and Utopia, or Border Security are far better for the soul and the brain.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.005 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 933,000
  3. Nine News — 984,000
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 960,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 944,000
  6. ABC News — 885,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 638,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 664,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 541,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 432,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 350,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 282,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 151,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  95,000 + 46,000 on News 24) — 141,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 117,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 67,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (2.3%)
  2. Fox Sports 4 (2.2%)
  3. TVHITS, Fox 8  (1.9%)
  4. Nick Jr, UKTV (1.6%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 124,000
  2. Kristie and Phils Love it or Lose it (LifeStyle) – 66,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 66,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 60,000
  5. Sterlo: On The Couch (Fox Sports 4) – 59,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. 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.