Thanks to another solid performance by the 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia, Seven News had its third metro win since Monday night — its best run this year. Nine News still won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but with reduced margins as The Chase at 5.30pm won the slot with 586,000 metro viewers to 501,000 for the Hot Seat. Seven’s usual big winning margins in Adelaide and Perth more than offset Nine’s smaller margins on the east coast.

Nine revamped Hot Seat when The Chase started last week. Don’t be surprised if Nine tweaks it again in the next few weeks. There’s a nice irony here. Seven made a big pitch for Eddie McGuire (who hosts Hot Seat) to host The Chase, Eddie said no, Seven went to Andrew O’Keefe, Eddie is the loser — but for how long remains to be seen.

Sunrise returned to the top of the breakfast pecking order, 328,000 to 297,000 for Today.

The Bachelorette’s second episode topped the most watched list on a very weak Thursday night in the metros with 973,000 viewers. But it fell to third nationally with weak night in the regions (306,000 for a still solid 1.280 million nationally), allowing The X Factor (876,000 metro and 477,000 regional viewers for 1.354 million nationally) to go past it to the national number one. Home and Away was the most watched program in the regions with 490,000 viewers against just 737,000 in the metros (1.228 million nationally). The Chaser’s Media Circus was a faint light of good taste last night on the ABC with 919,000 national viewers.

Seven won overall in the metros, but Ten and Nine snapped up the demos. In the regions, Seven won clearly and won the demos easily as well.

Only four more games in the AFL and the NRL until the Festival of The Boot next weekend. And there’s a bit of thugby this weekend with the Wobblies fronting up against Paraguay. The Wallabies’ win over Fiji was watched by just 56,000 viewers on Gem (none in Melbourne) in the early hours of yesterday morning, and by 82,000 on Fox Sports 2 on Pay TV. On Sunday night Seven has a live performance of The X Factor that runs for 150 minutes or more. That will be a big ask for viewers.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (28.0%)
  2. Nine (26.4%)
  3. Ten (23.6%)
  4. ABC (16.0%)
  5. SBS (6.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (19.7%)
  2. Nine (18.8%)
  3. Ten (15.6%)
  4. ABC 1 (10.6?%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.1%)
  2. GO (4.7%)
  3. ONE (3.8%)
  4. ABC2 (3.5%)
  5. 7mate (3.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The X Factor (Seven) – 1.354 million
  2. Nine News — 1.353 million
  3. The Bachelorette (Ten) — 1.280 million
  4. Home and Away (Seven) – 1.228 million
  5. Seven News — 1.227 million
  6. ABC News — 1.217 million
  7. RBT (Nine) — 1.052 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.006 million
  9. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 974,000
  10. The Chase Australia (Seven) — 985,000

Top metro programs: None with a million or more 

Losers: Just a weak night with The Bachelorette and The X Factor doing well — says it all. Adults are being ignored, again. No wonder TV on Free To Air is under pressure.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News  — 970,000
  2. Seven News/ Today Tonight  — 950,000
  3. Nine News  — 944,000
  4. Nine News 6.30  — 880,000
  5. ABC News  — 859,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 816,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 674,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 673,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 501,000
  10. The Project 6.30 (Ten) — 476,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 328,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 297,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  97,000,000 + 46,000 on News 24) — 143,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 139,000
  5. The Morning Show (Seven) — 137,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 74,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (2.4%)
  2. TVHITS  (2.2%)
  3. Fox Sports 2, Fox 8  (32.1%)
  4. Nick Jr, UKTV (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 104,000
  2. RWC: Australia. Fiji (Fox Sports 2) – 82,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 72,000
  4. America’s Next Top Model (Fox8) – 65,000
  5. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 64,000

*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.