Well, well, the best that can be said about the performances of Nine and Ten last night was that they toiled manfully. Ten’s I’m A Celebrity gave some cheek, but MKR and Seven’s debutant, First Dates, wiped the floor in both metro and regional markets. Seven’s win was huge in the metros. In Total People Seven won by 14.8 points, in the regions it was a bigger winning margin of 17.4 points. Seven also dominated the major demos with both programs, helped by Home and Away. (Which is still down a fraction from a year ago).

First Dates was OK, if you like anxious dating programs crossed with Candid Camera (by Perfect Match out of Please Marry My Boy … ) First Dates was helped by having MKR as a lead-in but it still lost nearly 950,000 viewers nationally from MKR. Enough people stayed with the program to give it a win in the slot and wins in the demos that matter. MKR was rock solid on 2.187 million nationally and 1.574 million in the metros. In the regions it was the most watched program with 611,000, followed by Home and Away with 469,000, Nine News on 376,000, First Dates with 372,000 and The Chase Australia (5.30pm) on 362,000 people.

In the morning, Sunrise with 325,000 snuck back in from of Today in the metros, but remain well in front nationally.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (34.7%)
  2. Nine (21.9%)
  3. Ten (18.1%)
  4. ABC (17.6%)
  5. SBS (7.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (27.5%)
  2. Nine (18.1%)
  3. Ten (13.2%)
  4. ABC (12.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.6%)
  2. ABC 2 (3.3%)
  3. ONE (2.8%)
  4. 7mate (2.6%)
  5. Eleven (2.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. MKR (Seven) — 2.187 million
  2. Nine News — 1.371 million
  3. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.298 million
  4. First Dates (Seven) — 1.245 million
  5. Seven News — 1.218 million
  6. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.131 million
  7. ABC News — 1.101 million
  8. I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (Ten) — 1.063 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.049 million
  10. Nine News 6.30 — 1.010 million

Top metro programs:

  1. MKR (Seven) — 1.574 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.010 million

Losers: Anyone who doesn’t like MKR or bungles in the jungle on Ten. The ABC struggled: the return of The Weekly with Charlie Pickering had a softish return. 845,000 national viewers was more than OK with 577,000 in the metros. I know comparisons are odious, but here goes: I miss Shaun Micallef and Mad as Hell.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News 6.30 — 1.010 million
  2. Nine News — 995,000
  3. Seven News — 968,000
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 920,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 881,000
  6. ABC News – 763,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 577,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 525,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 481,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 399,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 325,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 311,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 162,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  102,000 + 41,000 on News 24) — 143,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 107,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 80,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 5 (3.9%)
  2. Fox8  (2.7%)
  3. LifeStyle  (2.3%)
  4. TVHITS  (2.1%)
  5. UKTV (2.0%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 168,000
  2. ODI Cricket: NZ v Australia Session 2 (Fox Sports 5) — 93,000
  3. Extreme Sailing (Fox Sports 5) — 86,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox8) —86,000
  5. The Flash (Fox8) – 80,000

*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.