A horizontal night of viewing: just boring, except for the Masterchef. The NRL whale wrestling on Nine was a rotten example of the code. So bad was it that the 218,000 viewers in Sydney was equalled by Masterchef and by the finale of Janet King on the ABC. It could only grab 134,000 people in Brisbane. Nine won the metros. In the regions Seven won total people, but Nine won the main channels. Masterchef had 1.291 million national viewers, while the Masterclass segment managed 947,000.

Home and Away topped regional viewing with 513,000 viewers, with the 5.30 part of The Chase Australia second with 453,000. Nine News was third with 393,000, followed by ABC News with 348,000. Masterchef was fifth with 325,000.

Today had another big breakfast win over Sunrise in the metros: 347,000 to 306,000. This will be a big winning week for Today. Sunrise though won nationally.

US Update: Among the flood of new program pick ups, pilots or axings, Castle (Seven) has been flicked by ABC after eight seasons (there were attempts to cut costs and keep it on air but its final episode will be on May 16), while CSI Cyber has died (Ten) after two seasons, killed off by CBS. ABC also killed off the Muppets revival after one season, despite it being owned by Disney, which controls ABC.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (27.6%)
  2. Seven (25.06)
  3. Ten (22.9%)
  4. ABC (18.4%)
  5. SBS (5.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (19.7%)
  2. Ten (18.2%)
  3. Seven (15.7%)
  4. ABC (12.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO 4.8%)
  2. GO (3.9%)
  3. ABC 2 (3.4%)
  4. 7mate (3.2%)
  5. ONE (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.442 million
  2. Nine News — 1.383 million
  3. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.291 million
  4. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.238 million
  5. ABC News — 1.128 million
  6. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.111 million
  7. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.086 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.001 million
  9. Nine News 6.30 — 981,000
  10. Janet King (ABC) — 947,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.155 million
  2. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.045 million

Losers: How many ways can I say, last night was “boring’” Well, boring, boring … 

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.155 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.045 million
  3. Nine News — 991,000
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 981,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 833,000
  6. ABC News – 780,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 672,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 648,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 493,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 485,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 347,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 306,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 176,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC, 99,000 + 53,000 on News 24) — 152,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 147,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 72,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 1 (2.4%)
  2. Fox8 (2.0%)
  3. LifeStyle (1.9%)
  4. TVHITS, UKTV, Discovery (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: St George v Canberra (Fox Sports 1) — 156,000
  2. NRL Thursday (Fox Sports 1) — 144,000
  3. NRL Thursday (Fox Sports 1) — 75,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 74,000
  5. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) –74,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.