Ten and the ABC stood out as entertainment beacons last night: Ten for Masterchef and the return of you know who in Offspring and the ABC for the far more interesting political line up of Kitchen Cabinet, Mad As Hell and The Chaser (more interesting for example than what we saw on the ABC on Monday night). Seven and Nine were something of a pair of boring sad sacks last night. Masterchef managed 1.616 million national viewers including a chart topping 1.197 million in the metros. Offspring managed 1.284 million nationally, including 959,000 metro viewers.

Seven and Nine tied in share in total people in the metros while Ten won the main channels, easily. In the regions Seven won the main channels and total people.

In the regions, Seven News was tops with 602,000 people watching, followed by Home and Away with 523,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm was next with 483,000, followed by the repeat of Highway Patrol on Seven with 466,000, while Nine News was fifth with 444,000. Masterchef had 419,000 regional viewers and Offspring, 326,000.

Mayhem and madness often go hand in hand with Shaun Micallef and last night’s Mad As Hell was no exception. The Chaser’s Election Desk was sedate by comparison. Mad As Hell had 998,000 national viewers and The Chaser had 842,000. Kitchen Cabinet managed 821,000 and backs up tonight with Ms Crabb dining with the PM and his wife.

Over on 7TWO, Bernie Tomic managed to withstand the distraction of Shaun and his Kraken and managed to make it through to round two of Brexitdon. Tonight Tomic is back for that second round game, while Sam Stosur is up also for her round two match. That’s on 7TWO. There’s also AFL on Seven and 7mate (Essendon v West Coast) and NRL on Nine (the battle of the inner Sydney animals – the Easts Roosters against the Canterbury Bulldogs).

In the morning Today scored the narrowest of wins over Sunrise: 301,000 to 299,000 metro viewers. Sunrise won nationally.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven, Nine (26.1%)
  2. Ten (23.9%)
  3. ABC (17.5%)
  4. SBS (6.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (24.1%)
  2. Nine (18.3%)
  3. ABC (13.6%)
  4. Ten (13.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels:

  1. 7TWO (5.2%)
  2. GO (3.9%)
  3. ABC 2 (3.5%)
  4. Gem (3.2%)
  5. 7mate (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.728 million
  2. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.616 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.495 million
  4. Nine News — 1.413 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.299 million
  6. Offspring (Ten) — 1.284 million
  7. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.162 million
  8. ABC News — 1.128 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.040 million
  10. Nine News 6.30 — 1.017 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.197 million
  2. Seven News — 1.125 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.051 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.017 million
  5. Nine News — 1.009 million

Losers: The AFL Footy Show, Nine and Sam Newman and James Brayshaw – deserted in Melbourne by the core audience. Deservedly so. The 163,000 faithful who tuned in to watch in Melbourne could only make it the 21st most watched program in that market last night.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.125 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.051 million
  3. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.017 million
  4. Nine News — 1.009 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 868,000
  6. ABC News – 773,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 661,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 651,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 588,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 485,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 301,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 299,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 157,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC,  99,000 + 42000 on News 24) — 141,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 137,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 81,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (2.4%)
  2. TVHITS  (2.3%)
  3. UKTV, Sky News (2.1%)
  4. LifeStyle  (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 86,000
  2. Family Guy (Fox8) — 79,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 72,000
  4. The Queen At 90 (UKTV) — 71,000
  5. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 69,000

*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.