The Winners: A good night for Seven, Ten and the ABC, but poor for Nine. Seven News was the most watched program with 1.393 million, Today Tonight was next with 1.343 million (with a strong story about discrimination) and It Takes Two won Seven the night with an average 1.293 million viewers from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. Home And Away also helped with 1.244 million at 7pm (it’s only being pressured by the ABC News). Nine News was next with 1.223 million, followed by Women’s Murder Club (which started on Ten with 1.222 million), All Saints (1.189 million), the 7pm ABC News (1.183 million), Ten’s Bondi Rescue (1.152 million), A Current Affair (1.078 million) and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (1.061 million).

The Losers: Nine’s Monster House with just 793,000. Who thought that was entertainment? We viewers who braved it were the losers. It finished fourth behind the ABC combination of The 7.30 Report (924,000) and Chopper Rescue (776,000). The Sarah Connor Chronicles left female viewers unmoved. Nine is “reprising” the program tonight at 10.30pm after the two hour first ep of Underbelly airs everywhere bar Victoria. The Biggest Loser was under a million for the second night in a row with 975,000 for an hour from 7pm.

News & CA: Seven News won nationally and in every market (Melbourne by around 1,000). Today Tonight won everywhere bar Melbourne. ACA fell to 261,000 in Sydney, 120,000 behind TT in that market. ACA‘s wins in Melbourne are probably keeping Nine from doing something drastic. The 7pm ABC News was far and away the most watched program in the Melbourne last night with 394,000 viewers. Must be a message there somewhere. Ten News, 827,000; Late News/Sports Tonight, 352,000. The 7.30 Report, 924,000; Lateline, 291,000; Lateline Business, 135,000. Nightline, 291,000. SBS News, 171,000 at 6.30pm; 9.30 pm at 160,000. 7am Sunrise, 375,000 (lowish); 7am Today, 277,000.

The Stats: Seven won easily, 32.0% to Nine’s 24.4%, Ten on 22.9%, the ABC with 16.0% and SBS with 4.7%. Seven won all five metro markets. Seven leads the week 28.7% to Nine with 26.3% and Ten with 24.6%. In regional areas a win to Prime/7Qld with 34.0% from WIN/NBN with 25.3%, Southern Cross (Ten) with 21.6%, the ABC was on 13.8% and SBS was on 5.3%. Pay TV?

Glenn Dyer’s comments: The third night of 2008 ratings and it’s already 2-1 to Seven, with Nine’s only win coming thanks to the one-day cricket, which won’t last long. Nine is weak, especially last night, while Seven is running at last year’s pace and Ten is picking up ground and doing better than the industry thought. But tonight is the big night of the week. Underbelly debuts everywhere bar Victoria. RSPCA Animal Rescue is back on Seven, Spicks and Specks is on the ABC at 8.30pm and House is on Ten (could it beat Underbelly?) plus new programs Back To You and Rules of Engagement. And the big question tonight is how will the second ep of The Chopping Block go?

Source: OzTAM, TV Network reports