Seven’s night in metro and regional markets, but it was a dull affair. Seven will win the week in both metro and regional areas, but from next week, the going gets tougher as My Kitchen Rules ends. Home and Away  had 1.429 million national/ 958,000 metro/ 471,000 regional viewers to be the best watched non-news program in metro markets. Nationally, the most watched non-news program was Mrs Brown’s Boys (Seven, 8.30pm) which averaged 1.503 million national/ 922,000 metro/ 580,000 regional viewers. The Checkout on ABC1 at 8pm averaged 1.139 million national/ 740,000 metro/ 399,000 regional viewers and was again up to scratch with a very solid report on the lack of benefits from so-called super foods.

Seven News was the most watched program with 1.990 million -boosted by the Colingwood – Essendon AFL game on Seven (1.096 million on Seven’s main channel, 386,000 on Fox Footy and 150,000 on 7mate) for a total of 1.632 million. Nine News was second with 1.891 million, thanks to the NRL game between Easts and St George, which attracted 802,000 viewers on Nine and on WIN/NBN in regional Queensland and NSW, plus 346,000 on Fox Sports, for a total audience of 1.148 million.

Nine’s The Footy Show averaged 836,000 national/ 612,000 metro/ 224,000 regional viewers, which was lower than in previous weeks. Perhaps the AFL and NRL games on earlier in the day ruined it for both programs last night. The various Anzac Day marches on ABC1 averaged 685,000 national/ 520,000 metro/ 165,000 regional viewers from 9am to 12.30pm. Nationally, the Gallipoli Dawn Service had 511,000 viewers, the Villers-Bretonneux service from France had 358,000 and the Lone Pine Service had 174,000. That’s a total of 1.728 million people who watched ABC services on the ABC starting from 9am. Collectively, Anzac Day was the first most popular program.

Wednesday night: Seven was the big winner in metro and regional markets with My Kitchen Rules driving the victory and pushing the network to a winning margin for the week. But that was the final MKR on a Wednesday night and with The Voice running from Sunday through Wednesday night, next week is already Nine’s.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (30.5%)
  2. Nine (27.0%)
  3. Ten (18.6%)
  4. ABC (18.3%)
  5. SBS (5.6%)

Network main channels: 

  1. Seven (22.6%)
  2. Nine (19.2%)
  3. ABC 1 (14.3%)
  4. Ten (12.8%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top five digital channels: 

  1. GO (4.9%)
  2. 7TWO (4.3%)
  3. 7mate (3.6%)
  4. Eleven (3.4%)
  5. Gem (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  – 1.990 million
  2. Nine News — 1.891 million
  3. Mrs Brown’s Boys (Seven) — 1.503 million
  4. Home and Away  (Seven) –1.429 million
  5. Today Tonight (seven) — 1.429 million
  6. ABC1 News — 1.349 million
  7. Border Security International (Seven) — 1.371 million
  8. The Checkout (ABC1) — 1.139 million
  9. Deal or No Deal (Seven) — 1.118 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.107 million

Top metro programs: 

  1. Seven News<  — 1.377 million
  2. Nine News — 1.293 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.149 million

Losers: A weak night, except for The Checkout on ABC1 and Mrs Brown’s Boys on Seven (the fresh episode). 

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News – 1.377 million
  2. Nine News – 1.293 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.149 million
  4. ABC1 News  – 926,000
  5. Current Affair (Nine) – 920,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 649,000
  7. Ten News –– 534,000
  8. The Project (Ten) — 521,000
  9. Ten Late News — 192,000
  10. SBS ONE News — 188,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 374,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 339,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1) – 73,000 + 43,000 on News 24

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy – 9.0%
  2. Fox Sports 1. Fox 8 — 2.9%
  3. LifeStyle — 2.2%
  4. TV1 – 2.0%
  5. Discovery – 1.5%%

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Essendon v. Collingwood (Fox Footy) – 386,000
  2. AFL: St Kilda v. Sydney (Fox Footy) – 346,000
  3. NRL: Melbourne v. Auckland  (Fox Sports 1) – 306,000
  4. AFL: Pre-game Show (Fox Footy) – 122,000
  5. Dirty Jobs Down Under (Discovery) – 85,000

Weekend: AFL and NRL on Nine, Seven and Foxtel tonight, tomorrow day and night, and Sunday day and evening. Silent Witness on ABC1 tonight. Better Homes And Gardens in non-AFL markets. Tomorrow night we have Last Tango In Halifax (the week’s viewing highlight) and the final Inspector Gently of this series — both on ABC1. Sunday — the morning chats and then The Voice on Nine, the grand final of My Kitchen Rules on Seven. Elementary after The Biggest Loser on Ten. Call The Midwife on ABC1 and then Miranda, another highllight of the viewing week.

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. 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.) Plus network reports.