Nine and Seven news were the most watched programs last night — that nothing after 7pm topped them again tells us it was a night to forget for most viewers. The Block averaged 1. 624 million national/ 1.156 metro/ 468,000 regional viewers. Seven’s House Rules 1.394 million/ 900,000 metro/ 494,000 regional viewers. That’s OK, just. It’s still more popular than The Block in regional markets.  Nine won the night from Seven, the ABC and Ten in both metro and regional markets (where the result was much closer than in the cities).

Offspring returned with million 1.212 million national/ 868,000 metro/ 344,000 regional viewers for Ten. Very solid and a small ray of sunshine for the benighted network. But it is a hit that came from the former management of the network, the one removed by Lachlan Murdoch (and discredited by him, poorly so, in my opinion) a couple of years ago.

What was notable last night was the hiding handed out by Nine news and A Current Affair to Seven news and Today Tonight. In Sydney Nine’s 6pm  news (417,000), beat Seven news (308,000), by a large 109,000 viewers. In Melbourne it was a winning margin for Nine of 94,000, in Brisbane, the margin was 79,000 in favour of Nine. At 6.30pm, A Current Affair won Sydney by 109,000 as well, A Current Affair thrashed Today Tonight in Melbourne by a massive 157,000 viewers and in Brisbane the winning margin was 70,000.

Now some of these could quite easily be reversed tonight, tomorrow night or next week. but it does indicate that the 6pm-7pm timeslot on the east coast is the biggest headache for Seven and its new boss Tim Worner.  That timeslot generates more revenue each week for Nine and Seven than any other. The hour is also high cost and given the continuing weakness of Today Tonight, it’s no wonder those rumbles from Seven about an hourlong news/current affairs program are resurfacing. And there is a definite audience turn off from the news to the 6.30pm offerings in both metro and regional markets.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (29.9%)
  2. Seven (29.2%)
  3. ABC (18.9%)
  4. Ten (17.4%)
  5. SBS (4.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (22.4%)
  2. Seven (20.1%)
  3. ABC1 (13.8%)
  4. Ten (13.0%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.7%)

Top five digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (5.0%)
  2. 7mate (4.1%)
  3. Gem (3.8%)
  4. GO (3.6%)
  5. ABC2 (3.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News  – 1.957 million
  2. Seven News — 1.944 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.629 million
  4. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) –1.558 million
  5. Arrow (Nine) — 1.493 million
  6. ABC1 News — 1.438 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.418 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.402 million
  9. House Rules (Seven) — 1.394 million
  10. 7.30 (ABC1) — 1.315 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.387 million
  2. Seven News — 1.263 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.188 million
  4. The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.160 million
  5. The Block (Nine) — 1.156 million

Losers: Beauty and The Beast, which debuted on Ten at 9.30pm and averaged 443,000 national/ 310,000 metro/ 133,000 regional viewers. Weak, did anyone really notice it? The Following on Nine at 9.30pm 598,000 national/ 400,000 metro/ 198,000 regional viewers. Another fading flop.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News –– 1.387 million
  2. Seven News — 1.263 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.188 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) — 975,000
  5. ABC1 News – 966,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 903,000
  7. Ten News — 720,000.
  8. The Project (Ten) — 566,000
  9. Lateline (ABC1) — 218,000
  10. World News Australia (SBS ONE) — 180,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 375,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 331,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1) – 62,000 + 26,000 on News 24

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8 – 3.2%
  2. TV1 – 2.9%
  3. LifeStyle – 2.4%
  4. UKTV – 2.1%.
  5. 111 Hits, Sky News  – 1.5%

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Wentworth (SoHo) – 97,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 95,000
  3. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 95,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 94,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 89,000

Tonight: The Checkout on ABC 1, Mrs Brown’s Boys on Seven. The Block on Nine. Law and Order SVU on Ten. The foodie shows on SBS ONE.

*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.