Note: final combined national/ regional figures not available today. 

Nine won because of the NRL grand final. That helped Nine win metro and regional markets. It had  2.179 million metro viewers — down on last year’s figure of 2.568 million metro viewers. It was the lowest metro audience since the 2011 grand final when Manly beat Auckland  (2.172 million metro viewers). Early figures suggest that around 1.040 million viewers watched last night’s game in regional markets. That would give a national audience of more than 3.2 million viewers — well down on the 3.9 million in 2012 and the lowest for at least five years.

Seven’s performance episode of The X Factor averaged a solid  1.246 million metro. The Bolt Report and Meet The Press were pre-empted by Ten’s live broadcast of the Australia-Argentina Rugby Union test. Seven won last week in metro and regional markets with the ABC a clear third ahead of another weak week for Ten.

US Update: Fox has renewed The Simpsons for a 26th season, which will make millions happy and keep Rupert Murdoch’s inbox clear. And NBC has picked up The Blacklist for a full season, meaning 22 episodes will be broadcast instead of the initial 12. The Blacklist back up again on Seven tonight.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (41.3%)
  2. Seven (27.3%)
  3. Ten (14.6%)
  4. ABC (13.0%)
  5. SBS (3.9%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (35.1%)
  2. Seven (20.5%)
  3. ABC1 (9.6%)
  4. Ten (9.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (3.7%)
  2. Gem (3.6%)
  3. 7mate (3.0%)
  4. ONE (2.9%)
  5. GO, Eleven (2.6%)

Top metro programs:

  1. NRL Grand Final (Nine) — 2.179 million
  2. The X Factor Live Performance (Seven) — 1.246 million
  3. Grand Final Entertainment (Nine) — 1.233 million
  4. Nine News — 1.148 million
  5. Grand Final Presentation (Nine) — 1.032 million
  6. Seven News — 1.003 million

Losers: No one really with the grand final on Nine skewing the night. Back to normal service tonight.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.148 million
  2. Seven News — 1.003 million
  3. Sunday Night (Seven) — 938,000
  4. ABC News — 717,000
  5. Ten News — 321,000
  6. SBS World News — 175,000
  7. The Observer Effect (SBS ONE) — 118,000
  8. ABC News – 949,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 299,000
  2. Weekend Today (Nine) – 258,000
  3. Insiders (ABC1, 152,000, 77,000 on News24) — 229,000
  4. Landline (ABC1) — 224,000
  5. Financial Review Sunday (Nine) — 165,000
  6. Inside Business (ABC1) — 124,000
  7. Offsiders (ABC1) — 124,000

*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.) and network reports.