The Block did OK — steady on last week overall with gains protected (1.622 million national/ 1.125 million metro/ 497,000 regional viewers). But Seven’s My Kitchen Rules boosted its dominant position by 200,000 or more nationally to 2.632 million national/ 1.841 million metro/ 791,000 regional viewers. Most of the gains came in the metro markets. That’s the highest audience so far this season (The Block’s peak was last Thursday). And why did My Kitchen Rules lift (which lifted Seven’s performance last night) ? Who knows, one of those vagaries of TV/audience chemistry. Nine was handicapped by having to repeat Sunday’s episode of The Block in some markets.

The new 6-7 pm news battle still split by Nine and Seven into two hour hour segments saw a win to Seven, but it was close and Seven’s 6pm News suffered big losses to Nine’s 6pm News in Sydney and Melbourne, while Seven News had big wins in Adelaide and Perth and a smaller one in Brisbane. At 6.30, Seven News Today Tonight (how it was coded) beat Nine’s 6.30 News half hour by around 40,000 metro viewers — not much at all. Seven’s 6pm news won nationally, but the comparison at 6.30pm can’t be made because WIN still doesn’t broadcast it on its main channel, so it isn’t fully national. At 7pm ACA did well, with 1.01 million metro viewers, but Seven’s Home and Away again finished in front with 50,000 more. ACA is also not broadcast at 7pm on WIN’s main channel, so a national comparison can’t be made. The big difference on the night though was Seven’s Revenge with 1.663 million national/ 1.186 million metro/ 477,000 regional viewers. A solid return for the soap, but will it hold at this level or lose ground as it did last year?

In all of this Ten was simply squashed, helped along by the ABC and its fleet of returning news and current affairs programs. Australian Story, Four Corners and Media Watch  were all welcome returnees. And Leigh Sales has been working through the summer — I wasn’t paying attention. Must do better next time. She did very well last with last night’s  interview with the PM, and Four Corners’ reporting on the trucking industry was top notch.Ten had a market share of just 9.3%, which for a Monday night, wasn’t good enough by any measure. The highly promoted challenge episode of The Biggest Loser could only manage 714,000 national/ 499,000 metro/ 215,000 regional viewers, which also wasn’t good enough for the amount of money invested in the program.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (33.6%)
  2. Nine (26.2%)
  3. ABC (20.6%)
  4. Ten (15.5%)
  5. SBS (4.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (28.1%)
  2. Nine (20.0%)
  3. ABC1 (15.0%)
  4. Ten (9.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (3.6%)
  2. One (3.1%)
  3. Eleven (3.1%)
  4. ABC2 (3.0%)
  5. 7mate (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.632 million
  2. Seven News — 1.865 million
  3. Nine News — 1.736 million
  4. Revenge (Seven) — 1.663 million
  5. The Block (Nine) — 1.662 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.597 million
  7. Seven News /Today Tonight — 1.342 million
  8. ABC News — 1.341 million
  9. Australian Story (ABC1) — 1.218 million
  10. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.196 million

Top metro programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.841 million
  2. Seven News — 1.251 million
  3. Nine News — 1.228 million
  4. Seven News /Today Tonight — 1.209 million
  5. Revenge (Seven) — 1.186 million
  6. Nine News – 6.30 — 1.163 million
  7. The Block (Nine) — 1.125 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.061 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.011 million

Losers: Ten’s loyal audience. More admiration for hanging in there watching stuff not too many other people can be bothered watching.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.251 million
  2. Nine News — 1.228 million
  3. Seven News /Today Tonight — 1.209 million
  4. Nine News – 6.30 — 1.163 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.011 million
  6. ABC News — 960,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC1) — 814,000
  8. 7.30  – 753,000
  9. Four Corners (ABC1) — 753,000
  10. Q&A (ABC 1, 639,000 + 88,000 on News 24) — 727,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 345,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 291,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 130,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 107,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 64,000 + 45,000 on News 24) — 109,000
  6. Wake Up (Ten) — 45,000
  7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 31.000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. ESPN (2.8%)
  2. TVHITS!, Fox 8 – (2.4%)
  3. LifeStyle – (2.1%)
  4. A&E, Foxtel movies (1.7%)
  5. UKTV – (1.6%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Super Bowl (ESPN) – 108,000
  2. Sportscentre Special (ESPN) – 58,000
  3. Law & Order (TVHITS!)m The Simpsons (Fox 8 ) – 52,000
  4. Coronation ST (UKTV), The Crazy Ones (Fox 8 )  – 49,000
  5. Jessie (Disney), Tony Robinson’s Time Walks (History) – 48,000

*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.