Is Ten trying to draw attention away from the ratings successes on Sunday nights of Seven and Nine by producing a series of record low ratings performances for its main channel? I know it’s a pretty long bow to draw, but how else do you explain what Ten is doing? It can’t really be planned, can it? But it’s starting to look like that with the second Sunday night ratings low in a row for the network’s main channel — which is supposed to be the main money maker, not loser.  So weak was Ten’s main channel last night that Ten’s ONE Network came close to toppling the main channel. Ten’s main channel share in metro markets was just 5.9%, well under last week’s low of 6.2%. ONE’ was 5.0% thanks to the telecast of the Malaysian F1 race.

In regional areas, Ten’s effort was worse  — its main channel prime time share was just 5.5%. In fact in regional areas, ABC1’s share of 11.5% was more than double Ten’s. Ten’s most watched programs were the Grand Prix with 507,000 national/ 375,000 metro/ 132,000 regional viewers, and Elementary with 537,000 national/ 380 metro/ 147,000 regional viewers. They are not numbers on which ratings success can be built — nor are they the figures to base a career on, especially as Chairman of a major media company, or two. They are testimony to Lachlan Murdoch’s weak management of Ten’s ratings woes for the past three years.

Nine’s The Block had million 2.492 million national/ 1.732 million metro/ 760,000 regional viewers, while My Kitchen Rules had 2.335 million national/ 1.570 million metro/ 765,000 regional viewers. As a result, Nine won the night (and the demos) in metro and regional markets. Seven’s Sunday Night faded with a lightweight edition last night compared with 60 Minutes — which looked at the missing Malaysian Airlines 777 and recreated the possible few final minutes in a simulator with a pilot. All it took was just over a minute for the jet to drop from 35,000 feet once the fuel ran out! If true, it must have been a terrifying end for all on board.

The ABC again did well from Ten’s incompetence — third in metro and regional markets. ABC1’s Rake ended its season with a bang — 1.080 million national/ 759,000 metro/ 321,000 regional viewers. Sunday nights will have a large hole them now for weeks to come.

In the morning, Insiders at 9am was the most watched morning chat show in the metros with 314,000 viewers on ABC1 and News24, and 490,000 nationally. That might be enough to get the Murdoch papers baying for Barrie Cassidy’s blood, again. Landline from noon on ABC1 continued to improve with 467,000 viewers nationally. The Bolt Report averaged 116,000 at 10am. And Bolt’s hour long program has ended Meet The Press, with the Oz’s Media section this morning telling us what we all have known for months, that it understands the program won’t be coming back. That’s another good TV idea ruined by the ‘experts’ at News. Bolt’s repeat averaged 129,000 at 4pm on Ten.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (35.3%)
  2. Seven (33.0%)
  3. ABC (15.2%)
  4. Ten (12.5%)
  5. SBS (4.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (27.5%)
  2. Seven (26.5%)
  3. ABC1 (11.2%)
  4. Ten (5.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. ONE (5.0%)
  2. GO (4.5%)
  3. 7TWO (3.5%)
  4. Gem (3.3%)
  5. 7mate (3.0%)

Top national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) – number of viewers
  2. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.171 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 2.079 million
  4. Seven News — 1.913 million
  5. Nine News, Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.849 million
  6. Downton Abbey (Seven) — 1.657 million
  7. Fat Tony & Co (Nine) — 1.458 million
  8. ABC News — 1.265 million
  9. Rake (ABC1) — 1.080 million
  10. Ice Age Giants (ABC1) — 1.019 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) – 1.732 millio
  2. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.570 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.424 million
  4. Seven News — 1.331 million
  5. Nine News — 1.260 million
  6. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.185 million
  7. Downton Abbey (Seven) — 1.095 millio
  8. Fat Tony — 1.036 million

Losers: Ten. No amount of spinning by the Murdoch empire will hide what a terrible result last night was.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.424 million
  2. Seven News — 1.331 million
  3. Nine News — 1.260 million
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.185 million
  5. ABC News — 828,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News — 473,000
  7. SBS World News — 185,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC1 199,000 + News24 115,000) — 314,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 304,000
  3. Landline (ABC1) — 286,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) – 285,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC1) — 147,000
  6. The Bolt Report (Ten) — 116,000
  7. The Bolt Report repeat (Ten) — 129,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (3.0%)
  2. TV1  (2.3%)
  3. LifeStyle  (2.0%)
  4. UKTV  (1.8%)
  5. Fox Classics  (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Souths v Canberra  (Fox Sports 1) – 180,000
  2. AFL: Brisbane v Geelong (Fox Footy) – 155,000
  3. AFL Footscray v North Melbourne (Fox Footy) – 146,000
  4. AFL: NAB Before The Bounce (Fox Footy), Real Housewives of Melbourne (Arena) — 92,000
  5. AFL: Melbourne v West Coast (Fox Sports 1) – 88,000

*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.