It’s a pretty weak night when an NRL match is one of the viewing highlights, simply because it is live and the result unknown. Catalyst on ABC 1 was again interesting, Silk at 8.30pm is now in soapy territory and nothing after 7pm had a million or more viewers in the metros. The fact that the hour long episode of Home and Away — one of Seven’s most reliable programs —  ended up second nationally with 1.363 million national/ 882,000 metro/ 481,000 regional viewers tells us how weak the offerings elsewhere were last night.

The footy ensured Nine was the big winner last night in metro and regional markets, especially in NSW and Qld. Ten was third in the metros, but a weak fourth in the regionals — a familiar result these days.

In the mornings, Today edged back over 300,000 to 302,000 for the second time this week, but that was swamped by Sunrise which was far in front with 375,000 viewers. Nationally Sunrise had another morning of more than 600,000 viewers (605,000) to Today’s 463,000. Sunrise has had a very solid week in metros and nationally all week, ahead of its US jaunt next week.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (32.9%)
  2. Seven (27.1%)
  3. Ten (17.4%)
  4. ABC (16.7%)
  5. SBS (5.8%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (25.5%)
  2. Seven (27.4%)
  3. Ten (12.2%)
  4. ABC (12.0%)

Top 5 digital channels:

  1. 7TWO (5.1%)
  2. 7mate (4.6%)
  3. GO (4.4%)
  4. Eleven (3.1%)
  5. Gem (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.504 million
  2. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.363 million
  3. Seven News — 1.282 million
  4. The World Oddest Animal Couples (Seven) — 1.192 million
  5. ABC News — 1.102 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.003 million
  7. The Footy Show (Nine) — 980,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 980,000
  9. Catalyst (ABC) — 942,000
  10. Nine News 6.30 – 932,000

Losers: Really, anyone who watched TV last night and didn’t like rugby league. Thursday night has joined Friday and Saturday in TV’s desert, where the programming is weak at best, simply boring at worst and dominated by repeats (movies especially). That’s why the NRL game stood out last night on Nine. Tonight will at least see an AFL game and an NRL game for a bit of excitement and colour.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.103 million
  2. Seven News — 964,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 – 932,000
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 927,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 831,000
  6. ABC News – 731,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 644,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 587,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 553,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 416,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 375,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 302,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 143,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 116,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC,  70,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 113,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 57,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8 (3.1%)
  2. LifeStyle  (2.4%)
  3. TV1 (2.1%)
  4. Fox Sports 3 (2.0%)
  5. UKTV (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Family Guy (Fox8) – 84,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 74,000
  3. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) – 74,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox8) – 71,000
  5. The Big Bang Theory (Comedy Channel) – 63,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2014. 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.