Nine’s night thanks to the program that isn’t what it seems. Married At First Sight doesn’t involve “marriage at first sight” because a) a month’s notice is needed under local marriage laws, and b) problems with the Family Law Act (if they divorce, there’s the property settlement to consider). But the “marriage” situation can be regularised later on, which will be interesting and make for an interesting sequel or finale. What you see on screen is a trial run and don’t a lot of people wish they had gone down that route? Hang on, isn’t that’s why we live/ lived together for a while?

Anyhow, the program has more cred than Ten’s meat market approach of The Bachelor, and later this year, The Bachelorette.Those conservative viewers in regional Australia are giving Married At First Sight the thumbs up — 462,000 viewers last night — beaten only by Home and Away (519,000) and House Rules (482,000). Masterchef Australia could only grab 334,000 viewers in the regions, which remains a major mystery. Nine’s Reno Rumble continues to misfire in regional markets attracting just 314,000 viewers last night, the lowest of the four major non-news programs. Romance rules, instead of food or property — what a relief. No wonder Nine is resurrecting Farmer Wants A Wife.

So Nine won the night in metro markets and made it a very close run thing in the regions with Nine’s main channel just ahead of Seven’s. Because of the lack of appeal of Masterchef Australia, Ten again finished 4th and behind the ABC. Masterchef deserves better. Joe hockey’s solo flight on Q&A pulled 716,000 national viewers. OK, but the program has had more viewers in metro markets alone in the past. But only the first episode of the dying Revenge on Seven did better with 798,000 viewers across the country.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (28.9%)
  2. Seven (26.0%)
  3. Ten (21.2%)
  4. ABC (17.9%)
  5. SBS (6.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (21.6%)
  2. Seven (17.4%)
  3. Ten (15.6%)
  4. ABC 1 (14.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.7%)
  2. GO (4.2%)
  3. 7mate (4.0%)
  4. Gem (3.1%)
  5. ONE (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.704 million
  2. Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.564 million
  3. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.446 million
  4. Seven News — 1.432 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.367 million
  6. House Rules (Seven) — 1.302 million
  7. ABC News — 1.246 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.183 million
  9. Nine News 6.30 — 1.140 million
  10. Australian Story (ABC) — 1.047 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.246 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.140 million
  3. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.112 million
  4. Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.103 million
  5. Seven News — 1.099 million
  6. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.046 million

Losers: Ten in the regional markets, again. It remains baffling why Masterchef Australia just doesn’t do it for regional viewers. It is easier to see why Seven’s House Rules is finally breaking free of Reno Rumble in the  metros as it did weeks ago in regional markets.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.246 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.140 million
  3. Seven News — 1.099 million
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.046 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 997,000
  6. ABC News — 842,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC) — 731,000
  8. Four Corners (ABC) – 700,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 698,000
  10. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 644,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 330,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 280,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) –145,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 135,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  76,000 + 35,000 on News 24) — 111,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 57,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. Fox  Sports 1  (2.7%)
  2. showcase  (2.5%)
  3. LifeStyle, Fox8, TVHITS  (2.0%)

 Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Game of Thrones (showcase) – 255,000
  2. NRL: Newcastle v Brisbane (Fox Sports 1) – 219,000
  3. Game of Thrones (showcase) – 173,000
  4. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 126,000
  5. Monday Night With Matty Johns (Fox Sports 1) – 104,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. 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.