A night of two ratings tales. Nine surprised with a metro win last night from Seven, Ten and the ABC, but in the regions, it was Seven well in front of Nine, Ten and the ABC. Those rusted on Seven viewers in regional Australia are more influential than ever, even if viewing levels in the key 25 to 54 demo are down.

But a night of surprises and didn’t see that coming for Seven Nine won the metros with odds and sods, Seven staggered into a weak second as the souffle went pop;  Ten did OK thanks to The Bach, but Offspring has sprung a leak, while the ABC was held up by Gruen and Anh Do’s paint brush. In fact it was a night that at first glance looked moderately boring but ended up with a message or two, especially for Seven. Its procession to a win at the end of the year has gotten a bit rougher.

Just Desserts: Down, down, down (not the Coles song). In the metros it started out on Monday night with 1.081 million metro viewers, but last night had just 734,000. A 30% loss in three nights is the big signal for turkey, not dessert. Nationally, it has lost 400,000 viewers from Monday night’s 1.532 million to last night’s 1.122 million. Not good.

The Durrells: 684,000 metro viewers. Pleasant, very British, and delightfully expat eccentric, but didn’t really strike a bell last night. Nationally, 1.048 million,which is OK, but no Downton Abbey.

The Bachelor/Offspring: Bach steady (if too meat market/Seraglio). The Bach, 1.147 million nationally and 10th overall), Offspring 668,000 metro viewers (beaten by The Durrells) and 952,000 nationally, which is OK, but the list is noticeable. Nina is overstaying her welcome so far as the core audience are concerned.

The ABC’s Gruen got 927,000 metro viewers and the most watched non news program on the night. 1.260 million nationally and fifth. Anh Do’s Brush with Fame got 806,000 metro viewers and 1.177 million nationally. And to think he had another good idea for a series in him after being milked by Seven — and it was there, right in front of Seven — his talent as a painter.

In the regions the most watched programs were Seven News with 618,000, Seven News/Today Tonight with 518,000, Home and Away was 3rd with 511,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 465,000 and RBT, 394,000.

In metro breakfast Today with 317,000 beat Sunrise with 291,000 viewers. The Olympic halo went quickly.

Tonight – whale wresting in the NRL on Nine, Baching on Ten, with Gogglebox Australia back. Seven has Selling Houses Australia – this is not new. It’s series five from the program that first went to air on the LifeStyle Channel on Foxtel. In other words, it’s a bit of cheap ratings Spakfilla for Seven on a low viewing Thursday night. Series five actually started in 2012 on Foxtel, so it is not exactly up to date. At least Gogglebox airs on Ten tonight, only 24 hours after it aired on LifeStyle where it topped the list watched last night with a very solid 238,000 people..

Gone: Life In Pieces (Tuesday night, Ten, 8pm), which lasted just one episode after bombing this week. It is out of next Tuesday’s Ten schedule with Australian Survivor growing like topsy to a third night (Sunday Monday and now Tuesday).

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (28.4%)
  2. Seven (26.5%)
  3. Ten (21.5%)
  4. ABC (17.4%)
  5. SBS (6.3%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (20.7%)
  2. Seven (18.8%)
  3. Ten (15.5%)
  4. ABC (12.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (3.8%)
  2. GO (3.4%)
  3. ONE (3.2%)
  4. ABC 2 (3.0%)
  5. Eleven (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.763 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.608 million
  3. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.339 million
  4. Nine News — 1.328 million
  5. Gruen (ABC) — 1.260 million
  6. RBT (Nine) — 1.219 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.191 million
  8. Anh’s Brush With Fame (ABC) — 1.177 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.175 million
  10. The Bachelor (Ten)  — 1.127 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.145 million
  2. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.090 million
  3. Nine News — 1.004 million

Losers: Seven. Just Desserts and The Durrells, plus Offspring on Ten has got the vapours.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.145 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.090 million
  3. Nine News — 1.004 million
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 914,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 825,000
  6. ABC News – 740,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 684,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 672,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 529,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 471,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 317,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 291,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 157,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC,  107,000 + 44,000 on News 24) — 151,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 129,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 95,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (3.1%)
  2. Fox 8  (2.8%)
  3. Fox Sports 3 (2.5%)
  4. TVHITS  (2.2%)
  5. Sky News (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 238,000
  2. The Recruit (Fox8) — 96,000
  3. Cricket, 2nd ODI, Sri Lanka v Australia (Fox Sports 3) — 86,000
  4. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 79,000
  5. Soccer: FFA Cup (Fox Sports 4) — 64,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.