(Image: AAP/Michael Dodge)

Be thankful for very small mercies — the NRL helped out some viewers in Sydney, Melbourne and some regions from a date with boredom last night. Melbourne Storm towelled the Roosters (current premiers and favourites for this year) 24-6. The game was watched by 580,000 viewers nationally (with a further 227,000 on Foxtel) and helped Nine win the night in the main channels, even though Seven won total people because of the huge national lead-in from its 6pm hour of news.

Elsewhere the Swans and GWS played for a very small AFL audience in Sydney and parts of NSW on 7mate (and nationally on Foxtel). Seven didn’t think the game would be of interest in other AFL markets — it didn’t make the national top 100 list (the cut off last night was 128,000). So this morning I feel very lonely — one of a handful of viewers. Foxel’s audience of 194,000 out rated the small 7mate audience.

The Bachelor on Ten had 746,000 — yes it out-rated the NRL (and did well in the demos), but it was down 126,000, or 14%, from the previous night’s debut of 872,000. Still, it was the 10th most watched program nationally. That’s a sign of how dire last night was for those brave souls watching free to air TV.

In regional markets Seven News, 624,000, Seven News 6.30, 593,000, 7pm ABC News, 377,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 363,000, Home and Away, 323,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (28.5%)
  2. Nine (26.4%)
  3. Ten (19.3%)
  4. ABC (16.2%)
  5. SBS (9.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (19.1%)
  2. Seven (18.1%)
  3. Ten (12.3%)
  4. ABC (11.0%)
  5. SBS ONE 5.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 Bold (4.6%)
  2. 7TWO (4.4%)
  3. 7mate (3.9%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.7%)
  5. 10 Peach (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.741 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.632 million
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.350 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.282 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.185 million
  6. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 985,000
  7. A Current Affair (Nine)  —- 953,000
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 846,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 792,000
  10. The Batchelor (Ten) — 746,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.117 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.040 million
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.037 million

Losers: Weak night

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.117 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.040 million
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.037 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 959,000
  5. 7pm ABC News —807,000
  6. ACA (Nine) — 652,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 538,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 511,000
  9. Ten News First — 377,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 308,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 452,000/309,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 324,000/221,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 321,000/212,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 245,000 
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 164,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 75,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Easts v Melbourne (Fox League) — 227,000
  2. AFL: Sydney v GWS (Fox Footy) — 194,000
  3. NRL: The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 95,000
  4. Aussie Gold Hunters (Discovery) — 76,000
  5. AFL: Post Game (Fox Footy) — 70,000