SAS Australia cast (Image: Supplied)

The dying days of 2020 ratings and you’d have to be very desperate to claim a win on a night in the final week. Cue Seven Network. Thanks to the big lead for its 6pm news hour and SAS Australia Seven topped the night. SAS was the most-watched non-news program with 1.03 million viewers.

Nine said it led the week (after two nights!) and the reason for that lead was the final of The Block on Sunday night. Thin justification. Have You Been Paying Attention? ended a difficult year (handled in the end with ease) last night with 882,000 national viewers and a stand-out winner for Ten which has struggled all year.

In the narrow world that is Foxtel (AKA pay TV in this country — a joke) The Undoing with Our Nicole (Kidman) topped the night on Fox Showcase with 78,000, relegating the Sky News after dark barkers. Seven won total people from Nine, Ten and the ABC. But in the main channels it was Seven, Nine, the ABC and Ten.

In regional markets: Seven News 6.30, 537,000; Seven News, 531,000; Home and Away, 365,000; 7pm ABC News, 335,000; Australian Story, 327,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (27.8%)
  2. Nine (25.6%)
  3. Ten (20.3%)
  4. ABC (18.1%)
  5. SBS (8.3%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (19.9%)
  2. Nine (17.9%)
  3. TEN (12.9%)
  4. ABC (13.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 Bold (4.3%)
  2. 7TWO (3.7%)
  3. GO (3.0%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.9%)
  5. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News 6.30 —1.526 million
  2. Seven News — 1.512 million
  3. Nine/NBN News  — 1.202 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.165 million
  5. 7pm ABC News, SAS Australia (Seven) —1.035 million
  6. 7.30 (ABC) —1.035 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 976,000
  8. Australian Story (ABC) — 972,000
  9. A Current Affair (Nine)  — 967,000

Top metro programs: none with a million or more viewers

Losers: Gone fishin’.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News 6.30 — 995,000
  2. Seven News  — 975,000
  3. Nine News  — 935,000
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 869,000
  5. 7pm ABC News , 7.30 (ABC) — 700,000
  6. ACA (Nine) — 682,000
  7. Australian Story (ABC) — 646,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 474,000
  9. Media Watch (ABC) — 379,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 494,000/284,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 330,000/216,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 297,000/202,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 237,000 
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 156,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 40,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Undoing (Fox Showcase) — 78,000
  2. Alan Jones(Sky News) — 67,000
  3. Credlin (Sky News) — 60,000
  4. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 58,000
  5. The Undoing (Fox Showcase) — 57,000