masterchef judges Jock Zonfrillo, Andy Allen and Melissa Leong
(Image: Ten)

Nine’s night, though Lego Masters lost yet more viewers — down to 1.02 million from the Monday debut of 1.11 million. Nine is sticking with it, with news this morning that Hamish Blake would remain host until 2023. The audience will likely drift under a million next week.

But that’s still a success compared to Ten’s MasterChef Australia — in the running for underperformer of 2021 — which had 737,000 viewers last night (755,000 on Tuesday night and 853,000 for the Monday return). Now the audience for this one always drifts lower in the first couple of weeks as the backstories and personalities become established. But it is clear that with no lockdowns people are out eating and drinking instead of at home looking at MasterChef.

It was again beaten into third by the ABC from 7.30pm. Seven was a weak fourth, as it deserved. Lego Masters easily won the demos on lower viewer numbers and MasterChef lost ground.

No AFL on Seven tonight and The Front Bar is not on at a decent time in Sydney, even on 7mate. Seven’s management again illustrating it has little or no clues about trying to give viewers what they want.

Today’s brief move on Sunrise ended and the gap widened again and Nine News’ brief metro win on Tuesday also lasted one night.

Regional top five saw Seven News at 589,000; Seven News 6.30, 571,000; Home and Away, 350,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 334,000; Hard Quiz, 324,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (29.0%)
  2. Seven (24.3%)
  3. Ten (21.1%)
  4. ABC (18.5%)
  5. SBS (7.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (20.8%)
  2. Seven (17.4%)
  3. ABC (14.2%)
  4. Ten (13.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.0%)

Top 5 digital channels:

  1. 10 Bold (4.5%)
  2. 7TWO (3.0%)
  3. Gem (2.8%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.97%)
  5. ABC Kids/Comedy/Plus (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.535 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.504 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.198 million
  4. Nine News — 1.169 million
  5. Lego Masters (Nine) — 1.021 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 980,000
  7. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 976,000
  8. 7pm ABC News — 944,000
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 924,000
  10. 7.30 (ABC) — 826,000

Top metro programs: No MAFS means no million-viewer programs in the metros.

Losers: Seven and Ten.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News —947,000
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 933,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 921,000
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 909,000
  5. ACA (Nine) — 701,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 640,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 541,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 436,000
  9. Ten News First — 343,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 287,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 460,000/255,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 317,000/216,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC) — 288,000/180,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 216,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 140,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 56,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 154,000
  2. AFL: 360 (fox Footy — 62,000
  3. Paul Murray (Sky News) — 56,000
  4. Alan Jones (Sky News) — 54,000
  5. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 51,000