The night a politician other than ScoMo took over the show

A TV highlight last night was the new version of The Masked Singer called The Masked Pollie. After a lot of prodding by Sarah Ferguson, the character playing John Howard in an interview on 7.30 was revealed as, wait for it, John Howard, an author spruiking a book on his views on politics made irrelevant by the latest abuses of convention by Scott Morrison, for whom Howard campaigned strongly in the May election campaign.

7.30 had 793,000 viewers nationally and a top 10 finish. It wasn’t in the national top 10 programs a week ago. The 7pm ABC news added 160,000 viewers last night from a week ago to average 996,000, and 4000 more from Monday night (Seven and Nine’s 6-7pm news went backwards but ACA topped the million-viewer level for a second night in a row).

The Block again topped the million national viewer mark with 1.045 million, The Masked Singer Reveal averaged 749,000, 90,000 more than the performance lead-up with 659,000. Seven’s MKR eased back to 672,000 nationally. Seven followed MKR with two hours and 20 minutes of a remake of The Ipcress File, the iconic ’60s Cold War spy drama that helped turn Michael Caine into a global star. No one bothered to stay with it from MKR and the 140 minutes or so averaged 242,000 — 281,000 viewers for the first ep, 203,000 for the second.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (30.0%)
2. Seven (25.8%)
3. Ten (19.1%)
4. ABC (18.2%)
5. SBS (7.0%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (21.8%)
2. Seven (18.3%)
3. ABC (13.4%)
4. Ten (12.8%)
5. SBS ONE (7.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7mate (3.5%)
2. 10 Peach (3.1%)
3. Gem (2.7%)
4. 7TWO (2.6%)
5. 10 Bold (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.396 million
2. Seven News 6.30pm — 1.390 million
3. Nine News 6.30pm — 1.144 million
4. Nine News — 1.098 million
5. The Block (Nine) — 1.045 million
6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.015 million
7. 7pm ABC News — 996,000
8. 7.30 (ABC) — 793,000
9. The Masked Singer Reveal (Ten) — 749,000
10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 734,000

Top metro programs: none with a million or more viewers last night.

Regional top 5: Seven News 6.30pm, 531,000; Seven News, 524,000; ACA, 320,000; 7pm ABC News, 302,000; The Block, 296,000.

Loser: MKR.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Nine News 6.30pm — 879,000
2. Seven News — 872,000
3. Seven News 6.30pm — 859,000
4. Nine News — 814,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 695,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 694,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 574,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 343,000
9. Ten News First  — 263,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 243,000

Morning (national) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) —  350,000/208,000
2. Today (Nine) — 292,000/196,000
3. ABC News Breakfast — 280,000/181,000
4. ABC News Mornings — 233,000
5. The Morning Show (Seven) — 210,000
6. Today Extra (Nine) — 151,000
7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 40,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

1. The Twelve (Fox Showcase) — 70,000
2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 68,000
3. NRL: 360 (Fox League) — 53,000
4. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 46,000
5. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 41,000