Mad As Hell is the pre-eminent political commentary program in Australia, going with what we have seen so far this season. It’s far more incisive than anything else, and makes political chat programs — such as Insiders (sorry Barrie), The Bolt Report (not hard to do) and anything on Sky News or News 24 look flat and dull. The way the program took the newspaper story on the way Tony Abbott’s speech has slowed since becoming Prime Minister, and illustrated it, and then sent it up, was classic. The piece on ABC efficiency and the conga drummer in ABC Legal and Business affairs was spot on, as well as the brief interview with an economist and the way a blathering environmentalist was struck down by lightning. Mad As Hell had 907,000 national/ 611,000 metro/ 296,000 regional viewers.

Seven’s night, otherwise — close-ish with Nine second, the ABC third and Ten closer in fourth, again. My Kitchen Rules had 2.396 million national/ 1.630 million metro/ 760,000 regional viewers. The Block eased — it had 1.679 million national/ 1.140 million metro/ 539,000 regional viewers. Seven had a bigger win in the regions, with Nine second and the ABC clearly third with Ten a distant fourth. Its main channel share in regional markets was only 7% against 9.1% in the metros.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (34.9%)
  2. Nine (30.6%)
  3. ABC (15.4%)
  4. Ten (14.7%)
  5. SBS (4.4%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (26.7%)
  2. Nine (24.1%)
  3. ABC 1 (9.9%)
  4. Ten (9.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.5%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.7%)
  2. Eleven (3.8%)
  3. GO, 7TWO (3.5%)
  4. Gem (3.0%)
  5. ABC2 (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.396 million
  2. Nine News — 1.681 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.679 million
  4. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.507 million
  5. Seven News — 1.451 million
  6. The Blacklist (Seven) — 1.412 million
  7. ABC News — 1.271 million
  8. Inside Story (Nine) — 1.205 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) – 1.128 million
  10. Nine News 6.30 — 1.071 million

Top metro programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 1.630 million
  2. Nine News — 1.172 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.140 million
  4. Seven News — 1.076 million
  5. Nine News 6.30 — 1.071 million
  6. Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.047 million

Losers: Ten. The Biggest Loser,  (443,000 national/ 335,000 metro/ 108,000 regional viewers). Puberty Blues, (647,000 national/ 477,000 metro / 170,000 regional viewers). Weakness begets weakness. Shifting So You Think You Can Dance Australia to Thursday nights (the third weakest night of the week)  from Sundays (along with Mondays, the strongest night of the week) will not help — it’s a dud. The change starts next week.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.172 million
  2. Seven News — 1.076 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.071 million
  4. Seven News / Today Tonight — 1.047 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 959,000
  6. Inside Story (Nine) — 855,000
  7. ABC News — 837,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC1)  – 644,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 624,000
  10. The Project (Ten) — 525,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 334,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 278,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 15o,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC1, 63,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 106,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 98,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 46,000
  7. Wake Up (Ten) — 29,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (3.0%)
  2. Fox 8 (2.7%)
  3. TVHITS!  (2.6%)
  4. A&E (1.7%)
  5. UKTV, Sky News (1.7%)

Top pay TV programs:

  1. Selling Houses Australia  (LifeStyle) – 149,000
  2. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 71,000
  3. AFL: Bounce (Fox Footy) – 66,000
  4. GRIMM (Fox 8), Coronation Street (UKTV) — 65,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 57,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. 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.