Seven rested My Kitchen Rules last night (and again next Sunday night, according to the early guides) and the mice played, with The Block and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, plus Shark Tank all doing better than on previous Sunday nights. The Block had 1.582 million national viewers without MKR presence; Celebrity’s eviction part of last night’s episode had 1.014 million and Shark Tank had 1.059 million and a top Ten finish (The Block was the most watched program on TV last night). Seven’s Australia: The Story of Us held its audience in metro markets and lifted it nicely nationally to close to 1.4 million people. In fact you could say Seven’s act of charity effectively took its foot off the throats of Nine and Ten last night by resting MKR, which had been doing serious damage to the ratings (and no doubt revenues) of The Block and Celebrity. Seven might have won Total People, but Nine won the main channels and the demos.

But in regional markets the absence of the Monster Kitchen Show didn’t worry viewers — they rejected Nine and The Block and Ten and its Celebrities and Shark Tank. Seven won by 10 points and the ABC was third both overall and in the main channels (unlike in the metros where the ABC had more viewers overall, but Ten won the main channels narrowly).

Downton Abbey started weakly for Seven with 1.186 million national viewers (remember when it used to be number one with 2 million?) — it doesn’t have the pizzazz here any more that it retains in the UK and US markets. Australians are such fickle, disloyal viewers.

Insiders (626,000 national viewers) had another strong morning yesterday, as did The Bolt Report with a total of 427,000 for the live and repeat broadcasts. Adding in the Insiders repeat on News 24, (99,000) , the Barrie Cassidy-hosted program had 725,000 viewers all up yesterday. Offsiders at 10am on ABC had one of its strongest mornings with viewers with 312,000 national viewers from 10am and another 71,000 for the later repeat on News24. It had a total of 383,000 (on the same basis as Bolter’s efforts). On the live broadcast basis, The Bolter was done over hugely, again by Insiders, 626,000 to 227,000. Something for the cheer squad at The Australian’s Media Section when they next try to tell us of Bolt’s winning ways.

On pay TV, did 41,000 more people watch the innings break in yesterday’s South Africa v India World Cup game from Melbourne than watched either session (180,000 and 173,000)? Yep.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (30.5%)
  2. Nine (29.7%)
  3. Ten (17.2%)
  4. ABC (17.0%)
  5. SBS (5.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.1%)
  2. Seven (20.6%)
  3. Ten (14.0%)
  4. ABC (13.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (5.8%)
  2. 7TWO (4.1%)
  3. GO (3.8%)
  4. Gem (2.7%)
  5. ABC2 (2.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 1.582 million
  2. Seven News — 1.414 million
  3. ABC News — 1.480 million
  4. Nine News  – 1.459 million
  5. Australia: The Story Of Us (Seven) — 1.398 million
  6. My France: Manu (Seven) — 1.267 million
  7. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.203 million
  8. Downton Abbey (Seven) — 1.186 million
  9. David Attenborough’s Conquest of The Skies (ABC) — 1.069 million
  10. Shark Tank (Ten) — 1.059 million

Top metro programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 1.114 million
  2. Nine News — 1.085 million
  3. Seven News — 1.016 million

Losers: Fans of My Kitchen Rules on Seven.Metro news and current affairs:

  1.  Nine News — 1.085 million
  2. Seven News — 1.016 million
  3. ABC  News  – 959,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 830,000
  5. Ten Eyewitness News  — 502,000
  6. SBS World News — 195,000

Morning TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC 310,000, 107,000 on News 24) — 407,000
  2. Landline (ABC  — 318,000
  3. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 328,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) – 300,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 218,000
  6. The Bolt Report (Ten) — 160,000
  7. The Bolt Report repeat  (Ten)– 151,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Sports 3 (5.8%)
  2. Fox 8  (2.3%)
  3. TVHITS, LifeStyle (1.9%)
  4. Foxtel Movies Premiere (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket World Cup : Innings Break (Fox Sports 3) — 221,000
  2. Cricket World Cup: South Africa v India Session 1  (Fox Sports 3) — 180,000
  3. Cricket World Cup: South Africa v India Session 2   (Fox Sports 3) — 173,000
  4. The Real Housewives Of Melbourne (Arena) – 120,000
  5. The Monuments Men (Foxtel Movies Premiere)– 61,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. 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.