Ten’s night in the metros thanks to Masterchef and NCIS, plus the 7pm part of The Project delivered against a set of weak offerings from Seven and Nine, and even the ABC. In the regions it was Seven and its weak offer, clearly from Ten, with Nine a very weak third.

Watching Masterchef last night I wonder if the food the final four contestants prepared was hot enough by the time it reached the judges. There seemed to be an inordinate length of time between the ending of the session in front of the stoves, and then the judging. The judges had to move inside and prepare to judge. Were the dishes kept warm or reheated? Just wondering. They seemed to be in front of the contestants as each rose to go and deliver the meal to the panel. Had they been kept heated somewhere? This is one of the questions that arises with all cooking shows.

Masterchef though dominated non-news viewing last night (the quail dishes looked yumbo jumbo) with 1.477 million national viewers last night and 1.054 million in the metros and over 400,000 in the regions. NCIS was helped by this performance and ended up 6th nationally with 1.287 million. It’s nice having a solid lead in.

Earlier on Ten, Steve Price continued to argue with his foot in his mouth in defending his aggressive reaction to questions on Q&A on Monday night, Carrie Bickmore and Waleed Aly both nailed him, but Price could not see the point above his left (or was it his right) heel. The 7pm part of The Project was 11th nationally with a solid 1.025 million viewers. Fancy a shock jock like Steve Price playing the victim, but that is what we saw on The Project last night.

In the regions Seven News was tops with 679,000 people, followed by Seven News/Today Tonight with 559,000, then came Home and Away with 528,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm was fourth with 526,000 and Make You Laugh out Loud was fifth with 442,000: another clean sweep by Seven.

In breakfast it was Today’s turn to win: 301,000 to Sunrise’s 287,000 in the metros. Nationally Sunrise again won.

Mad as Hell tonight – will Shaun Micallef be PM? Will Queensland win a third Origin game, or will NSW save face. Are you interested? Are you Mad As Hell? Then watch the real thing – Mad As Hell.

Network channel share:

  1. Ten (26.8%)
  2. Seven (24.8%)
  3. Nine (24.0%)
  4. ABC (16.5%)
  5. SBS (8.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Ten (19.8%)
  2. Nine (16.7%)
  3. Seven(16.4%)
  4. ABC (11.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (464%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.2%)
  2. GO (3.8%)
  3. ABC 2, GO (3.0%)
  4. 7TWO (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.872 million
  2. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.676 million
  3. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.477 million
  4. Nine News — 1.405 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.302 million
  6. NCIS (Ten) — 1.287 million
  7. ABC News — 1.242 million
  8. The Chaser Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.235 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.191 million
  10. Make You laugh Out loud (Seven) — 1.162 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.193 million
  2. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.117 million
  3. Nine News — 1.070 million
  4. The X Factor (Seven) — 1.054 million

Losers: Viewers of Nine and Seven — just a weak offering — and the ABC wasn’t too attractive either.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.193 million
  2. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.117 million
  3. Nine News — 1.070 million
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 966,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 845,000
  6. ABC News – 842,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 712,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 662,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 501,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 496,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 301,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 287,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 176,000
  4. Today Extra (Nine) — 161,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC,  97,000 + 41,000 on News 24) — 138,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 71,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (2.3%)
  2. SKY News, TVHITS  (2.1%)
  3. LifeStyle (1.7%)
  4. UKTV (1.6%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Wentworth (SoHo) — 110,000
  2. The Simpsons (Fox8) — 89,000
  3. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 89,000
  4. Back Page (Fox Sports 1) — 81,000
  5. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 72,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.