Seven won overall, even though the Melba-like finale of Married at First Sight (part 1) topped the night nationally and in the metros. My Kitchen Rules hung in there and Seven finished the night well in front thanks to another true crime repeat story at 9.30pm which dominated the last hour of the main prime time ratings period. Ten was again very weak, which is understandable given it has nothing but bits and bobs. The ABC did OK, even though it wasn’t as solid as the four previous Sundays when it was screening Vera.

Married at First Sight had its season high figures — both nationally  (1.90 million) and in the metros (1.37 million). Some of the “relationships” look very fraught last night. Tonight’s ep is a tidy up and ‘assessment’ by counsellors and others. Expect finger pointing and tutting. From tomorrow night, MKR has a open three nights and Seven will win the week, again.

In the mornings, Insiders (549,000) was pushed back to second behind Weekend Sunrise with 590,000 national viewers. Weekend Today had 490,000 – so the national audience for those three programs was an impressive 1.62 million people, which is not to be sneezed at.

In regional markets: Seven News was tops with 637,000 viewers MKR was second with 576,000, Married With Children was 3rd with 527,000, Nine/NBN News 6.30 500,000, Nine/NBN News, 456,000.

An easy win to Seven last week, with Nine comprehensively beaten while the ABC was third and Ten struggled to keep up in 4th spot. Ten’s main channel share again left a lot to be desired – under 10% all week, ending with an average for the week of 9.3%. The Biggest Loser: Transformed was moved to week days at 1pm; buried, in other words. Ten is pitching anything into the 7.30pm slot  to hold the fort until it can start Masterchef. Ten’s main channel share last night was just 7.3% — not the best way to start what will be a tough week. SBS’s main channel share last night was 6.9% for the metros – that’s uncomfortably close (for Ten) to Ten’s share.

This evening SBS ventures into the local cheffing shows market with The Chef’s Line hosted by Maeve O’Mara at 6pm. But why?

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (33.0%)
  2. Nine (31.6%)
  3. ABC (14.9%)
  4. Ten (7.3%)
  5. SBS (7.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (24.7%)
  2. Nine (23.0%)
  3. ABC (11.0%)
  4. Ten (7.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (6.0%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (3.5%)
  2. 7mate (3.4%)
  3. ONE (3.1%)
  4. 7TWO (2.9%)
  5. Gem (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.90 million
  2. Seven News  — 1.88 million
  3. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 1.82 million
  4. Nine/NBN News — 1.68 million
  5. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 1.21 million
  6. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.16 million
  7. 7pm ABC News — 1.09 million
  8. Grand Designs rept (ABC) — 865,000
  9. AFL: Round 3, Games (Seven/7mate) — 678,000
  10. Melbourne Comedy Festival (ABC) — 624,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Married at First Sight (Nine) — 1.37 million
  2. MKR (Seven) — 1.25 million
  3. Seven News — 1.24 million
  4. Nine News — 1.21 million

Losers: Ten. Nine because it didn’t have one more program to make sure of an outright win on the night.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.24 million
  2. Nine News — 1.21 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 830,000
  4. Sunday Night (Seven) — 764,000
  5. 7pm ABC News – 703,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News — 302,000
  7. SBS World News  — 202,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 590,000
  2. Insiders (ABC, 393,000, 154,000 on News 24) — 547,000
  3. Weekend Today (Nine) — 490,000
  4. Offsiders (ABC) — 245,000
  5. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 231,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy (5.2%)
  2. Fox League (4.5%)
  3. Fox Sports 502 (2.4%)
  4. TVHITS(2.0%)
  5. Fox 8  (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Geelong v North Melbourne (Fox Footy) —230,000
  2. NRL: Wests v St George (Fox League) — 229,000
  3. NRL: Auckland v God Coast (Fox League) — 211,000
  4. AFL: Melbourne v Carlton (Fox Sports) — 170,000
  5. AFL: Ports Adelaide v Fremantle (Fox Sports) — 160,000