Of 2018’s warhorses, Australian Survivor has turned out to be the most successful.

It survived the implosion of Ten in mid to late 2017 as the series was being planned, it survived the new owners in CBS, and it battled through The Block on Nine to see its best ever ratings over the final few weeks. The winner’s announcement last night had 1.17 million viewers nationally, 877,000 in the metros and 297,000 in the regions. That’s up 15% from the 1.01 million in 2017. The finale had 1.13 million (938,000 a year ago). 

The Block (1.30 million nationally) was still dominant (Nine won total people and 25 to 54s; Ten won the others), but unlike Survivor, its audience was down sharply from the same night a year ago when it averaged 1.76 million. That is a very nasty 22% slump. The Good Doctor  940,000 nationally was 15% down from the 1.11 million the week before. The Bachelorette starts on Ten tonight.

In regional markets, it was Seven’s 6pm News on top with 527,000, followed by Seven News/Today Tonight with 518,000, Home and Away was third with 390,000, The Block was fourth with 379,000 and The Good Doctor was fifth with 352,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (28.3%)
  2. Seven(25.0%)
  3. Ten (22.6%)
  4. ABC (17,3%)
  5. SBS (6.9%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (19.8%)
  2. Seven (17.5%)
  3. Ten (16.9%)
  4. ABC (12.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (3.8%)
  2. GO (3.7%)
  3. Gem, ONE (3.4%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.479 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.459 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.307 million
  4. Australian Survivor – Winner Announced (Ten) — 1.174 million
  5. Australian Survivor – Finale (Ten) — 1.163 million
  6. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.034 million
  7. Nine/NBN News — 1.099 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.083 million
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.028 million

Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers.

Losers: The drop in viewer numbers for The Block must be a concern for Nine.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 953,000
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 941,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 859,000
  4. Nine News— 843,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 772,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 716,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 634,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 512,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 374,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 302,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 418,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 329,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket: Pakistan v Australia Day 3 (Fox Cricket) — 101,000
  2. Cricket: Pakistan v Australia Day 3 (Fox Cricket) — 75,000
  3. Cricket: Pakistan v Australia Tea Break (Fox Cricket) — 67,000
  4. Cricket: Pakistan v Australia Day 3 (Fox Cricket) — 61,000
  5. Cricket:Big Break Cricket (Fox Cricket) — 56,000