The Voice Australia coaches
(Image: Nine)

While MasterChef again topped the “reality” list last night, the evening news broadcasts of Seven, Nine and the ABC clearly topped the real reality category. They occupied the top five spots nationally and were clear winners on the night. MasterChef was sixth.

Seven’s hour of news from 6pm averaged 1.84 million, Nine’s hour in the same slot averaged 1.39 million and the 7pm ABC News was watched by 1.25 million. MasterChef managed 1.245 million national viewers, The Voice on Nine averaged 1.202 million. Big Brother over on Seven had 1.03 million, with the eviction netting 1.09 million. It didn’t even make the national top 10 — 11th and 13th respectively.

So what does that tell us? Well, the news appeals more to older viewers and reality programs skew towards younger demos — in the case of MasterChef it does well in the key 18 to 49 group. Last night it did very well in all demos, as did Have You Been Paying Attention? (which averaged 1.03 million nationally). Big Brother and The Voice battle for supremacy in the 16 to 39 groups.

Nine won last night from Seven and Ten. That’s an ooops for Seven’s mid year recovery.

In the regions: Seven News on 701,000, Seven News 6.30, 651,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 441,000, 7pm ABC News, 415,000, Home and Away, 404,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (26.9%)
  2. Seven (26.7%)
  3. Ten (22.2%)
  4. ABC (16.8%)
  5. SBS (7.3%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (20.3%)
  2. Seven (19.4%)
  3. Ten (16.3%)
  4. ABC (12.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.2%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 Bold (3.9%)
  2. 7TWO (3.0%)
  3. 7mate (2.9%)
  4. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.3%)
  5. Gem (2.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.893 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.801 million
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.416 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.370 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.251 million
  6. Masterchef (Ten) — 1.245 million
  7. The Voice (Nine) — 1.202 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.123 million
  9. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven)— 1.114 million
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.091 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News— 1.186 million
  2. Nine News — 1.149 million
  3. Seven News 6.30 — 1.091 million
  4. Nine News 6.30— 1.028 million

Losers: Seven — with such a big lead from the 6-7pm news, it should have won the night.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News— 1.186 million
  2. Nine News — 1.149 million
  3. Seven News 6.30 — 1.091 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.028 million
  5. 7pm ABC News —836,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 762,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 665,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 633,000
  9. Media Watch (ABC) — 492,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC) — 456,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 443,000/263,000
  2. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 332,000/215,000
  3. Today (Nine) — 311,000/211,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 243,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 148,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 75,000