NRL players mid-game
(Image: AAP/Darren England)

Nine has both the NRL finals and international rugby union this weekend, and that’s about as exciting as things are going to get on our TV screens.

OK, maybe The Masked Singer on Ten will be good for a laugh — it’ll certainly beat what the other commercial networks have on offer. Nine has the popular but dreary Block, while Seven is rehashing the disappearance of William Tyrrell — exploiting the public’s still high interest in this child’s fate is not only lazy, it’s dreadful.

At the crack of dawn, the battle lines were drawn: Today’s metro win lasted one breakfast, and then it was back to second place behind Sunrise.

Breakfast: Sunrise, 459,000 nationally and 268,000 metro; News Breakfast, 371,000 and 257,000; Today, 339,000 and 209,000.

Regional top five: Seven News, 596,000; Seven News 6.30, 571,000; 7pm ABC News, 385,000; Nine News, 357,000; Home and Away, 3567,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (29.7%)
  2. Nine (26.0%)
  3. Ten (20.5%)
  4. ABC (15.7%)
  5. SBS (8.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (20.6%)
  2. Nine (18.1%)
  3. Ten (13.7%)
  4. ABC (11.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.3%)
  2. 10 Bold (3.3%)
  3. 7mate (3.1%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.8%) 
  5. GO (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.703 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.622 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.318 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.251 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.114 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 989,000
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 941,000
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 906,000
  9. Home and Away late (Seven) — 887,000
  10. 7.30 (ABC) — 866,000

Top metro programs: 

1. Seven News  — 1.107 million
2  Seven News 6.30 — 1.052 million

Losers:  Dull night again. The only spark was GoggleBox; Q&A turgid

Metro news and current affairs

  1. Seven News — 1.107 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.052 million
  3. Nine News  — 961,000
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 905,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 729,000
  6. ACA (Nine) — 686,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 589,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 440,000
  9. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 381,000
  10. Ten News First (ABC) — 327,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 459,000/268,000
  2. News Breakfast (ABC) — 371,000/257,000
  3. Today (Nine) — 339,000/209,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 244,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 201,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) —  53,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

  1. Credlin (Sky News) — 68,000
  2. The Bolt Report (Sky News), Aussie Gold Hunters (Discovery) — 65,000
  3. Paul Murray Live, Alan Jones (Sky News) — 57,000