Enter the Ninja: Nine’s Warrior racks up OK numbers

It’s a good thing Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights have football broadcasts in autumn, winter and early spring, otherwise they would be as boring as Tuesday nights in TV land, which are just dire. Nothing on free-to-air or pay TV you could be dragged kicking and screaming to watch.

Seven did poorly — it build a base but couldn’t go on with it. The 6-7pm news again dominated (1.5 million average against the Nine news hour’s average of 1.17 million), as did the 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia (896,000), and Home and Away did OK with 774,000 nationally, but Big Brother could only manage 522,000. Seven just couldn’t turn that into a win.

BB will do better on BVOD and seven-day delay figures but last night it couldn’t match the two hours of Australian Ninja Warrior (620,000) on Nine. Ten’s MasterChef Australia averaged 765,000 and with its own boost from BVOD and delayed viewing will finish in front of BB in both total viewers and in the demos. Following MCA on Ten, The Cheap Seats averaged 529,000 nationally, stealing viewers in the younger demos from BB. In fact, Ten averaged 647,000 for the two and a bit hours from 7.30pm, putting it in front of Seven.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (29.9%)
2. Seven (24.2%)
3. Ten (20.4%)
4. ABC (15.2%)
5. SBS (10.4%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (22.2%)
2. Seven (16.3%)
3. Ten (14.1%)
4. ABC (11.2%)
5. SBS ONE (6.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (4.2%)
2. 7mate (3.4%0
3. 10 Peach (3.2%)
4. 10 Bold (2.9%)
5. GO (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.532 million
2. Seven News 6.30pm — 1.469 million
3. Nine News — 1.197 million
4. Nine News 6.30pm — 1.150 million
5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 919,000
6. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 896,000
7. 7pm ABC News — 891,000
8. Home and Away (Seven) — 774,000
9. MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 765,000
10. 7.30 (ABC) — 757,000

Top metro programs: none with a million or more viewers last night.

Regional Top 5: Seven News, 580,000; Seven News 6.30pm, 539,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 339,000; Nine News, 327,000; Nine News 6.30pm, Home and Away, 310,000.

Losers: Big Brother.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 953,000
2. Seven News 6.30pm — 930,000
3. Nine News — 870,000
4. Nine News 6.30pm — 840,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 641,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 587,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 513,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 396,000
9. Ten News First — 296,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 257,000

Morning (national) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven — 374,000/204,000
2. Today (Nine) — 301,000/188,000
3. ABC News Breakfast — 266,000/172,000
4. ABC News Mornings — 231,000
5. The Morning Show (Seven) — 215,000
6. Today Extra (Nine) — 166,000
7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 41,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 64,000
2. Credlin (Sky News) — 58,000
3. The Twelve (Fox Showcase) — 56,000
4. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 51,000
5. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 49,000