Vera stars Brenda Blethyn and Kenny Doughty (Image: iview.abc.net.au)

The ABC won last night in prime time from 7pm to 10pm thanks to the 7pm news bulletin (842,000 nationally), Spicks and Specks (758,000 nationally) and Vera (900,000 nationally), which again proved to be the most popular foreign program on Australian TV.

The ABC averaged 800,000 for the three hours. Despite The Block doing well with 1.279 million from 7pm, 60 Minutes fell from a week ago to average 697,000 and Nine averaged around 760,000 for the three hours. Ten’s The Masked Singer could only manage 766,000 for the reveal and 600,000 for the performance. Seven’s MKR could only average 779,000 and again looked tired, out of date and in need of a good going-over by Vera in Interrogation Room 3.

Vera‘s success was helped by the presence in Australia of creator Ann Cleeves, who also created Shetland and the new series Two Rivers. She was on ABC News Breakfast last week and on ABC local radio last night.

In the morning, ScoMo’s new role/s saw Insiders jump by around 100,000 viewers to 616,000 nationally. Nothing like some early morning Barnaby baiting to renew interest in Australian politics.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (30.1%)
  2. Seven (27.7%)
  3. ABC (19.5%)
  4. Ten (15.9%)
  5. SBS (6.7%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.8%)
  2. Seven 19.6%)
  3. ABC (15.6%)
  4. Ten (10.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.8%) 
  2. 7TWO (2.5%)
  3. 10 Peach (2.2%)
  4. GO (2.1%), 
  5. 10 Bold (2.0%) 

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.429 million
  2. The Block (Nine)— 1.279 million
  3. Nine News — 1.128 million
  4. Vera (ABC) — 900,000
  5. 7pm ABC News — 842,000
  6. Seven Afternoon AFL — 794,000
  7. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 779,000
  8. The Masked Singer Reveal (Ten) — 766,000
  9. Spicks and Specks (ABC) — 758,000
  10. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 697,000

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

Regional top 5: Seven News, 492,000; The Block, 368,000; Nine News, 307,000; Vera, 303,000; 7pm ABC News, 289,000.

Losers: MKR — a top 10 finish again, but still struggling.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 937,000
  2. Nine News — 821,000
  3. 7pm ABC News — 553,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 486,000
  5. 7News Spotlight — 320,000
  6. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 301,000
  7. Nine News Late — 256,000
  8. Ten News First — 222,000
  9. The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 207,000
  10. SBS World News — 128,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC) — 616,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 341,000
  3. Landline (ABC) — 286,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 246,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 226,000
  6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 182,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Carlton v Collingwood (FoxSports 503) — 230,000
  2. NRLW: Pre-Game (Fox Sports 503) — 211,000
  3. NRL: Sunday Ticket (Fox League) — 201,000
  4. NRL: Newcastle v Canberra (Fox League) — 196,000
  5. AFL: Hawthorn v Footscray (Fox Footy) — 165,000