• Seven back on top with best primary and combined channel shares
• Married At First Sight remains #1 show, keeps 7.30pm bragging rights
Seven was back on top Monday with a winning primary share and a commanding combined channel share too.
Nine remained a competitive second and had enough firepower to rank #1 primary channel in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Seven was helped by a stronger network 6pm news hour and the performance of Bride and Prejudice at 9pm, both of which were timeslot winners.
Seven
Seven News started its week on 981,000 and 938,000 across the hour after averaging 961,000 and 916,000 across weeknights last week.
Home and Away started its week on 724,000 after a week nine average of 669,000 which was down on the week eight average of 751,000.
It was a night of disagreements, shortcuts and silly errors that cost cousins Lama and Sarah their place in My Kitchen Rules. The judges Pete and Manu returned in a group three elimination battle where neither score was anything special. But Caitie and Demi ended up well ahead of their competition. The Monday audience was 1.04m with the episode trailing Married in each east coast mainland capital. The audience was also down on last Monday’s 1.12m.
Seven picked up share points after 9pm though with Bride and Prejudice pulling a healthy 700,000 after 9pm which was close to last week’s 714,000.
A repeat of Ramsay’s Hotel Hell then did 318,000.
Nine
Nine News started its week 10 weeknight run on 869,000 and 877,000 across the hour after weeknight averages of 889,000 and 871,000 last week.
A Current Affair featured a long interview host Tracy Grimshaw recorded with Pauline Hanson last week in Brisbane, with Grimshaw acknowledging it came before Hanson’s controversial comments about vaccinations on the ABC on Sunday. ACA didn’t lead with the interview though, instead starting with a Taylor Auerbach investigation, which included the candid thoughts of a district court judge. Monday started the show’s week on 799,000 after a week nine average of 729,000.
Married At First Sight was again the evening’s ratings champ with 1.09m after 1.10m on Monday of last week. Families were again involved offering some advice to the couples as crowd favourites Cheryl and Andrew were asked to take part in “an experiment within an experiment”, which was basically asking them to both make an effort to see if the relationship could be saved.
House Husbands followed on the night, which has become a highlight for Julia Morris fans. Her subtle comedy on the Playmaker drama is a nice juxtaposition to her over-the-top hosting gags on I’m A Celebrity.Hugh Sheridan was in all sorts of trouble trying to pay off a debt at a poker night. The Monday House Husbands audience was 582,000, down a little from 614,000 a week earlier.
Read how Hugh Sheridan has surfed the networks over the past few years in his interview in the current edition of Mediaweek magazine.
TEN
David Stratton was the final guest on The Project where the 7pm audience of 558,000 missed the climax of his story about why he titled his autobiography “I Peed On Fellini”. When he realised where the story was headed, host Waleed Aly looked shocked and then relieved as the closing theme music drowned out the punch line.
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! did the biggest business again as TEN Sydney newsreader Sandra Sully delivered some headlines in person in the jungle. It was day two of finals week and Carson Kressley became the second contestant voted off this week and then sipped on a martini mixed for him by Dr Chris Brown during the post-eviction interview. The first part of last night’s episode drew the biggest audience, 731,000, while the Elimination was down a little to 690,000.
ABC
Australian Story featured a Perth cold case investigation with 669,000 watching, up from 550,000 last week and 554,000 in week eight.
Four Corners did 575,000 for its look at James Packer‘s challenges facing Crown in China.
Media Watch then did 624,000 followed by an all-female (apart from the host) edition of Q&A on 415,000.
SBS
Both Michael Mosley: Trust Me I’m A Doctor and the repeat of Greece with Simon Reeve traded above 200,000.
The numbers dropped to 77,000 for the start of the three-part Bear Grylls: Britain’s Biggest Adventure.