MAFS 1.24 million nationally and number three overall; number one the metros (932,000) and four in the regions, (310,000). But as well as MAFS did, it couldn’t save Amazing Grace, Nine’s new drama, from a huge loss of audience. Amazing Grace averaged 696,000, down 546,000 from MAFS.

Nine bragged that Amazing Grace achieved a huge national peak audience of 1.41 million (metro 1.04 million, regional 366,000) and a national average audience of 696,000. You can bet that the “huge national peak” was somewhere in the first few minutes as it transitioned from MAFS. The peak audience is only a minute or so of viewing, while the average is across the entire program.

In other words, the peak audience collapsed after viewers had tasted a bit at the start. It did well in the timeslot and in the demos, but Nine would have wanted more viewers. Let’s see how many return next week.

Over on Ten, The Cube couldn’t hang on to viewers from last week’s debut and it fell to a national figure of 501,000 from 782,000. A nasty loss. Seven’s first episode of the three-parter The Pembrokeshire Murders looked awfully chilly and lonely out there on the Welsh coast with only 522,000 viewers. On the ABC, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering got 664,000 nationally after Hard Quiz averaged 864,000. Another worrying loss of viewers from a good lead-in program.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (32.0%)
2. Seven (26.9%)
3. ABC (17.9%)
4. Ten (16.2%)
5. SBS (7.0%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (24.4%)
2. Seven (18.5%)
3. ABC (12.3%)
4. Ten (9.4%)
5. SBS ONE (4.7%)

Top 5 digital channels:

1. 10 Bold (3.4%)
2. 7TWO (3.3%)
3. ABC Kids/Comedy/Plus (3.0%)
4. 10 Peach (2.9%)
5. 7Flix (2.7%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.409 million
2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.395 million
3. MAFS (Nine) — 1.242 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.090 million
5. Nine News — 1.062 million
6. 7pm ABC News —987,000
7. ACA (Nine) — 957,000
8. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 864,000
9. 7.30 (ABC) — 863,000
10. Home and Away (Seven) — 862,000

Top metro programs: No program had a million or more viewers.

Losers: Seven’s Pembrokeshire Murders, The Cube on Ten, The Weekly With Charlie Pickering on the ABC.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News 6.30 — 906,000
2. Seven News — 900,000
3. Nine News 6.30 — 825,000
4. Nine News —815,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 686,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 685,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 607,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 403,000
9. Ten News First —308,000
10. The Project 6.30 (Ten) —259,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) — 450,000/255,000
2. News Breakfast (ABC) — 294,000/197,000
3. Today (Nine) — 292,000/186,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 207,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) — 155,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 53,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 130,000
2. Cricket: T20 NZ V Australia Game 3 (Fox Cricket) — 121,000
3. Cricket: T20 NZ V Australia Game 3 (Fox Cricket) — 113,000
4. Cricket: T20 NZ V Australia Game 3 Innings Break (Fox Cricket) — 93,000
5. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 76,000