Do the MAFS and it adds up: TV romance a hit for Nine

It’s well-known that one of the early symptoms of COVID is a loss of taste, which would help explain the popularity of Married At First Sight‘s return to Nine last night. MAFS won the ratings (1.158 million nationally), as it always does, but it again makes one wonder if all the uproar over public figures trashing each other online, or trolling of public figures by lesser people on social media, is being fed or enabled by what we see in each episode of this show. 

MAFS helped make Seven’s one-off short version of The Voice Generations (878,000) into something worth watching until it ends. Australian Survivor on Ten (756,000) looked like a Hemingway novel compared to MAFS. Still, it was Nine’s night because of MAFS and the return of A Current Affair (919,000). 

Regional Top 5: Seven News, 534,000; Seven News 6.30, 528,000; Home and Away, 359,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 349,000; Nine News, 318,000.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (32.0%)
2. Seven (25.6%)
3. Ten (19.2%)
4. ABC (15.1%)
5. SBS (8.1%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (25.4%)
2. Seven (18.9%)
3. Ten (14.5%)
4. ABC (10.4%)
5. SBS ONE (4.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7TWO (3.1%)
2. 7mate (2.5%)
3. ABC Kids/Plus (2.4%)
4. 10 Peach (2.3%)
5. 10 Bold (2.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.575 million
2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.538 million
3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.239 million
4. Nine News — 1.231 million
5. Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.158 million
6. 7pm ABC News — 966,000
7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 919,000
8. Home and Away (Seven) — 896,000
9. The Voice Generations (Seven) — 878,000
10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 822,000 

Top metro programs:

1. Seven News — 1.041 million
2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.010 million

Losers: viewers who watched MAFS

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News —1.041 million
2. Seven News 6.30 —1.010 million
3. Nine News 6.30 — 922,000
4. Nine News — 913,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 665,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 652,000
7. 7.30 Summer (ABC) — 533,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 460,000
9. 10 News First — 323,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 234,000
11. SBS World News — 143,000

Morning (national) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) — 424,000/241,000
2. Today (Nine) — 338,000/237,000
3. ABC News Breakfast (ABC) — 273,000/179,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) —216,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) — 200,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 46,000

Top pay TV programs:

1. Credlin (Sky News) — 47,000
2. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 44,000
3. NFL: Rams vs 49ers (ESPN), Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 42,000
4. Call The Midwife (BBC First) — 32,000