Channel Ten's audience share on its main channel plummeted to just 6.6% last night, half that of the ABC's, while Nine's Howzat finished with over two million viewers.
After a week of tumultuous ratings and the resignation of veteran head of programming David Mott, Ten's ratings performance on Sunday will leave many wondering what's next for the struggling network.
Ten's highest-rating program last night was a repeat of popular US comedy series Modern Family which garnered 554,000 viewers, according to preliminary overnight figures from OzTam. Modern Family was brought back on the Sunday schedule after the cancellation of Everybody Dance Now, which scored only 385,000 viewers in the prime time slot last week.
A second episode of Modern Family and the return of perennial animated series The Simpsons was watched by 386,000 and 384,000 people respectively. The weak lead-in programs meant Ten's usually reliable performer, NCIS, was ranked only 23rd for the day and was watched by 332,000 people.
The numbers relegated Ten to a distant fourth – it has been consistently tracking behind the ABC in recent ratings reports – with only 6.6% of audience share on the main channel and only two points in front of SBS.
Last week, Ten's audience share was 10.3% across the seven days, behind the ABC which pulled in 13.7%.
On Friday, its share price closed at 41 cents, down 3.53%.
Disappointing debut numbers were recorded for I Will Survive, Don't Tell The Bride and the revamped Can of Worms.
Meanwhile on Nine, the conclusion of Howzat: Kerry Packer's War drew 2.09 million viewers, steady on the previous week's numbers. Big Brother was watched by 1.25 million people while 60 Minutes had 1.66 million viewers tuned in.
Seven's Kath & Kim: The Souvenir Editions attracted 892,000 people.
Other programs in the top 20 were Seven News, Sunday Night (Seven), Nine News, ABC News, Grand Designs Revisited (ABC), Dream Build (ABC), Agatha Christie's Miss Marple (ABC), Criminal Minds (Seven), AFL (Seven), Ten News, Underbelly: Badness (Nine), NRL (Nine) and Weekend Sunrise (Seven).
On Sunday night, across the main channels, Nine won the night with 33.7% of audience share, followed by Seven with 19.4%, the ABC with 13.6%, Ten with 6.6% and SBS with 4.3%.
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.
Have something to say? Send us your comments using the form below or contact the writer wenleima@yaffa.com.au
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.