Nine appears to have found the saviour it so desperately needed with The Voice, which has been the most-watched program on Australian television in each of its first three nights on air.
Having seen its much-hyped reality show Reno Rumble demolished and then relocated to the wasteland of a late-night slot, having seen the country shrug its shoulders in collective indifference to Australia's Got Talent, and having had its reputation dragged through the mud by the 60 Minutes Beirut kidnapping fiasco, Nine desperately needed a strong showing in prime time – and preferably one devoid of even a hint of scandal.
It's early days yet, but signs are the network may have found just what it needed in the fifth season of its popular singing contest, which has been bolstered by the addition of Ronan Keating – previously a judge on Seven's X-Factor – as a judge/coach.
Ronan Keating's addition as a voice/coach appears to have gone over well with viewers.
The Voice launched on Sunday night with a five-city audience of 1.4 million viewers, ahead of Ten's returning reality juggernaut MasterChef, which was the fourth most-watched show on the night (and second most-watched non-news or current affairs show), with 1.012 million.
Having blitzed the year to date thanks to its unstoppable My Kitchen Rules (which averaged 1.6 million viewers an episode in the five cities, including those who watched within seven days of broadcast), Seven saw its new contender in the prime-time battle for reality TV supremacy well beaten. House Rules finished in sixth spot on Sunday, with 830,000 viewers.
In the nights since then, the pattern has been repeated, with The Voice finishing ahead of a MasterChef that nonetheless continues to do well for Ten, and House Rules trudging up the rear. All three air from 7.30pm.
MasterChef has made a decent showing at what is traditionally the softer end of the season.
On Monday, The Voice pulled 1.409 million viewers, MasterChef 949,000 and House Rules 666,000.
On Tuesday, The Voice again topped the ratings with 1.275 million, MasterChef was the seventh top show of the night (with the spots in between being occupied, as usual, by Seven and Nine's news and current affairs line-up), while House Rules was watched by 702,000 viewers.
All those figures are preliminary overnight results in the five mainland capitals, courtesy of ratings collection agency OzTam.
Seven has won every ratings week of the year so far and is unlikely to be too rattled by this week's results, but a resurgent Nine and a Ten bolstered by the perennially popular MasterChef could spell trouble.
If past years are any indication, Nine can expect interest in The Voice to grow as the audition process gathers speed – there are few things people love more, it seems, than the sight of a swivelling chair (which makes you wonder why no one has made a reality show about office furniture) – before tapering during the coaching and battles section and rebounding for the finals.
By the same token, Ten can probably expect ratings for MasterChef to build now the audition process is out of the way, with peaks around team challenges and elimination battles.
Seven's House Rules hasn't exactly hammered it in the ratings.
The lukewarm response to House Rules, meanwhile, is likely to be of concern not just to Seven but to anyone with a renovation program in the works.
Given that another season of The Block is just around the corner, this week's good news might yet spell trouble for Nine down the track.
