Viewers tune in for news

NEWS and current affairs programs dominated last night's TV ratings but Offspring made a solid return for Ten.

NEWS and current affairs dominated last night's TV ratings with the main bulletins for the Nine and Seven Networks and the ABC, A Current Affair, Today Tonight and 7:30 all making the top 10 most-watched shows.

For light entertainment viewers turned to Nine's line-up: US sitcom The Big Bang Theory, reality show The Block and action-adventure series Arrow.

But Ten's returning drama Offspring performed creditably thanks partly to a big marketing campaign, pulling in 868,000 viewers and ranking 12th, according to preliminary data from OzTAM.

Seven's renovation reality effort House Rules, hosted by Johanna Griggs, was a disappointing eleventh overall, after posting its best result so far (1.036 million) on Monday night.

Nine won the night with a 22.4 per cent channel share, followed by Seven (20.1 per cent). Ten's share of 13 per cent ranked it fourth behind ABC1 (13.8 per cent) while SBS had 3.7 per cent.

OZTAM OVERNIGHT RANKINGS, MAY 22

1. NINE NEWS Nine 1.387m
2. SEVEN NEWS Seven 1.263m
3. A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1.188m
4. THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 1.16m
5. THE BLOCK Nine 1.156m
6. TODAY TONIGHT Seven 975,000
7. ABC NEWS ABC 966,000
8. ARROW Nine 963,000
9. HOME AND AWAY Seven 920,000
10. 7:30 ABC 903,000
11. HOUSE RULES Seven 900,000
12. OFFSPRING Ten 868,000
13. QI ABC 817,000
14. CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 749,000
15. HOT SEAT Nine 726,000

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