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Jonah from Tonga ratings

So many people watched Chris Lilley’s new comedy Jonah from Tonga on ABC iview, did that detract from the premiere’s ratings on ABC1 on Wednesday night?

That may partly explain why the first episode, which screened at 9 pm, had 414,000 viewers in the five capital cities, ranking as the night’s 24th most popular show.

Another factor almost certainly was the heavyweight competition on the other free-to-air channels. Nine’s new sit-com Mom won the timeslot, pulling 777,000 viewers in the five capital cities, ahead of Seven’s The Blacklist with 731,000.

The season finale of Network Ten’s Puberty Blues drew 597,000, rating second in its timeslot in 25-to-54s and under 55s.

ABC iview screened all six episodes of Jonah from Tonga from May 2-6. In those 48 hours there were 551,000 plays, making it the most played program on the platform over the weekend.

The series follows the misadventures of 14-year-old rebellious schoolboy Jonah, his family and friends and the teachers and counsellors who try to help him channel his seemingly limitless energy into bigger and brighter things.

The producers are Lilley, Laura Waters’ Princess Pictures, HBO and the ABC.  In the UK the show premieres on Thursday night on BBC3. Mirroring the Australian initiative, all six episodes were available on the BBC iPlayer from 2 May for 48 hours.

The night’s top show was The Voice, which had 1.852 million viewers in the capitals, a lead of 888,000 over Seven’s House Rules, and 2.539 million nationally.

MasterChef Australia had 787,000/1.02 million, ranking at No. 2 in its timeslot in 25-to-54s and total people in Sydney and Melbourne, ahead of House Rules.