Tennis Ash Barty Australian Open
(Image: AP/Andy Brownbill)

More than 520,000 people watched Ash Barty wrap up her Wimbledon semi final just before midnight last night as Australians hopped on the band wagon. The pre-match audience was just 158,000, but the audience more than trebled to watch Barty win in straight sets and book a place in Saturday’s final (which becomes the highlight of the weekend’s viewing). A total of 679,000 watched Nine’s tennis coverage from 10.30pm to 2am. That was just behind the 681,000 who watched Seven’s AFL game between Melbourne and Port Adelaide.

The NRL saw the Manly Sea Eagles easily beaten by the Canberra Raiders, averaging 586,000 viewers. The night’s stage in the Tour De France was watched by 147,000, a figure lowered by Barty’s Wimbledon match.

Over two million people watched the AFL, NRL, the late tennis and the TDF, which is a big number and why live sport still dominates, especially when there’s a winner on the world stage. Seven won the night narrowly because of the news, the AFL and Home and Away. Nine was second, with Barty’s match almost giving it an edge in the regions.

Regional top five: Seven News, 637,000; Seven News 6.30, 617,000; Home and Away, 379,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 361,000; 7pm ABC News, 337,000.

  1. Seven (32.9%)
  2. Nine (31.1%)
  3. Ten (14.2%)
  4. ABC (14.1%)
  5. SBS (7.7%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (22.9%)
  2. Nine (22.6%)
  3. ABC (9.5%)
  4. Ten (7.5%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.4%)
  2. 7mate (3.9%)
  3. GO, 10 Bold (3.2%)
  4. 10 Peach (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.726 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.674 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.340 million
  4. Nine News  6.30 — 1.290 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.027 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.010 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 948,000
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 924,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 837,000
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 790,000

Top metro programs: 

  1. Nine News — 1.089 million
  2. Seven News — 1.057 million
  3. Seven News 6.30 — 1.025 million

Losers: Q&A — 383,000. Squashed by the sport.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.089 million
  2. Seven News — 1.057 million
  3. Seven News 6.30 — 1.025 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 991,000
  5. ACA (Nine) — 721,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 690,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 585,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 435,000
  9. Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 373,000
  10. Ten News First — 365,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 436,000/248,000
  2. Today (Nine) — 324,000/217,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC) — 303,000/196,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 272,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 206,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 59,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Manly vs Canberra (Fox League), AFL: Port Adelaide vs Melbourne (Fox Footy) — 175,000
  2. AFL: Thursday Night Footy on Fox (Fox Footy) — 92,000
  3. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 72,000
  4. NRL: The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League), AFL: Thursday Night Footy on Fox (Fox Footy) — 65,000