Off-season scandals do little to dull NRL viewer numbers

Ah, the first injury of the season, the first try, the first conversion; an NRL game won by Melbourne and not a sex tape in sight.

The NRL shook off all its off-season dramas and returned to Nine and Foxtel last night when the Melbourne Storm beat Brisbane Broncos. The Nine audience of 849,000 nationally was the highest for three years — the 2017 opener had 847,000 nationally and the 2018 game had 765,000. A further 334,000 watched the game on Foxtel, (231,000 watched the 2017 opener on Foxtel, and 261,000 in 2018). Combined, the total national audience of 1.183 million disappointed all those who thought the stupid and appalling off-season events would damage the audience numbers. If anything it has heightened interest in the actual game, not the antics of the idiots.

In breakfast, Seven’s Sunrise softness continues — 440,000 nationally and 261,000 in the metros, down around 30,000 to 40,000 on last week. Of course, that was still well in front of Today — 288,000 and 197,000. It was Seven’s night in total people, but Nine’s in the main channels thanks to the NRL game.

In the regions Seven’s 6pm News led with 504,000, then Seven News/Today Tonight with 492,000, followed by NRL with 325,000, Home and Away with 313,000 and the Chase Australia with 306,000.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (29.6%)
2. Nine (28.2%)
3. Ten (19.0%)
4. ABC (16.2%)
5. SBS (6.9%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (20.6%)
2. Seven (18.3%)
3. Ten (13.4%)
4. ABC (10.9%)
5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7mate (4.1%)
2. 10 Bold (3.6%)
3. 7TWO (3.2%)
4. ABC Kids/Comedy,GO (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.428 million
2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.354 million
3. Nine/NBN News 6.30  — 1.140 million
4. Nine/NBN News— 1.097 million
5. 7pm ABC News — 935,000
6. Gogglebox Australia (Ten) — 917,000
7. NRL (Nine) — 849,000
8. 7.30 (ABC) — 843,000
9. Home and Away (Seven) – 837,000
10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) —836,000

Losers: Today; Nine News in the regions.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News— 925,000
2. Nine News 6.30 — 872,000
3. Seven News/TT — 863,000
4. Nine News — 844,000
5. 7pm ABC News —634,000
6. 7.30 (ABC) — 583,000
7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 394,000
8. 10 News First  — 261,000
9. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 211,000
10. SBS World News — 106,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) — 440,000 (Metros: 261,000)
2. Today (Nine) — 288,000 (Metros: 197,000)
3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 254,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) —193,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) — 154,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 77,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. NRL: Melbourne v Brisbane (Fox League) — 334,000
2. The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 117,000
3. NRL Thursday Night  (Fox League) — 97,000
4. Supercars Melbourne (Fox Sports) — 64,000
5. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 62,000