Sport fails to rally a weak ratings night

Seven’s night on a night of dismal offerings, despite the AFL (which was itself weak) and the Cricket World Cup on Nine Gem.

The game between West Coast and Essendon proved to be underwhelming to east coast fans of the game — 615,000 nationally on Seven’s free to air channels (which is lower than usual) and just 144,000 on Foxtel. The innings break in the world cup game between Australia and Bangladesh snagged 207,000 viewers on Foxtel (after 260,000 had watched the Australians bat from 7.30pm). The Gem coverage attracted 524,000. 

In the morning, Today recovered from Wednesday’s dip under 300,000 national viewers to average 310,000 nationally and 206,000 in the metros. It was again well beaten by Sunrise with 478,000 and 287,000. In regional markets it was the usual story — Seven’s 6pm News with 1.62 million, Seven News/Today Tonight with 527,000, The Chase Australia from 5.30pm with 436,000, Home and Away with 341,000 and the 7pm ABC News with 297,000.

Network channel share:

1. Seven (33.3%)
2. Nine (29.1%)
3. Ten (17.9%)
4. ABC (12.9%)
5. SBS (6.8%)

Network main channels:

1. Seven (19.9%)
2. Nine (15.5%)
3. Ten (11.8%)
4. ABC (8.7%)
5. SBS ONE (4.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. Gem (9.9%)
2. 7mate (5.4%)
3. 7TWO (4.8%)
4. 10 Bold (3.9%)
5. 7flix (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.622 million
2. Seven News/TT —  1.514 million
3. Nine/NBN News — 1.132 million
4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.128 million
5. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.034 million
6. 7pm ABC News (ABC)  — 9130000
7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 916,000
8. Home and Away (Seven) — 904,000
9. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 863,000
10. Hot Seat (Nine)  — 752,000

Top metro programs: 

1. Seven News — 1.032 million

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 1.032 million
2. Seven News/TT — 986,000
3. Nine News— 861,000
4. Nine News 6.30pm — 847,000
5. ACA (Nine) — 646,000
6. 7pm ABC News — 633,000
7. 7.30 (ABC) — 437,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 431,000
9. 10 News First  — 380,000
10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 275,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) — 478,000 (Metros: 287,000)
2. Today (Nine) —310,000 (Metros: 206,000)
3. ABC News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) —252,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 229,000
5. Today Extra (Nine) — 144,000
6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 85,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Cricket: World Cup, Australia v Bangladesh (Fox Cricket) —260,000
2. Cricket: World Cup, Australia v Bangladesh Innings Break (Fox Cricket) —207,000
3. AFL: West Coast v Essendon (Fox Footy) — 144,000
4. Aussie Gold Hunters (Discovery) —82,000
5. Cricket: World Cup, Australia v Bangladesh (Fox Cricket) —62,000