Cricket Ashes TV ratings Australia England
(Image: AAP/DEAN LEWINS)

Australia left the island on Survivor Ashes early Friday and it will be hard to see them returning as interlopers any time soon to try and redeem their reputations. The third test collapse wasn’t witnessed by many in Australia — the rain and dull light and early success by England saw the first session average 551,000 national viewers and 351,000 for the second session later in the night. The first session audience was nearly 50% down on the first session of the second test last week, due to the “fine” weather in and around Leeds.a

The delays meant the test telecast had no impact on Seven’s The Front Bar — 541,000 nationally and 252,000 in Melbourne. The NRL on Nine’s main channel was watched by 533,000 which was a solid figure for a Thursday night. And that was it. The Bachelor did well with 921,000 and slayed the timeslot, as did Gogglebox Australia soon after with 914,000.

In regional areas the batting order was similar to previous Thursdays — Seven’s 6pm news with 531,000, Seven News/TT with 516,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm on 338,000, Home and Away on 319,000 and the 7pm ABC News on 294,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (29.2%)
  2. Seven (28.1%)
  3. Ten (20.6%)
  4. ABC (13.3%)
  5. SBS (8.8%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (19.9%)
  2. Ten (17.8%)
  3. Seven (15.4%)
  4. ABC (8.8%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.9%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

    1. Gem (4.3%)
    2. 7TWO (3.8%)
    3. Go (3.3%)
    4. 7mate (3.2%)
    5. 10 Bold (3.0%)
  1. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.492 million
  2. Seven News/TT —  1.421 million
  3. Nine/NBN News  6.30 — 1.131 million
  4. Nine/NBN News  — 1.105 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.009 million
  6. 7pm ABC News — 923,000
  7. The Bachelor (Ten) — 921,000
  8. Gogglebox Australia (Ten) — 914,000
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 910,000
  10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 889,000

Losers: Australia, Nine, Australian cricket fans.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 961,000
  2. Seven News/TT (Seven) — 905,000
  3. Nine News  6.30  — 859,000
  4. Nine News— 840,000
  5. ACA (Nine) — 718,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 629,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 500,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 461,000
  9. 10 News First  — 378,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 247,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 4\78,000 (Metros: 285,000)
  2. Today (Nine) —287,000 (Metros: 194,000)
  3. ABC News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) —249,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 219,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 112,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 94,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Parramatta v Canterbury (Fox League) — 191,000
  2. NRL: The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 94,000
  3. NRL: Thursday Night League (Fox League) —57,000
  4. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) — 46,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox8) — 44,000