Tennis no match for last year’s viewership numbers

As expected, the audience for the 2021 men’s Australian Open tennis singles final fell sharply to 1.54 million from 2.04 million in 2020. It had 1.17 million in the metros and 374,000 in the regions. In both cases Novak Djokovic was the winner, but the three-week delay this year made a lot of difference.

The Australian Open is traditionally played in the final two weeks of January, which is also the final two weeks of school holidays — and for many adults also part holiday, part work (and no tertiary education as well). That makes a lot of difference. Viewers stay up later to watch and there are hundreds of thousands more potential viewers available, especially for day and early evening matches. COVID-19 and the Victorian lockdowns caused this year’s delay and the TV audience fell as a result.

Anyway, Nine easily won the night and set up the week. And, three weeks late, 2021 ratings kick off tonight on Nine at least with Married At First Sight — four eps and by Thursday you will be wishing for the tennis.

Seven finishes Holey Moley tonight which was buried by the tennis and by itself, and Ten continues The Amazing Race Australia.

In breakfast: Insiders, 579,000; Weekend Sunrise, 396,000; Landline, 339,000; Weekend Today, 259,000; Offsiders, 227,000.

In regional markets: Seven News, 473,000; Australian Open men’s final, 374,000; 7pm ABC News, 348,000; Nine/NBN News, 257,000 Holey Moley, 253,000.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (45.9%)
2. Seven (19.6%)
3. Ten (16.8%)
4. ABC (11.6%)
5. SBS (6.1%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (21.0%)
2. Seven (18.3%)
3. ABC (13.3%)
4. Ten (12.8%)
5. SBS ONE (4.0%)

Top digital channels:

1. 10 Bold (3.3%)
2. 7mate (2.3%)
3. GO (2.2%)
4. 7mate, 9Life (1.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Tennis: Australian Open day men’s final (Nine) — 1.54 million
2. Seven News — 1.45 million
3. Nine/NBN News — 1.04 million
4. 7pm ABC News — 975,000
5. Tennis: Australian Open day men’s final pre-match (Nine) — 818,000
6. Holey Moley (Seven) — 750,000
7. The Amazing Race Australia (Ten) — 715,000
8. Grand Designs NZ (ABC) — 679,000
9. Harrow (ABC) —650,000
10. Insiders (ABC) — 579,000

Losers: Holey Moley, down again, with one ep to go — an early contender for 2021’s Dud of the Year.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 977,000
2. Nine News — 792,000
3. 7pm ABC News — 627,000
4. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 420,000
5. Ten News First — 288,000
6. The Project 6.30 (Ten) — 280,000
7. SBS World News — 172,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Insiders (ABC TV, ABC News) — 579,000
2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 396,000
3. Landline (ABC) — 339,000
4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 259,000
5. Offsiders (ABC) — 227,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. Outsiders (Sky News) — 85,000
2. Outsiders (Sky News) — 72,000
3. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 60,000
4. In My View (Sky News) — 60,000
5. Chris Smith Tonight (Sky News) — 44,000