The first day of The Ashes, the test cricket series played between Australia and England, has drawn 477,000 metro overnight viewers for Nine overnight.
The historic rivalry between the two nations kicked off last night, with Nine electing to air the matches across 9Gem. Hosted in England for this year, the time difference sees first play of day begin in primetime in Australia.
Last night's first day of play drew 477,000 for the early session which aired on Nine in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and 284,000 for 9Gem which aired in Sydney and Brisbane, with 581,000 and 435,000 viewers also tuning in nationally, respectively.
Elsewhere in TV, the latest season of Ten's The Bachelor continued, drawing in 693,000 metro viewers and a total of 877,000 when looking at national figures.
The show ran unopposed, as both Nine and Seven Thursday Night Footy and Home and Away, respectively, instead of the usual tentpole programming.
In the overnight main channel battle, Nine won the night with a 23.9% share, while Seven came in second with 16.3% and Ten came in third with 12.2%. Nine also won in the multichannel race, with 9Gem securing a 6.6% share.
The first test will continue tonight, as England resume batting after bowling Australia all out for 284.
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