The Australian Open continued to deliver key wins for Nine last week, while The Amazing Race and Holey Moley trailed behind.
For the week Sunday February 14 to Saturday February 20, Nine won the primetime network share with 41.6% of total people, followed by Seven network with 34.3% and Ten with 24.2%.
The top program for the week in metro markets was Seven News on Sunday with 988,000 metro viewers for total people.
The Australian Open Day 8 night session, which runs from 7.15pm to about 9pm, was the top non-news program with 879,000 metro viewers.
It was followed by the women’s final session on Saturday night with 849,000 metro viewers, and then the Day 9 night session with 668,000 metro viewers.
The Australian Open gave Nine six of the top 20 programs for the week in metro markets, with no other program outside of news from Seven and Ten making the list. Still, the ratings for the Australian Open were down from last year, with some of that attributed to the tournament’s delayed start which usually broadcasts during the summer holidays.
According to industry insiders, Channel 9 audience was down 31.2% across Day 1-11 when compared to last year, with an average audience of 358,726 for total people, compared to 521,693 the year prior.
Nine's BVOD audience has had a bump, with Nine saying 9Now had a record 230 million minutes of content streamed last week. Of this, 71% was live simulcast broadcast, up 18% year-on-year.
According to Nine, the Australian Open has given it a stronger start to the year compared to 2020. In the last two weeks Nine held 42.3% of the network share for total people, compared to 40.1% last year. At the same time, Seven held 34.4% over the first two weeks, compared to 36.6% last year, while Ten remained at 23.3%. For people aged 16-39, Nine Network held 45.7% in the first two weeks of the ratings period this year, compared to 41.3% last year. Over the same period Seven Network's share slipped from 31.4% to 28.5% and Ten from 27.2% to 25.7%.
“The first two weeks of the survey year has seen Nine off to the best start with Total People and 16-39s in more than a decade and our second best start with people 25-54,” says Nine program director Hamish Turner.
“Once again, the Australian Open has captured the attention of millions of Australians. Be it Kyrgios’ stellar five set match against Dominic Thiem in week one – which saw the audience peak with 1.8m and was the most watched non-news event across the five cities so far in 2021 – and the finals which peaked at almost 1.4m respectively for the women’s match and 1.8m for the men’s final, the AO has a unique place in Australian TV.
“We are very happy with the incredible launch pad the Australian Open has given us into Married At First Sight and have every expectation that it will again dominate the key demographics throughout Q1 as Australia falls in love with the experiment.”
For people aged 25-54, Nine News on Sunday was the top program, attracting 308,000 metro viewers. It was followed by Day 8’s night session of the Australian Open with 289,000 metro viewers, and Ten’s The Amazing Race with 288,000 metro viewers on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Ten’s launch of Gogglebox on Thursday night attracted 247,000 metro viewers in this demo, while the Australian Open women’s final attracted 270,000 metro viewers.
Nine dominated this demo for primetime, with 40.9% of the network channel share, followed by Seven with 30.5% and Ten with 28.6%.
For people aged 16-39, the tennis dominated the top three programs, with the night sessions for Day 10 and 8 both pulling in 168,000 metro viewers. They were followed by Day 10’s second night session with 160,000, and the Day 9 night session with 154,000 metro viewers.
Meanwhile, Googlebox’s launch attracted 103,000 metro viewers.
For this demographic, Nine dominated with 45.2% of the audience network share, followed by Seven with 27.7% and Ten with 27.1%.
The charts below show commercial share, excluding ABC and SBS, and are provided by Nine based on OzTam numbers:
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