australian sport

So, day one of the new cricket broadcasting arrangements. The new commentary teams will take some getting used to, but no problems with the technical side of the coverage. A total of 987,000 watched the final session (on Seven and Foxtel combined), 757,000 watched the middle session and 591,000 the first session. 

The Foxtel figures will be a small disappointment — with no ads in play, the audience was a bit lower than expected, and it is hard to see how Foxtel can recoup its costs without a surge in subscriber numbers. The real test for Foxtel will be how they build the audiences on Saturday and Sunday. Now for the Australian team to play its part by building on the solid first day and winning the test. That will make Seven and Foxtel happier. If India assume the ascendancy, watch the audiences fade.

Elsewhere, Nine easily won last night, thanks to Paramedics — the most watched non-news program last night — which had another very solid audience of 1.12 million viewers nationally while RBT grabbed 819,000. In regional areas Seven News/TT won with 465,000, then Seven’s 6pm News with 449,000, followed by the 7pm ABC News with 360,000, Paramedics had 348,000 and Home and Away was on 325,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (32.0%)
  2. Seven (27.2%)
  3. ABC (18.5%)
  4. Ten (13.7%)
  5. SBS (8.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (22.40%)
  2. Seven (17.0%)
  3. ABC (12.7%)
  4. Ten (8.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. Gem (3.8%)
  2. GO, 7mate (3.7%)
  3. 7TWO, 10 Boss (3.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.335 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.325 million
  3. Paramedics (Nine) — 1.123 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.086 million
  5. Nine/NBN News — 1.056 million
  6. 7pm ABC News — 1.011 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 950,000
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 884,000
  9. RBT (Nine) — 819,000
  10. 7.30 (ABC) — 814,000

Top metro programs: The National Top Ten List has the story

Losers: viewers last night – Paramedics did Ok for Nine, but same old, same old.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 906,000
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 861,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 824,000
  4. Nine News — 811,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 681,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 651,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 533,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 357,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 316,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 220,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 429,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 342,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) —Pre-empted
  4. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 267,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 145,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 77,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. First Test; Australia v India Session 3 (Fox Cricket) — 214,000
  2. First Test; Australia v India Tea (Fox Cricket) — 169,000
  3. First Test; Australia v India Session 2 (Fox Cricket) — 214,000
  4. First Test; Australia v India Session 1 (Fox Cricket) — 137,000
  5. First Test; Australia v India Big Break (Lunch) (Fox Cricket) — 114,000