The sound of Nine’s hands clapping… with fingers crossed

That cheering you can hear from North Sydney is the gang at Nine — programmers and ad sales people — watching the progress of The Joker and the Greek Hunk (aka Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas) through the men’s side of the Australian Open. With all the Aussies out, Nine needs top-rated players to make it to the finals to get good audiences this weekend.

Djokovic plays his quarter-final tonight night, Tsitsipas is through to his semi. Nine is crossing fingers, feet, eyes and everything else that both make it to Sunday night’s final.

For the women it’s a cast of unknowns in Australia except for Victoria Azarenka (who won in 2012 and 2013) who grunted her way through her quarter-final to head for a semi on Thursday. Their final audience won’t be good for numbers because of so many unknowns.

Last night the tennis barely kept Nine in front of Seven — the two night sessions averaged 594,000 nationally, the BBL game on Seven, 523,000. The Bachelors Australia on Ten, 410,000, and hanging in there with the younger female demo safely tucked away.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (31.8%)
2. Seven (30.0%)
3. Ten (14.5%)
4. ABC (13.8%)
5. SBS (9.9%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (23.5%)
2. Seven (20.3%)
3. ABC (9.8%)
4. Ten (8.7%)
5. SBS (5.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7mate (3.7%)
2. 7TWO (3.4%)
3. Gem (2.7%)
4. 10 Peach (2.6%)
5. GO (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Seven News — 1.448 million
2. Seven News 6.30pm — 1.427 million
3. Nine News — 911,000
4. Nine News 6.30pm — 907,000
5. 7pm ABC News — 850,000
6. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (R, Seven) — 787,000
7. Home and Away (Seven) — 757,000
8. Australian Open, day nine night (Nine) — 604,000
9. Australian Open, day nine night session two (Nine) — 583,000
10. 7.30 (ABC) — 573,000

Top metro programs: none with a million or more viewers.

Regional top 5: Seven News, 498,000; Seven News 6.30, 494,000; Home and Away, 285,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 279,000; 7pm ABC News, 278,000.

Losers: tennis, a snore.

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 946,000
2. Seven News 6.30pm — 933,000
3. Nine News — 682,000
4. Nine News 6.30pm — 679,000
5. 7pm ABC News — 572,000
6. 7.30 (ABC) — 390,000
7. Ten News First — 274,000
8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 265,000
9. The Project 6.30pm — 166,000
10. SBS World News — 148,000

Morning (national) TV:

1. Sunrise (Seven) — 359,000/205,000
2. Today (Nine) — 285,000/185,000
3. ABC News Breakfast — 223,000/142,000
4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 195,000
5. ABC News Mornings — 191,000
6. Today Extra (Nine) — n/a
7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 36,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

1. Cricket: BBL (Fox Cricket) — 168,000
2. Cricket: BBL (Fox Cricket) — 165,000
3. Cricket: BBL Big Break (Fox Cricket) — 158,000
4. Cricket: BBL Post Game (Fox Cricket) — 127,000
5. Cricket: B4 The Bash (Fox Cricket) — 57,000