Well, there was only one thing on TV last night and we all know what that was, don’t we? The World Cup cricket final and as expected, it dominated the night. The final had 3.155 million national viewers watching the final session (the Australian innings). 2.223 million in the metros and 932,000 in the regionals (a bit of a disappointment there wasn’t as much support for this game as there is for the AFL and NRL Grand finals which get more than a million regional viewers). 2.680 million viewers watched the NZ innings nationally (1.886 million in the metros and 794,000 in the regions). The second session had 522,000 viewers on Pay TV and the first session, 492,000. Average them all out and the final had 2.918 million across the entire game, and Pay TV had 502,000 for a total TV audience of 3.420 million. Nothing else mattered yesterday.

Welcome to Easter and an absence of good viewing. Seven has sent The Beast (AKA My Kitchen Rules) off to graze on Easter buns and eggs — it returns on Easter Monday. Nine has The Block reveals tonight, then it too gets tucked away to try and repair its appeal for re-appearance on Easter Sunday night. In their places Seven and Nine give us second, third and fourth tier programs (RBT, Motorway Patrol). Ten keeps going with some original stuff (The Odd Couple and Law and Order SVU, but a repeat on Thursday), but slips in some repeats (NCIS). Gogglebox is new on Thursday. The ABC keeps up the fight, especially with Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell and the second part of the Australian comedy doco — the week’s highlights by far. AFL starts Thursday night on Seven and 7mate. And there doesn’t seem to be a Jesus- type movie on Friday, except on the ABC with Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Jesus Christ Superstar – both 42 years old, as is Seven’s midday movie, another vet of 73 called The Sting! By the way the soapiest of all recent Easter movies, A Walton Easter is broadcast on Seven next Sunday. Gem has the great 48 movie, Easter Parade at 4.30pm the same day. I know which one I’ll be watching, if the football turns boring.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (47.3%)
  2. Seven (21.3%)
  3. ABC (13.0%)
  4. Ten (12.7%)
  5. SBS (5.2%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (40.6%)
  2. Seven (13.8%)
  3. ABC (9.0%)
  4. Ten (8.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.4%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (3.8%)
  2. 7mate, GO (3.7%)
  3. Gem (3.0%)
  4. ABC 2 (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Cricket World Cup Final Aust. v NZ Session 2 (Nine) — 3.155 million
  2. Cricket World Cup Final Aust. v NZ Session 1 (Nine) — 2.680 million
  3. Nine News — 2.435 million
  4. Cricket World Cup Final Pre-Match (Nine) — 1.467 million
  5. Seven News — 1.290 million
  6. Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.247 million
  7. Border Patrol (Seven) — 848,000
  8. Shark Tank (Ten) — 826,000
  9. ABC News — 824,000
  10. Broadchurch (ABC) — 823,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Cricket World Cup Final Aust. v NZ Session two (Nine ) — 2.223 million
  2. Nine News — 1.961 million
  3. Cricket World Cup Final Aust. v NZ Session one (Nine) — 1.886 million

Losers: No one lost, network or program. The World Cup cricket final was always going to dominate the night.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.961 million
  2. Seven News — 876,000
  3. Sunday Night (Seven) – 810,000
  4. ABC News — 574,000
  5. Ten Eyewitness News  – 262,000
  6. SBS World News — 139,000

Morning TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC 1, 222,000, 103,000 on News 24) — 325,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) – 283,000
  3. Weekend Today (Nine) – 272,000
  4. Landline (ABC) — 263,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 167,000
  6. The Bolt Report (Ten) — 133,000
  7. The Bolt Report repeat (Ten) — 57,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (3.0%)
  2. TV1  (2.3%)
  3. LifeStyle  (2.0%)
  4. UKTV (1.8%)
  5. Fox Classics (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket World Cup Final: Australia v NZ, session 2 (Fox Sports 3) — 522,000
  2. Cricket World Cup Final: Australia v NZ, session 1 (Fox Sports 3) — 492,000
  3. Cricket World Cup Final: Innings Break (Fox Sports 3) — 345,000
  4. Cricket World Cup Final:Pre-Match (Fox Sports 3) — 158,000
  5. Formula 1 Malaysian GP  (Fox Sports 5) – 143,000

 

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) and network reports.