As expected a lot of tennis and cricket last night, and not much else. Lleyton Hewitt retired from singles after his expected defeat by Davide Ferrer at the Australian Tennis Open in Melbourne on Seven. (Hewitt is playing doubles, and will be also be commentating on Seven later in the tournament).

In Adelaide at the Big Bash cricket, the Sydney Thunder sprung a shock to beat the top of the table Strikers and move into Sunday’s final on Ten, with the network hoping for the Melbourne Stars to beat the Perth Scorchers tonight in the second semi in Melbourne to produce a big audience from the country’s two biggest TV markets.

Hewitt’s defeat was honourable and there are enough Aussies following into tonight’s matches (and the weekend) for Seven to be happy. The Thunder’s win puts them on the cusp of a bottom to top journey from the 2014-15 season to this year. And the Thunder’s women’s BBL team is into Sunday’s Final, so Sydney Rules, OK!

And looking at ratings for last night, Lleyton Hewitt’s last singles match did it (again) for Seven again with his audience beating the one Ten gathered to watch the Big Bash semi and the Thunder’s surprisingly easy win. That meant Nine spent the night in third spot. Nationally, 1.334 million watched Seven’s night session and Hewitt. A further 164,000 watched tennis on Seven mate and an extra 145,000 on 7TWO, so a total of 1.643 million people watched tennis on Seven’s three FTA channels, plus whatever number watched the live streaming. The cricket grabbed 1.087 million for the second session and Sydney’s innings and 1.064 watched the Adelaide side’s innings in the first session.

In the morning, Ten’s Studio 10 had its second 100,000 plus audience of this week and its biggest ever audience.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (32.7%)
  2. Ten (24.4%)
  3. Nine (20.9%)
  4. ABC (15.4%)
  5. SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (25.8%)
  2. Ten (18.2%)
  3. Nine (13.0%)
  4. ABC (10.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.1%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.4%)
  2. GO (3.5%)
  3. ABC 2, ONE (3.3%)
  4. Eleven (2.8%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.395 million
  2. Tennis; Australian Open Night 4 (Seven) — 1.334 million
  3. Cricket: Big Bash First Semi-Final, Session 2 (Ten) –1.087 million
  4. Cricket: Big Bash First Semi-Final, Session 1 (Ten) — 1.064 million
  5. ABC News — 1.058 million
  6. Seven News — 1.048 million
  7. Nine News 630 — 929,000
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 915,000
  9. 7.30 Summer ABC) — 841,000
  10. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 811,000

Losers: People who can’t stand sport (there are quite a few out there).Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 976,000
  2. Nine News (6.30pm) — 929,000
  3. Seven News — 852,000
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 811,000
  5. ABC News – 732,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) – 726,000
  7. 7.30 Summer (ABC) — 569,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 547,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 511,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 383,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 335,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 293,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  83,000 + 64,000 on News 24) — 147,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 145,000
  5. Studio 10 (Ten) — 104,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (2.9%)
  2. TVHITS  (2.2%)
  3. LifeStyle, Nick Jr  (1.9%)
  4. Crime & Investigation (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 87,000
  2. The Simpsons (Fox8) – 69,000
  3. Grand Designs (lifeStyle) — 67,000
  4. Arrow (Fox8) — 66,000
  5. Peppa Pig (Nick Jr) — 62,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.