Week 42 delivered an AFL powered win for the Seven Network as the NRL again failed to deliver.
Nine was well ahead for much of the week until the footy arrived. 10 premiered Junior MasterChef, but it didn’t do much to lift their fortunes. Seven is counting the days for SAS Australia to premiere, and the ABC delivered its commercial rivals a reminder that smart comedy is still beloved by Australian audiences.
Key Data
- Seven was the nb1 primary channel with a 20.7% share.
- Seven was also the nb1 network with a 30% share.
- 10 again finished the week in fourth place with a primary channel share of just 11.3%.
- Nine won the 25-54s demo – Seven won the 16-39s.
- 7Mate was the nb1 multi-channel.
- The Bachelorette Australia Ep3 was the most-streamed show on BVOD with 115k
(full channel data below)
10
If 10 had high hopes the arrival of Junior MasterChef would get them out their recent ratings slump, then they would soon be quickly disappointed.
The highly promoted Sunday night premiere failed to come close to its commercial rivals with the episode attracting a national audience of just 703k (524k metro).
The result was the lowest launch ever for a MasterChef franchise and was down 55% on the premiere of the regular series earlier this year.
Why the programming department at 10 considered it a good idea to premiere the extra-long episode on a night when kids across several states were preparing to return to school is really hard to fathom.
Ratings for the show did improve slightly through the week as the network hastily scheduled several ‘encore’ screenings in an attempt to keep advertisers happy.
- Monday – 729k (546k metro)
- Tuesday – 736k (576k metro)
As revealed by TV Blackbox last week, The Bachelorette featuring sister’s Elly and Becky Miles is delivering the worst ratings in the franchise’s history, and things only got worst in week two.
- Wednesday – 603k (468k metro)
- Thursday – 715k (534k metro)
10 were forced to concede they have over-exposed this franchise at its Upfronts event this week and have taken action by axing the weakest of the trio, Bachelor In Paradise.
Have You Been Paying Attention continues to be a bright spot for the network with 847k nationally (628k metro).
Gogglebox on Thursday evening did even better with 864k (661k metro).
New multi-channel 10 Shake remains stuck on a broadcast share of just 0.4%. In the last few days the network has begun broadcasting advice info telling viewers how to retune their TV’s.
ABC
It was a big week at the ABC with the return of the Wil Anderson hosted series Gruen. The season premiere smashed its commercial rivals with a 26.2% share of the broadcast viewing audience and achieved a national average of 1.237 million viewers (943k metro).
It may not have been allowed a studio audience but there was clearly a strong viewer demand for the acerbic advertising critique series featuring Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft. The episode achieved Gruen’s highest overnight figures since August 2016.
The season 12 launch was 25% higher than last year’s overnight audience figure (757k) and 29% higher than the 2018 launch (731k).
Other highlights on the ABC included:
- Grantchester – 669k national (468k metro)
- Australian Story – 939k (619k)
- Four Corners – 816k(553k)
- Anh’s Brush With Fame – 920k (619k)
- Big Weather (and how to survive it) – 703k (469k)
- Hard Quiz – 1.027mil (756k)
- Planet America – 579k (438k)
- Escape From The City (final episode) – 537k (367k)
Seven
With the AFL Final Series delivering blockbuster ratings every weekend, this is the time Seven should be really kicking goals. A shortage of premium content due to COVID-19 and Olympic postponement however, has the left the network struggling to fill its schedule.
A Sunday night news special Cruising – The Biggest Storm did better than expected with 1.006mil (658k metro).
Monday night was a bit of disaster with an episode of Border Security rating just 550k (331k metro)
A repeat screening of Jimmy Barnes Working Class Boy on Tuesday was largely ignored by viewers with 450k (268k metro)
Repeats of Highway Patrol on Wednesday delivered639k (372k metro).
The Front Bar scored a Thursday audience of 459k (339k metro) including 208k in Melbourne.
By the completion of Thursday programming, Seven was sitting on a network share of just 25.9% compared with Nine on 28.3%. Two massive AFL Finals would ensure these numbers were quickly reversed.
Nine
It’s hard to come up with much original to say about Nine at the moment. The Block is a show that doesn’t generate noisy headlines like its rivals, but it makes up for that with consistent ratings across multiple nights.
- Sunday (Room Winners) – 1.466mil national (1.086mil metro)
- Sunday – 1.346mil (992k metro)
- Monday – 1.168mil (863k)
- Tuesday – 1.128mil (837k)
- Wednesday – 1.031mil (744k)
The Room Winners episode was also the second most-streamed program on BVOD platforms with an audience of 96k on 9Now.
60 Minutes was up on previous weeks with 920k (667k metro).
Australian Crime Stories on Wednesday is struggling with just 559k (384k metro).
A repeat of Paramedics on Thursday evening had 573k (367k metro)
Drama
Home and Away was the top Australian drama averaging 849k (511k metro) Monday-Thursday.
News
7NEWS was the again the top show nationally every night, with Monday-Friday at 6pm averaging 1.470mil (958k metro). 9News won the key east coast markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
10 News First averaged 444k nationally Monday-Friday (302k metro)
Ratings for Sunrise were up on the previous week with the show again winning every morning, with Monday-Friday averaging 444k national/ 252k metro.
Sport
Friday night’s first AFL Preliminary Final match between Port Adelaide and Richmond scored a huge audience of 1.386m national / 1.087 metro, including 619k in Melbourne.
Saturday night’s second Preliminary Final match between Brisbane and Geelong was the top sport of the week, with an audience of 1.482m national / 1.146m metro, including 663k in Melbourne. This makes it the highest-rating AFL match of 2020 so far.
Friday night coverage of the NRL Final between Melbourne Storm and the Canberra Raiders attracted a national free-to-air audience of 891k [550k metro].
Saturday night coverage of the NRL Final between the Panthers and Rabbitohs attracted a national free-to-air audience of 913k [548k metro].
Weekly Network and Channel Shares – Week 42
Seven Network – 30%
- Seven – 20.7%
- 7TWO – 3.3%
- 7mate – 4.1%
- 7flix – 1.9%
Nine Network – 27.5%
- Nine – 19.7%
- 9Go – 2.4%
- 9Gem – 2.3%
- 9Life – 1.8%
- 9Rush – 1.2%
10 Network – 17.5%
- 10 – 11.3%
- 10Bold – 3.5%
- 10Peach – 2.3%
- 10Shake – 0.4%
ABC Network – 17.5%
- ABC – 12.9%
- Kids/Comedy – 2.5%
- ABC Me 0.4%
- ABC News – 1.7%
SBS Network – 7.5%
- SBS – 4.4%
- Viceland – 1.2%
- SBS Food – 0.8%
- NITV – 0.1%
- World Movies 0.9%
