Wednesday Ratings | STATE OF ORIGIN scores a big win for Nine

The first of three Origin games delivered exactly the expected ratings response, if down on past years.

State of Origin Game 1 (1,598,000) delivered good numbers for Nine, however it was the lowest rating game since OzTAM started in 2001–perhaps it airing in November has something to do with it? Origin pre-game (749,000) and Origin post-game (486,000) reveal the build and tail on this important sport event. Nine’s shares for the night: primary (31%) and network (37.6%) understandably served them up in first.

Seven refuse to compete after 7:30pm, offering My Houseful of Animals (226,000) and both parts of the UK mini-series Honour (149,000) to underwhelming results. Home and Away (584,000) also seen away by the Origin pre-game. Seven’s shares for the night: primary (12.1%) and network (18.5%) has them land in third behind the ABC(!). The only thing keeping them afloat was their 6pm News product.

The penultimate episode of The Bachelorette Australia (470,000) and another ep of The Masked Singer USA (139,000) couldn’t compete and didn’t. The Project (324,000 6:30pm; 466,000 7pm) benefitted from wall-to-wall US Election coverage however faltered once the Origin pre-game started. 10’s shares for the night: primary (8.6% – diabolical!) and network (13.5%) placed them in a very distant fourth.

ABC’s reliable light entertainment night of Hard Quiz (596,000), Gruen (601,000), and Reputation Rehab (305,000) were obviously also affected by Origin. From 9:30pm a two-hour extended Planet America (303,000) offered the latest updates on the counting and analysis across the day, and first reactions as America wakes up without a declared President. ABC’s shares for the night: primary (13.7%) and network (23.6%) meant they smashed into second place, pushing Seven and 10 out of the way.

Bluey (414,000 am; 196,000 pm) again victorious for kids and adults alike.

Thanks to the US election coverage cutting in thanks to timezones across the country, it made for some interesting outcomes in Brekky. For the first time EVER ABC Breakfast (273,000 [153,000 ABC; 120,000 ABC News])* defeated Sunrise (264,000) and The Today Show (212,000).

The capital city splits are insane (all numbers in ,000; 5CM, o’nights only):

*NOTE: Perth numbers are election coverage on primary channel for that market 7am-9am = 31,000.

US ELECTION COVERAGE

It’s really tough to compare the election coverage from the networks as all of them ran for different times, almost all of them running over, and no standard around how long they ran for to be able to make an equivalent comparison. So, you can take these numbers with a grain of salt:

ABC Election results live from 1pm (272,000 ABC + 133,000 ABC News = 405,000)
SBS US Election 2020 from 11am (,000) – mixed with US ABC network coverage
Seven US Election 2020 from 10am (176,000) – mixed with CNN coverage
Nine US Election 2020 from 11am (151,000) – mixed with CNN coverage
10 America Decides 2020 from 11am (46,000) – mixed with CBS coverage

Some notes here too:

• ABC split coded their coverage, though it ran from 10am-7pm.
• Seven’s coverage ran until 6pm.
• Peter Overton and Charles Croucher anchored Nine’s coverage across the day to 6pm, then Overton read the SYD news, then both backed up for a News bulletin after the Origin (11pm-ish) that ran until midnight.
• SBS and 10’s coverage the shortest, running from 11am-5pm.
• All times listed AEDT.

All ratings data listed is Five City Metro, overnights only.

Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2024. 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.

Note: Program performance and ranking information subject to change when not based on final program logs. Programs with the same name on one or more primary or multichannel, are aggregated into one network figure.