1.154m metro viewers give Married At First Sight its largest ever launch
Married At First Sight enjoyed its largest ever launch on Monday night with 1.154m metro viewers tuning in to Nine’s reality dating format. In 2019 1.003m tuned in, 912,000 watched 2018’s premiere, 820,000 2017’s and the closest rival is 2015’s 1.134m premiere.
The show also dominated all three of the key advertising demographics – 16-39s, 18-49s and 25-54s – sitting in the top spot for all three.
Married At First Sight has managed to carry its ratings dominance from 2019 to 2020
Nine’s program director Hamish Turner said the network is delighted with the results for the new season.
“We are delighted that audiences have embraced the new season of MAFS,” said Turner.
“The numbers across both linear and digital have delivered above expectation particularly in the key demos we focus on 25-54s, 16-39s and GS+ Child [grocery shopper with children].”
MAFS wasn’t the only launch of the night. Ten’s first of two Australian Survivor seasons launched on Monday night also, with the All Stars format bringing 624,000 metro viewers to Ten. It also took second spot in all three of the key advertising demographics. In national figures, including regional viewers, MAFS drew 1.492m and Australian Survivor: All Stars 787,000.
Ten’s chief content officer, Beverley McGarvey, said the show performed well in a tough lineup.
“We’re pleased with the audience for the first night of Australian Survivor: All Stars. On a very competitive night, it performed well in our key target market of under 50s and generated excellent year-on-year growth in its time slot. The new season is fantastic and we can’t wait for viewers to see how it unfolds,” McGarvey said.
2019’s Champions vs Contenders season, which aired in July, brought in 807,000 metro viewers for its premiere. The year prior, 716,000 tuned in.
Episode two of Seven’s My Kitchen Rules, which premiered last night to just 498,000 metro viewers, brought in 517,000.
After premiering on Jan 20 with its lowest premiere to date of 411,000 metro viewers, the third episode of Ten’s Hughesy, We Have A Problem delivered 265,000 metro viewers. The panel show, fronted by comedian Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes, debuted in 2018 to 632,000 metro viewers, and closed out its first season with 456,000. Its run last year premiered to 498,000. It concluded in May to 311,000 metro viewers.
Hamish Macdonald’s first episode of Q&A on ABC, which aired live from Queanbeyan in NSW and focused on the bushfire crisis, delivered 484,000 metro viewers. 341,000 metro viewers tuned in in December 2019 to watch Tony Jones’ last episode as host.
MAFS was the most-watched program on Monday, followed by Seven News which drew 1.033m. Nine News brought in 837,000, ABC News 726,000 and 516,000 watched the 7pm segment of The Project on Ten. ABC’s Media Watch delivered 633,000 metro viewers and Home and Away brought in 630,000.
Monday also saw the Superbowl air on Seven. 265,000 metro viewers tuned in for the game and 326,000 for the halftime show. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers to win the Superbowl LIV, with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira providing the halftime entertainment. The game was up 35% on 2019’s numbers, Seven said.
But nothing could top the power of MAFS, which delivered Nine a 25.8% primary channel audience share and 31.8% as a network. Seven held 16.9% and 25.3%, ABC 14.7% and 18.7%, and Ten 12.7% and 18.0%. SBS held a 3.6% channel share and 6.2% as a network. The most-watched multi-channel was 7Mate with 3.8%.
