2013 – TV hits
1. My Kitchen Rules
Now in it’s fourth season, the car-crash cooking show My Kitchen Rules continued to dominate the ratings race this year. The opening night of the series drew 1.4m viewers beating MasterChef by half a million. The show’s finale saw 2.952m viewers for the announcement of the 2013 winner. Produced in-house by Seven, the format has sold to international territories including the US giving the network another welcome pay day.
2. The X Factor
Managing to beat the finale ratings for The Voice, X Factor proves there’s still life in the old format yet. With five series in the can, TV viewers can expect another year of singing, singing and more singing in 2014.
3. The Voice
While this year’s finale episode of The Voice was usurped in the ratings by Seven’s X Factor – The Voice saw 2.3m viewers while X Factor got 2.431m – Nine’s competition singing show was on fire with new judge Ricky Martin an audience hit.
4. A Place to Call Home
The biggest drama launch of the year, A Place To Call Home, has already been commissioned for a second series off the back of excellent ratings for Seven. The series, set in the 1950s, drew 1.768m metro viewers on its first outing and bowed out with 1.2m.
5. Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year Asia
While they are probably getting a little long in the tooth to be taking a gap year, Hamish and Andy can do no wrong with this Nine format. The show consistently draws a crowd around the 1.5m viewer mark and will likely return until the lads have visited every country on the planet.
6. Offspring
With one of the most controversial moments in Australian drama this year – the death of lead character Patrick played by Matthew Le Nevez – the fourth series of Offspring continued to draw an audience. The season finale, which showed the character’s funeral, drew 1.106m for Ten – a bright spark for the otherwise struggling network.
7. Big Brother 
Genius casting, giant personalities, two nauseating romances and social media domination saw Nine’s second run with the Big Brother format another hit. Averaging just shy of 900,000 per show in the closing weeks, the stripped format finished on a high pulling 1.98m for the announcement of winner Tim Dormer.
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