9Gem lands a 12.7% audience share on Sunday night as Nine broadcasts its final Ashes Test
Nine’s multi-channel 9Gem delivered a sizeable 12.7% audience share on Sunday night thanks to day four of the fifth, and final, Ashes Test which brought 593,000 metro viewers to the network for session one, pushing it above both Ten and the ABC.
It’s the last time a Test will air on Nine, ending a run that’s been going since 1979, with the network switching to the tennis rights and Seven landing the cricket.
The Ashes has proven to be a winner for Nine, but the network has said goodbye to the sporting event, instead putting its hopes in tennis coverage for 2020
The lunch coverage of The Ashes brought in 346,000 metro viewers while session two delivered 247,000. The Ashes has delivered great results for Nine’s Gem in 2019, pushing it as high as a 15.8% audience share.
Nine won’t be saying goodbye to the cricket entirely – the broadcaster still has the ICC World Cup coverage for the next four years and Nine director of sport Tom Malone telling The Australian that the network is open for more cricket opportunities down the track.
The success didn’t stop there for Nine. The Block was the most-watched program for the evening with 1.139m metro viewers, followed by Nine News which secured a rare win over Seven News (1.103m to 958,000 metro viewers respectively).
The network also dominated the key advertising demographics (16-39s, 18-49s and 25-54s). The Block and Nine News held the top two spots across all three, and Nine’s primary channel held a 26.6% share across 25-54-year-old metro audiences and a 26.8% share for 16-39s.
659,000 metro viewers tuned in for the Australia’s Got Talent semi finals on Seven, and 272,000 watched Ambulance Australia: Ultimate Emergencies on Ten, leaving it beaten by the ABC where 333,000 metro viewers tuned in for Attenborough And The Empire Of The Ants.
Overall, Nine held a winning audience share of 23.5% for its primary channel, rising to a 42.5% share as a network thanks to 9Gem. A 17.8% audience share went to Seven’s primary channel, 7.9% to ABC and 7.4% to Ten. Seven Network held 26.5%, ABC Network 12.5% and Network Ten 12.2%.
