ABC’s Four Corners returns with 561,000 metro viewers for Saudi women special
ABC’s Four Corners returned to screens last night with a metro audience of 561,000 tuning into a investigation on Saudi women who are trying to flee their country.
‘Escape From Saudi’ was the first episode of 2019, and came the same day as the announcement host Sarah Ferguson would leave her role later in the year, to lead the ABC’s China Bureau.
Some of #Saudi's bravest, most extraordinary women remain locked up tonight simply for asking for their rights. They have been tortured & abused. Hung from the ceiling. Sexually harassed. This is MBS's Saudi Arabia in 2019. How can we live with this? #4Corners #EscapeFromSaudi pic.twitter.com/5ke6uQIxhu
— Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) February 4, 2019
Together with a metro audience of 772,000 for ABC News, 651,000 metro viewers tuning into ABC’s 7:30, as well as 575,000 for Back Roads, the ABC’s share grew to 14.1% for the night, beating Ten and SBS’ 10.4% and 4.1% shares.
Overall, Nine led the evening with a 24.2% share of audience, beating Seven’s 21.7%. Total network share was a tie, with both Seven Network and Nine Network averaging a share of 20.1%. ABC Network wasn’t far behind, on 18%, while Network Ten’s share was 15.9% and SBS Network finished on a 5.8%.
Nine’s main channel success stemmed from Married at First Sight, which achieved its highest episode to date with 1.117m metro viewers. The program, which runs from 7:30pm, out-did Seven’s My Kitchen Rules, which pulled a metro audience of 841,000 and Ten’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, which captured a metro audience of 565,000. The elimination part of the episode had a metro audience of 520,000. Nationally, Married at First Sight climbed to 1.548m, while MKR rose to 1.287 and I’m A Celebrity finished on 836,000.
Married at First Sight led all key advertising demographics – 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54 – while MKR came in second. Nine News, which runs at 6pm, captured 898,000 metro viewers, a smaller audience than Seven News’ 1.061m.
However, Nine’s share was helped in the late evening slot, with new documentary series, Murders, Lies and Alibis, achieving 617,000 for its premiere episode.
Among the multi-channels, the most watched program of the day was 7Mate’s coverage of the 2019 Super Bowl, between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. The match itself pulled a metro audience of 234,000, while the halftime show captured 209,000 metro viewers. The Super Bowl, combined with metro audiences of 281,000 and 385,000 for the Test match between Australia and Sri Lanka, helped Seven to a day time network commercial share of 52%.
