Ashes smashes records for Nine with Aussie comeback
Australia’s dominance in the Ashes has delivered record numbers for Channel Nine over the course of the Boxing Day Test, topping the ratings for the last four days as Ten’s showing of the Big Bash League also fared well.
Day four of the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground sealed the highest fourth-day test audience ever during the OzTam ratings period, with 1.293m tuning in to session one and 1.281m watching as the Aussie team wrapped up an impressive comeback, according to the preliminary overnight ratings, the top two rated shows, with The Cricket Show third with 1.158m.
Nine has said the third session of the third day of the test on Saturday evening, when Australia destroyed England’s batting lineup, was the fifth most-watched TV event this year excluding winner announcements with an average audience of 1.563m in metro areas and 2.383m including regional viewers.
It also dominated all the demographics.
Tweets using the #Ashes hashtag have also dominated social media peaking at 620 tweets per minute yesterday, with 30,795 sent overall on day four.
Last night’s Big Bash League clash between the Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars on Ten drew a metro audience of 618,000 for session two and 588,000 for session one, tenth and eleventh overall on the night.
Seven News at six was the network’s top rating show in fourth place, with 1.033m, while a Border Patrol repeat was the top non-news and sport show in sixth, edging out Nine’s Great Barrier Reef in the 6.30pm slot, while Seven’s Caostwatch also rated well with 660,000 at 7pm, just behind ABC1 news.
In terms of share Nine won the night with 20.6 per cent, Seven was second on 18.6 per cent Ten third on 14.6 per cent and ABC1 at 11.7 per cent.
Sunday’s top 15 shows:
1 THE ASHES: FOURTH TEST – SESSION 1 Nine 1,293,000
2 THE ASHES: FOURTH TEST – SESSION 2 Nine 1,281,000
3 THE CRICKET SHOW Nine 1,158,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,033,000
5 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 991,000
6 BORDER PATROL (R) Seven 888,000
7 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF Nine 762,000
8 60 MINUTES Nine 692,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC1 667,000
10 COASTWATCH Seven 660,000
11 CRICKET: T20 BIG BASH LEAGUE GAME 8 – SESSION 2 TEN 618,000
12 CRICKET: T20 BIG BASH LEAGUE GAME 8 – SESSION 1 TEN 588,000
13 MR. & MRS. SMITH Nine 573,000
14 AUSTRALIAN STORY RPT ABC1 539,000
15 BONES (R) Seven 494,000
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