News

Nine’s moved Schapelle drama gets just over half the viewers of INXS drama on Seven

INXS Never Tear Us ApartChannel Nine’s last-minute gambit to capitalise on the news around Schapelle Corby’s release from prison by moving docudrama Schapelle forward a day to Sunday could not shake Seven’s dominance of the night with the biopoic about INXS getting 1.974m viewers compared to Nine’s  1.022m.

Seven has promoted INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, a two part teleseries concluding next week, as the TV event of the year, scheduled to launch on the first official night of the ratings season last night.

It was announced on Friday the much-anticipated Schapelle, a telemovie made by Fremantle Media, would move to Sunday from Monday and run from 8.40pm to 10.40pm, following news she would be released from prison imminently. INXS ran from 8.35pm to 10.35pm.

Channel Nine acknowledged it was a disappointing result for Schapelle, with Nine sources telling Mumbrella CEO David Gyngell this morning quipped to executives in the wake of the ratings result: “If only Schapelle could sing”.

The show also lost out in Sydney and Adelaide to Ten’s coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle final, where Australian hopeful Torah Bright could only manage seventh spot in the first of her three events, which averaged 996,000 from 8.15pm to 9.35pm, according to OzTam’s preliminary overnight metro ratings.

In Melbourne the shows had an equal number of viewers, however in Brisbane, Schapelle was more popular, while the snowboarding did not air on the primary Ten channel in Perth, giving it a zero rating in that city.

Meanwhile ABC1 launched the first episode of Rake series three which rated 645,000 at 8.30pm up against INXS, Schapelle and the Sochi Games.

Ten’s first outing of So You Think You Can Dance Australia, a revamped local version of the successful American dance competition show with judge Paula Abdul and host Carrie Bickmore, averaged just 466,000 at 6.30pm as Seven’s My Kitchen Rules dominated the timeslot with 1.64m metro viewers.

My Kitchen Rules was the second most popular entertainment show of the night, followed by The Block: Fans v Faves, on Channel Nine, which had 1.274m metro viewers from 6.30pm.

On Friday the final of the T20 Big Bash League won Ten 22.1 per cent of the audience, well ahead of Seven’s 18.3 per cent and Nine’s 15.4 per cent. An estimated 1.15m viewers watched the Perth Scorchers triumph over the Hobart Hurricanes, with 1.093m watched session two and 851,000 watched session one.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, said moving the Big Bash League to free to air this year was an important part of their strategy of “putting fans first”. He said: “Ten’s coverage of the BBL has delivered in every way; it has turbo-charged interest in cricket among kids and families and played a significant part in what has been a magnificent summer of cricket.”

Hamish McLennan, CEO of Network Ten, said: “The first season of the KFC T20 Big Bash League on Ten has been an outstanding success. Our viewers and advertisers engaged with the competition from the very first game. The results in terms of ratings and feedback from our viewers have been better than we expected and everyone at Ten is already excited about the 2014-15 season.”

Ten’s preview of Sochi Live, ahead of the opening ceremony at 2.40am averaged 776,000 on Friday night and the Games continued to win viewers for Ten on Saturday with live coverage on Saturday evening averaging 697,000 for the network, ranking seventh in all programs, and 686,000 for Saturday’s evening session.

Network Ten’s digital channel One, also running coverage of the Games, won a 7.2 per cent share of the audience last night, just below the 8.5 per cent share secured by ABC1.

Seven’s INXS and My Kitchen Rules, bolstered by high ratings for Sunday Night and Seven News gave Seven the top four programs of the night and helped the network win a 33.1 per cent share of the audience. Nine had 21.7 per cent audience share on Sunday and Ten’s was 11.1 per cent.

Sunday’s top 15 shows:

  1. INXS: Never Tear Us Apart 1.974m
  2. Sunday Night Seven 1.793m
  3. My Kitchen Rules Seven 1.64m
  4. Seven News Seven 1.292m
  5. The Block: Fans v Faves Nine 1.274m
  6. Nine News Sunday Nine 1.223m
  7. Schapelle Nine 1.022,m
  8. Sochi Live Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final Ten 996,000
  9. 60 Minutes Nine 866,000
  10. ABC News ABC1 790,000
  11. David Attenborough’s Rise of Animals ABC1 752,000
  12. ABC News Update ABC1 707,000
  13. Rake ABC1 645,000
  14. Bali: The Dark Side of Paradise Nine 600,000
  15. Ten Eyewitness News Sunday Ten 587,000

Sunday’s share:

  • Seven 33.1%
  • Nine 21.7%
  • Ten 11.1%
  • ABC1 8.5%
  • ONE 7.2%
  • GO! 3.1%
  • SBS ONE 2.7%
  • 7TWO 2.5%
  • Gem 2.2%
  • ELEVEN 2.2%
  • 7mate 2.0%
  • ABC2 1.4%
  • ABC News 24 1.4%
  • ABC3 0.6%
  • SBS 2 0.3%
  • NITV 0.1%

Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM.

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