NRL gives Nine a Sydney win in Friday night’s TV ratings
The first 2019 Friday night outing for the NRL saw 436,000 metro viewers tune into Nine’s coverage of the Sydney Roosters versus South Sydney Rabbitohs game.
Broadcast on Nine’s main channel in Sydney and Brisbane, and on Gem in other cities, the game also picked up 267,000 regional viewers for a national audience of 704,000. Another 252,000 tuned into Fox League for the match.
In Sydney, the game tied with Nine News as the city’s most watched shows for the night, drawing 255,000 viewers. In Brisbane the game was behind Seven and Nine’s evening bulletins as 145,000 League fans tuned in.
Across the five metro areas, Nine’s NRL coverage was the ninth most watched show, well behind the news bulletins which topped the night. Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens, The Chase and the ABC’s Gardening Australia also beat out the rugby league clash with 5-city audiences of 528,000, 487,000 and 459,000 respectively.
Nine’s pre-match and post match coverage also performed well in Sydney attracting 147,000 and 141,00 viewers respectively which was enough to get both shows into the top 20 nationally and across the metro markets.
Across the demographics, the NRL failed to make a dent with The Project being the only non-news show to make the top five among the 18-49 and 25-54 age groups. The 16-39 cohort and station shares for the day were not available.
In the breakfast slot, Nine’s Today show continued to flounder with 188,000 tuning in across the metro markets and 264,000 nationally. Sunrise on Seven had audiences of 287,000 and 480,000 respectively while the ABC’s News Breakfast attracted 116,000 and 183,000.
