Oprah and cricket dominate summer TV ratings

It was a summer of cricket and Oprah for TV audiences, an analysis of programming data has revealed.

Industry body Free TV Australia has compiled metro and regional audience data for the time since the official ratings period ended three weeks before the end of 2010. The main ratings period begins again next week, heralding a flood of new content.

Over the summer, the data shows that five cricket matches on Nine  and six shows on Ten  involving Oprah Winfrey made the top 20.  

The most popular summer viewing was the first one day cricket international.

The free TV data – based on OzTam ratings – suggests that the digital channels more than held their own during the summer period, accounting for 17% of metro free to air evening viewing, possibly as viewers looked for options other than the main channels’ summer fare.

The numbers also suggest that metro viewers watched an extra 12 minutes per day compared to the same time last year and 24 minutes more in regional markets. This may be partly explained by the flood emergency drawing viewers back to their televisions.

The numbers below are higher than the numbers that appear in Mumbrella’s daily ratings coverage because they contain both metro and regional audiences. As an illustration, the overnight metro audience for the first part of Oprah’s Australian Adventure was 1.8m, while this rose to 2.4m with regional added too.

The summer top 40

1. ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND GAME 1 SESSION 2,   2,566,000
2. OPRAH’S ULTIMATE AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE   – 2,402,000
3. OPRAH’S ULTIMATE AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE PART 2 – 2,184,000
4. GLEE MON –  1,930,000
5. TWENTY/20 – AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND GAME 2 – 1,925,000
6. TWENTY/20 – AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND GAME 1 – 1,879,000
7. SEVEN NEWS – SUN – 1,824,000
8. NEW YEARS EVE 2010 -COUNT DOWN – 1,790,000
9. SEVEN NEWS – 1,742,000
10. NINE NEWS SUNDAY – 1,719,000
11. OPRAH! THE INTERVIEW – 1,680,000
12. NINE NEWS – 1,650,000
13. ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND GAME 2 SESSION 2 – 1,644,000
14. OPRAH IN AUSTRALIA: ULTIMATE WILDEST DREAMS – 1,636,000
15. THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW: THE SOUND OF MUSIC REUNION – 1,563,000
16. OPRAH’S ULTIMATE FAVOURITE THINGS! – 1,523,000
17. THE VICAR OF DIBLEY – SPECIAL – 1,522,000
18. HOT PURSUIT – 1,514,000
19. CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT – 1,502,000
20. THE ASHES: FOURTH TEST – AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND – 1,493,000
21. SEVEN’S TENNIS: 2011 AUST OPEN – DAY 6 NIGHT SESSION – 1,473,000
22. A CURRENT AFFAIR – 1,472,000
23. SEVEN NEWS – SAT – 1,469,000
24. ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND GAME 1 SESSION 1 – 1,455,000
25. WOOLWORTHS’ CAROLS IN THE DOMAIN 2010 – 1,453,000
26. NINE NEWS SATURDAY – 1,447,000
27. SEVEN’S TENNIS: 2011 AUST OPEN – DAY 2 NIGHT SESSION – 1,408,000
28. THE VICAR OF DIBLEY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL -1,408,000
29. TODAY TONIGHT – 1,407,000
30. RUSH – 1,402,000
31. THE ASHES: THIRD TEST – AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND – 1,399,000
32. BORDER PATROL – 1,385,000
33. SHREK THE HALLS – 1,351,000
34. THE ENFORCERS – 1,341,000
35. CRIMINAL MINDS – MON – 1,340,000
36. COASTWATCH – 1,307,000
37. UNDER THE HAMMER – SUMMER – 1,289,000
38. CRIMINAL MINDS – WED – 1,286,000
39. THE BIG BANG THEORY – 1,273,000
40. RECRUITS – 1,262,000

Georgina Pearson

topics cricket Oprah Oprah Winfrey TV

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Comments: 5

Stephen 24 Jan 11

What about the flood coverage – did this get measured separately, or just listed as “News”

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Hadley Allchurch 24 Jan 11

I suspect a lot of it will be measured as 2011.

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jon 24 Jan 11

Are these numbers “peak” audiences or average audience?

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LeoG 24 Jan 11

I’m so pleased to see Rush on this list. I’m as equally pleased to see that Two and a Half Men didn’t make the list – terrible show.

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mumbrella 24 Jan 11

Average audience, Jon

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