SBS finishes eighth with Inspector Rex only top 50 show
SBS1 had one of its worst audience shares of all time on Wednesday, with the network only the eighth most watched free to air channel – possibly its worst ever performance. Its best performing program was 50th for the night.
SBS1 – funded through a mixture of taxpayer money and a limited amount of advertising – always tended to come fifth when there were only five free to air channels, mainly because of its narrow remit and limited resources. But the launch of additional digital channels by the other free to air broadcasters, has increased the squeeze on the public service broadcaster.
Yesterday saw the secondary channels for Seven, Nine and Ten all beat SBS1 too. SBS1 had a share of 3.4%, behind 7Two, Go and Eleven, as well as all the other primary channels.
Because SBS’s remit is to reflect multicultural Australian society, its failure to deliver ratings wins is not a major issue in itself. However, the rise of rival channels threatens to limit the channel’s ability to raise funds through advertising.
Last night, SBS1 had just one show in the 50 most watched shows according to preliminary ratings from OzTam. Inspector Rex, an Austrian-Italian production featuring the crime-fighting adventures of a German Shepherd dog, was 50th for the night with 195,000 viewers.
The audience is a contrast on two years ago when Top Gear would sometimes bring SBS audiences of more than 1m. The show has since been poached by Nine.
Wednesday’s share:
- Seven: 25.4%
- Nine: 21.8%
- Ten: 14.5%
- ABC1: 11.2%
- 7TWO 4.8%
- GO!: 4.2%
- Eleven: 3.8%
- SBS1: 3.4%
- 7mate: 3.0%
- ABC2: 2.7%
- Gem: 2.3%
- One: 1.2%
- ABC3: 0.6%
- SBS2: 0.6%
- ABC News 24: 0.5%
The issue of SBS funding as its audience decline was tackled during an interview with SBS boss Shaun Bown by Mumbrella editor Tim Burrowes last year.
Brown said: “It’s clear to everybody that the gap between us and what other broadcasters have at their disposal – including the ABC – is significant.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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it’s a scary thing that Australia’s second biggest public broadcaster can only get in the top 50 with a German animal program. While I don’t mind Inspector Rex (especially the “Rex in Rome” series) you’d think they could do a bit better. And now we have those annoying ads to put up with. Another broadcaster that has lost its way. (unlike Rex, who always gets his man).
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god what does this say about your average Australian….
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wednesday is always SBS’s weakest night due to the foreign language content – how about a weekly review instead of looking at just one night?
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