The Ashes gives Nine a bump on Friday night, helping it beat rival Seven
Last night, Nine and its multi-channel Gem broadcast Day Two of the Third Test of the Mid-Year Ashes, helping the primary channel to a winning 23.9% audience share. Gem, which also screened The Ashes, was the most-watched multi-channel, with a 7.2% share, helping the overall Nine Network to a 36.7% share.
This marks a shake-up of the traditional Friday night ratings landscape. With tentpole programs like Better Homes and Gardens, Seven News, and the broadcast of AFL matches, Friday nights in recent years have been dominated by Seven. With Nine’s recent broadcast of The Ashes Tests, however, it has been edging ahead.
Tight contest of ? and ? to start Day 2 – who will blink first?
WATCH: @Channel9 and @9Gem
STREAM: https://t.co/ARaHMPPTti #9WWOS #Ashes— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) August 23, 2019
In cities such as Sydney, where the NRL clash between the Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney Rabbitohs was screening on Nine, The Ashes went to air on Gem. In Melbourne, The Ashes was screened on both Nine and Gem.
The most-watched session was session two, which was seen by 628,000 metro viewers, according to OzTAM’s preliminary overnight ratings, and 842,000 with the addition of regional viewers. Session one had 602,000 in the cities and 805,000 in total.
The NRL match had 362,000 – 201,000 of whom were watching on Nine’s primary channel in Sydney, and 143,000 from Brisbane. The NRL generated little interest on Gem in Melbourne (9,000), Adelaide (4,000) and Perth (6,000).
Seven’s primary channel for the evening had a 21.8% share. It had the overall most-watched program in the form of Seven News – 868,000 metro viewers and 1.355m nationally.
Better Homes and Gardens had 480,000 metro viewers, which soared to 809,000 with the addition of regional viewers. And gameshow The Chase Australia had 496,000 in the cities and 821,000 in total.
Seven’s screening of the AFL had 528,000 in the cities and 724,000 in total. In Melbourne, the Essendon vs Collingwood match went to air on Seven’s primary channel, with 339,000 tuning in. It also went to air in Adelaide on the primary channel to 71,0000. In Perth, 70,000 tuned in to 7Mate to watch the match, while the multi-channel figures for Sydney (22,000) and Brisbane (25,000) were much lower.
Seven’s network share for the night was 30.7%.
The ABC placed third for the night with a 9.1% primary channel share and a network share of 13.0%. Its most-watched show was ABC News with 548,000 metro viewers, and a national audience of 793,000.
Ten had a primary channel share of 8.3%, with The Living Room topping the ladder with 374,000 metro viewers. Regionally, 144,000 tuned in, taking its total to 519,000.
Ten’s network share was 12.7%.
SBS’ primary channel share was 4.1%, and its network had 6.9%. A repeat of Ancient Invisible Cities had 171,000 in the metro markets and 263,000 across the country.
