Pay TV 2013: Top 50 non-sport shows

ASTRA has released data that reveals that outside of Sport, LifeStyle shows dominated the Pay TV sector in 2013.

Around two-thirds of the highest rating non-sport programs were Australian made.

The most popular non-sport programs of 2013 included Selling Houses Australia, Oprah Winfrey’s interview with cyclist Lance Armstrong, Grand Designs Australia, The Walking Dead, Location Location Location Australia, Australia’s Next Top Model, River Cottage Australia and the movies Men in Black 3, Skyfall, The Avengers and Teen Beach Movie.

“Australians love local content, and in 2013 they have used their remote controls to vote overwhelmingly for locally produced content,” ASTRA Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Maiden, said.

“In 2012/13 the subscription television industry responded by investing $700 million in local television productions, creating 6600 Australian jobs and adding $1.6 billion to the local economy.

“Politics truly became a spectator sport in 2013, with Kevin Rudd’s successful challenge against Julia Gillard in June pulling three of the year’s highest-rating non-sport hours on SKY NEWS.

“Unlike free-to-air networks which must attract advertisers to mass audiences watching a single program, the business model for subscription television is based on aggregating subscribers across scores of targeted channels.”