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Viewers abandon final Games events

TEN's network share last night was just 16.4% -less than half that of Seven. But it's hardly a network's fault if ticket sales have been lacklustre.

Viewers are abandoning the final days of competition in Delhi.

The best the Commonwealth Games could average last night was 714,000 on TEN / ONE combined -lower than TEN News at Five‘s 842,000.

It is a disappointing result for network, advertisers and sportstars alike, but viewers would be equally disappointed by poor attendances at key stadiums.

TEN’s network share last night was just 16.4% -less than half that of Seven’s whopping 35.6% and Nine’s 27.6%. It barely eclipsed ABC’s 15.6% and tonight is at risk of landing fourth. The shares are now lower than TEN enjoys with its standard programming.

TEN’s primary channel was a disastrous 11.9% last night, beaten by ABC1. it was its lowest share of the year. In digital channels ONE was second at 4.45, bettered by GO!’s 4.7%.

So far the network is yet to issue its daily release talking up its overnight figures. It can usually find a positive somewhere in the evening, but today may prove tricky.

The frustration for TEN is that it has no control over the staging of the events. It’s hardly a network’s fault if ticket sales have been lacklustre and if the lead-up to the event left everybody worried about its staging. As it turns out Delhi has proceeded without any major incidents. Touch wood.

By contrast Foxtel says its shares have increased as a result of having 6 dedicated channels available at no extra cost to sports subscribers. Figures last week certainly supported that argument. Even Foxtel doesn’t wield enoughs way to get the swimming to be re-staged this week.

But numbers are numbers. Without swimming viewers are heading elsewhere via their remotes. Packed to the Rafters topped the night with 1.76m viewers.

The Closing Ceremony is 12am Friday morning AEDT.

Day 10 of events commences with diving, rugby 7’s, shooting, hockey, lawn bowls, netball and athletics.

Week 42.

34 Responses

  1. As mentioned yesterday i have enjoyed every minute of the games on Foxtel. Having the 6 channels to choose from at least one of them you want to watch.The athletic events i have avoided,and instead have enjoyed the diving,table tennis,badminton,lawn bowls,squash etc.Just finished watching the men’s and women’s marathon uninterupted.Then in around 1 hour from now the men’s Hockey starts with Australia going for gold Go Aussies.. .Foxtel rules.

  2. its been pretty funny- the lack of crowds reminds me of the dream in athens back in 04 and they would show alicia molik at the tennis and then theyd show crowd shots of two people or whatever and then say… the crowd was made up of geoff pollard and dick pound

  3. Is Anybody really genuinely sitting on the edge of their seat wondering whether Australia will win the gold or not? Cmon, no offence to any forum members here, I say this with no malice or racism intended, but the countries in the Commonwealth aren’t exactly elite, it’s like watching a drag race between a guy in a zooped up turbo charged et al Ferrari and another guy on his push bike.

  4. I liked Ten’s coverage to be honest, not the best but it’s decent but some of the sports are a bit dull. The Gold medal hockey match tonight. was fantastic

    I wish events like these (Olympics included) could be set up on extra digital channels so that (like Foxtel) could watch a variety of sports or even live stream them. I mean I hardly have seen a full Badminton/Table Tennis match.

    As for Ten’s viewing numbers, advertisers certainly won’t be happy but I will attribute some of the low numbers to the media criticising Delhi relentlessly leading up to the games and that pretty much dampened a lot of the so called hype. I hope the CWG continues, it’s still a great 4 year event and it’s good to have a large sporting event happen every 2 years instead of 4 if it was just the Olympics running.

  5. A sign of the times unfortunately, kids don’t care about sport much any more which is a shame. There are too many other options. Parents need to make their kids watch this. Being a wii champion or a master at YouTube doesn’t make for a great future for this country or the world. God help us all.

  6. I only watched the first few days of action, then I turned to the other channels, including the digital-only channels for the rest of time. Glad it’s over tomorrow night/Friday morning, we want to see our favourite shows like NCIS or MasterChef back on screens instead of seeing people dance or swim!

  7. Everybody is so harsh on 10. Personally I think they have done a great job. I have been watching it on and off over the past week. Don’t get me wrong, I look forward no the normal programs to return, like Glee, but it is nice to watch sport I wouldn’t normally watch, like diving for example. Well done Ten!!

  8. Foxtels coverage has been really good, having the multi-channels is the way to watch and being able to see them all on the one screen is an added bonus. Sticking with an even all the way through you can get invested in whats going on, instead of just getting the highlights. This has been great for the diving and field events.

    I really hope Foxtel can provide the same service for the Olympics in 2012.

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