Downton Abbey a hit on 1.8m viewers
Following on from rave reviews and a lengthy publicity campaign Downton Abbey became an instant hit with just under 1.81m viewers.
- Published by David Knox
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Downton Abbey became an instant hit with its debut outing on Seven last night, scoring just under 1.81m viewers.
Following on from rave reviews and a (very) lengthy publicity campaign by Seven it was the top show for the night, thumping the competition. Thankfully, the show lives up to the hype.
A 90 minute Masterchef Australia (which began at 7:30pm) was 1.51m, The Mentalist was 736,000, The Kennedys was 585,000, Hawaii Five-O at 9pm slipped to 570,000 and Dateline on SBS dropped to just 85,000.
But MasterChef (1.51m) did top Dancing with the Stars (1.42m) and 60 Minutes (987,000). The Great Rift was 715,000 and Who Do You Think You Are? was 263,000.
Elsewhere last night In Their Footsteps pulled 987,000 and Merlin was 940,000.
Nine News at just under 1.66m also had a rare win over Seven News (1.53m).
FIA Formula One World Championship was the top multichannel show on 331,000 for ONE.
Seven romped home with a big share to win Sunday.
Update: Downton Abbey replays Saturday, June 4 at 3pm in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and at 4pm in Adelaide.
51 Responses
Watched Downton Abbey, enjoyed it, but think the numbers will drop off and it will become a popular show for 7TWO, would fit in well with the other UK dramas on that channel
It was sure Interesting tv last night An American show on the ABC and an English one on commercial when was the last time that happened. I watched them saw The Kennedys, taped DA. Will do the same next week as I enjoyed them both.
Very watchable show which we will continue to watch. Yes, the ads are a pain but they’ve got to pay for it and the show will reach 5 times as many people being on Ch7.
Tried watching it, but gave up. Too many ads, too many promos, too many pop-ups. Too many interruptions, watermark too big and intrusive. All up, not a pleasant experience.
The 17 share for Nine’s main channel on Sunday night is LOL funny. THey really need to put Underbelly (4 or 5? – I’ve lost track) in there to have any hope of starting the week with respectable figures.
You’re spot on, @Thaddeus. It’s no coincidence that for a debut episode of a new drama, 7 managed to (just about) start on time. It won’t last …
I expect this show will continue to be a hit but will drop off to around 1.5 million in the weeks ahead.
I found the show to be very plain, just like The Kennedy’s and Cloudstreet. It wasn’t anything special.
@ Jezza… I agree. I couldn’t believe it when DWTS actually ran overtime by only just over 1 minute (according to Foxtel’s EPG). I can’t see it happening again because it would mean that Ch7 actually cares about it viewers!
Forgot it was on. Hope there’s an encore screening.
Where was the ABC when Downton Abbey was on the market. It is just made for the ABC at 8.30 Sundays and would have been so much more enjoyable without commercials. Methinks the public broadcaster has fingers in way too many expensive pies and misses out on the good programs when they are up for grabs.
Interesting that more than one million people dropped off for Castle repeat.
Simple reason, people will flocked to see what new shows Channel 7.
And history will repeat itself, and after a few weeks, the numbers will drop off
And the show will get shifted to another time slot.
@Jezza Call me cynical but it wouldn’t suprise me if it starting on time was a one off. Now that they got people watching they will probably return to starting/finishing late as per usual.
Thanks for your review last week as I was not planning on watching it until I read your review. I was definitely put off by the spin channel 7 put into the ads. Thankfully it really is a wonderful show.
I missed Downton Abbey. I suppose there will be a truckload of “encores” before next Sunday?
And if they had fast-tracked it and simulcast it on the HD channel they would have got more, since many people have already seen the whole series.
Yeah, i bet DWTS was told don’t over run too much.
I didn’t think this was going to be my cup of tea but I thought it was fantastic. Looking forward to next week.
wow – 1.8 million. that’s fantastic. i haven’t watched it yet – was out, but recorded on the PV-R. Looking forward to seeing it now 🙂
Apart from The Great Rift on ABC and the F1 on ONE I didn’t watch much of the others last night, I even had to time shift Cloudstreet and record it at 10:30 on Showcase2. I watched a bit of Downton Abbey but didn’t get the hype, maybe it kicked in after I switched to the F1 and 9pm?
How is Masterchef comparing ratings-wise, to how it was doing last year and the year before at the same time? I can’t remember the challenges exactly from this stage of the past two seasons, but I am yet to see any really skilful cooking so far this year. It’s all been mass-produced slop – sausage sizzle, bulk-cooking for miners (as if they’re ever going to prefer “baked eggs in pastry” over a normal fried brekkie!) et al.
I found it so boring!
Somebody better be buying the Channel 7 advertising department a whole truck load of champagne!
It is great to see a show live up to its hype and deliver ratings. It was very good and DWTS ended sharpish. I hope ch7 looks after this series and starts it on time every week.