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Renewed: Australian Ninja Warrior

Nine renews its hit series and rolls over the $100k into a 2018 $200k prize.

No surprises here, Nine has now officially renewed Australian Ninja Warrior for a second season.

The show has been the biggest series of 2017, pulling over 2 million viewers for it final last night, despite no athlete getting a shot at the towering Mount Midoriyama.

“The reception for Australian Ninja Warrior has been phenomenal, and the team at Endemol Shine Australia has to be commended on the brilliant show they have delivered,” said Michael Healy, Nine’s Director of Television.

“We are thrilled to see Australian audiences responding so strongly to a new format. The result is driven by appointment family viewing, and it demonstrates the power of free-to-air television to aggregate mass audiences.

Australian Ninja Warrior will return for a second series in 2018 and we are excited to see not only all of our favourite Ninja contestants from series one return but a host of new Australian Ninja’s inspired by the show,” said Healy.

“For the second series in 2018 we will roll over the prize money not won in series one, creating a prize of $200,000 if an Australian Ninja Warrior can conquer Mount Midoriyama.”

Nine cites the show as the biggest new series to launch since 2012, with a consolidated audience of 1.727 million, higher than the average 1.409 million viewers who tuned in for the Olympics last year.

Australian Ninja Warrior is without a doubt the breakout hit of 2017,” said Michael Stephenson, Nine’s Chief Sales Officer.

“Following on from the success of Married at First Sight in the first quarter and another strong season of The Voice in Q2, Ninja has set the stage for us to have a strong back half of the year, along with The Block and Family Food Fight. That will deliver what we promised, solid audience growth for 2017 in the three key demographics that matter: audiences 25-54, 16-39 and Grocery Buyer with Child.”

The show has also been a hit on social media and digital with more than 700,000 minutes of short-form video and more than 17million long form minutes consumed across 9Now and other digital properties.

“What has been fascinating to see is the Australian audience’s appetite for Australian Ninja Warrior’s content online,” said Helen McCabe, Nine’s Head of Lifestyle. “Across our digital lifestyle network we have seen different types of Ninja-related stories do well on different properties.”

Applications for 2018 are open at www.ninjawarriorcasting.com.au.

11 Responses

  1. The thing about NInja Warrior is it’s an easy show to watch. It wasn’t a cooking, singing, talent or reality love show. No nasty people who fight with each other.

  2. Huge success, great look for free-to-air TV.

    I think the success in Melbourne shouldn’t be overlooked, with both the finale and winner rating higher than Sydney.

    Considering Nine wins Sydney, has NRL & the show was filmed on an island on Sydney Harbour, that’s a huge result for Nine in Melbourne.

    A market Seven and to a lesser extent Ten have performed so well in.

    Rebecca Maddern? Victorian contestants? Marketing?

    It certainly resonated.

    Brisbane was probably the biggest success, no other non-sport program has seen those figures for that market.

    Adelaide and Perth still need work for the regular episodes, why not produce an episode or two there? Still proving Nine’s systemic issue out west.

  3. I predict the season will change for next year to be more like the US version as follows:
    – There will be 5 heats, one in each of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The top 30 from each progress.
    – This is followed by 5 semi finals, back in the five cities. The first 6 obstacles will be the same as their respective heat, but some will be slightly harder (eg missing rungs on a ladder), plus 3-4 new obstacles to complete. Top 10 or 15 from each progress to “Ninja Island”.
    – Ninja Island is the traditional 4-stage competition, where stages 1&2 are time limited (2 minutes) and have many of the traditional obstacles and order of running (not the truncated 2017 version). This will screen over two nights.
    – In Total the series expands to 12 episodes, with a potential 13th episode if the success rate on Ninja Island is high (and thus more runs to show – including the…

  4. re Hayley7
    Actually I found the semi finals where too many reached the end to be the worst part. I much preferred separating the contestants by distance, rather than time as I watched it without sound on a second screen.

    I still think it would be far better if the women were on a course suitable to them, competing against each other. Alternating men’s and women’s series would be perfect.

    1. In the US version currently running, the have a minimum of 5 women per heat go through to the semi final – ie the add extra women until there are 5. I think it is a compromise whilst the women catch up to the men (they started as men only). But their women are getting better each year, and have now made it as far as many men.

      1. That is better, but still not ideal. Many highly athletic women not having the power and height to reach the net in a reasonable position to hold on, let alone the top of the wall, is just bad TV.

  5. When you make it impossible to reach the end, then you could just as well have a prize of a gajillion dollars. It doesn’t mean anything.
    It only ran for 3 weeks this year, but what are the chances that next year they drag it on and on and on…

    1. The people complaining about not having a winner are missing the point in how this is different to all the other reality shows.

      The main aim is not to win the competition, but to do your best. If you review all the international versions, the ninjas never criticise each other, but will strongly support and cheer on. Those that go far, even if they don’t make the end, are usually happy in what they have achieved, not disappointed in what they missed. For a rookie, making just a few obstacles in a heat can be a great personal achievement.

      I think rolling over the prize money will help convey this – finishing the course is rare (like first division in s lotto draw

      1. If it goes a few years without a winner. I think ratings will reduce drastically. If I am watching a show I would like some kind of pay off in the end. This is like when you get into a tv series only for it to have a shit ending. You feel like you wasted your time and I am sure I am not the only one that feels that way.

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