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So who won Summer?

Here's how the numbers stacked up after 10 weeks of Sport, Entertainment & News.

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Summer ratings ended on the weekend, after 10 weeks of sport, entertainment and an obviously heavy news cycle.

The silly season included the Australian Open, Test Cricket, Big Bash League, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Carols by Candlelight, Carols in the Domain, New Year’s Eve, Eurovison: Australia Decides and the first week of Married at First Sight, My Kitchen Rules and Australian Survivor.

Nine has claimed bragging rights based on primetime share*:

Network:
Nine: 29.1%
Seven: 26.4%
ABC: 17.9%
10: 17.4%
SBS: 9.1%

25-54:
Nine: 30.5%
Seven: 26.5%
10: 22.3%
ABC: 12.6%
SBS: 8.2%

16-39:
Nine: 31.7%
Seven: 27.6%
10: 22.0%
ABC: 12.3%
SBS: 6.5%

The biggest single audience was for the Australian Open match between Nick Kyrgios & Rafael Nadal.

RANK PROGRAM Channel AUD
1 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D8 -NIGHT Nine 1,873,766
2 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D14 -MEN’S FINAL Nine 1,530,892
3 MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT -LAUNCH Nine 1,293,016
4 NEW YEAR’S EVE 2019: MIDNIGHT FIREWORKS-LE ABC 1,250,189
5 MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT -TUE Nine 1,190,755
6 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D11 -NIGHT Nine 1,083,188
7 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D10 -NIGHT Nine 1,051,374
8 I’M A CELEBRITY…GET ME OUT OF HERE! – OPENING NIGHT 10 1,047,828
9 CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT Nine 1,018,230
10 MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT -WED Nine 1,014,815
11 MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT -THU Nine 991,651
12 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D6 -NIGHT Nine 988,600
13 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D7 -NIGHT Nine 982,555
14 I’M A CELEBRITY…GET ME OUT OF HERE! – WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE 10 957,207
15 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D9 -NIGHT Nine 915,956
16 I’M A CELEBRITY…GET ME OUT OF HERE! THE WINNER ANNOUNCED 10 913,619
17 2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN D13 -WOMEN’S FINAL Nine 892,070
18 SEVEN’S CRICKET: SECOND TEST – AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND D1 S3 Seven 891,965
19 NEW YEAR’S EVE 2019: COUNTDOWN TO MIDNIGHT-LE ABC 883,117
20 SEVEN NEWS Seven 882,134

Hamish, Nine Program Director said, “Nine’s win across all the key demos was underpinned by strong year on year increases for the Summer of Tennis and the successful return of Married At First Sight.”

Seven won 6 of 10 weeks. However the network also claimed Cricket as the #1 summer sport reaching 16 million viewers and looked to success by including daytime from 6am – midnight.

Angus Ross, Network Director of Programming, said: “We’re thrilled with our ratings dominance throughout the summer. Our unbeatable News, Public Affairs and Sport coverage has delivered exceptional results, with us winning seven weeks of summer across the day and six in prime time.

“7NEWS and Sunrise have led the way this summer, providing vital coverage to viewers throughout the ongoing bushfire crisis and other major stories. The unmatched quality of their coverage has been reflected with viewers turning to 7NEWS ahead of the competition, and Sunrise winning every morning over summer.

“Our strength over summer has positioned us well for the year ahead. We’re revitalising our prime time programming with new and much loved franchises including Rebel Wilson’s Pooch Perfect, Big Brother, Holey Moley, Farmer Wants a Wife, SAS, Plate of Origin and more. This new prime time programming will add to our dominance in News, Public Affairs and Sport, and will stand alongside the biggest broadcast event in Australian history, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July and August.”

Network 10’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey said: “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! is a key part of our strategy of providing premium family entertainment year-round and giving viewers a clear alternative at the start of the year.

“Our decision to launch the new season a week earlier than the 2019 season proved an incredible success. Across its first week, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! brought viewers to commercial TV, increasing viewership by 6%.

“That success continued throughout the season, as the show broke digital and audience share records for the series,” she said.

*  5 city metro, 6pm – midnight, Sunday December 1 2019 – Saturday February 8 2020, 28 Day Consolidated where avail. © OzTAM Pty Limited 2020. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM. 

9 Responses

  2. Seven were dudded in their cricket deal, and by the cricket scheduling. The test matches were great, but it feels like cricket ended in early January. No BBL on free to air on the weekends, the Australian men’s team inexplicably went overseas in early January, absolutely zilch one-day matches.
    Thank goodness the women’s team were here to carry the banner, but they still didn’t have enough matches to fill the gap.

  5. How can 7 say “ We’re thrilled with our ratings dominance throughout the summer.“ lol… so over the top. Nine won the share and just look at the too rated shows…

  6. Where are the stats to back up the reach claim Seven makes? If most houses in Australia have TV sets then isn’t it correct to say any show on any network could have reached most Australian viewers? It sounds like a silly metric to measure success by. Also something a desperate television network would turn to in order to mask it’s poorer performance since losing the right to broadcast another sporting code.

    2. It’s an extrapolation from the the number of Oztam people who checked out some part of the cricket (as all Oztam figures are). Reach for test cricket is obviously going to be much higher for test cricket, than the average for a 2 hour session, which run for 6 hours a day, 5 days a test.

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