AFL sweeps Seven to Thursday win

Like a knight in shining footy shorts, AFL returned to Seven last night, drawing 668,000 metro viewers and topping the demos.

Seven drew its biggest share in weeks thanks to a Richmond v Carlton match. The numbers include 7mate where it topped multichannels, but overall are down on 2020’s season return just as crowds were being banned from attendance. Last night 50,000 were allowed into the MCG.

By comparison NRL averaged 425,000, across Nine / 9GEM last night.

7:30 drew 506,000 for ABC followed by Back Roads (401,000), Territory Cops (266,000), Bondi Rescue (275,000) and The World’s Busiest Stations (103,000).

Later Gogglebox topped entertainment (483,000) eclipsed Q+A (232,000) and The Diagnosis Detectives (177,000).

Seven network won Thursday with 33.8% then Nine 25.0%, 10 18.8%, ABC 15.0% and SBS 7.3%.

Seven News drew 817,000 / 812,000 for Seven. The Chase was 423,000 / 269,000. Home & Away was 276,000 in 3 cities. Wife Swap Australia was 172,000 in 3 cities.

Nine News was best for Nine at 824,000 / 797,000. A Current Affair was 486,000 in 4 cities and Hot Seat pulled 401,000 / 245,000. Mega Zoo was 155,000 in 3 cities. Emergency was 152,000 (including on 9GEM).

The Project drew 356,000 / for 10. 10 News First was 309,000 / 213,000. Law & Order: SVU was 232,000.

ABC News was best for ABC at 590,000. Sammy J was 272,000 then The Drum (150,000) and One Plus One (97,000).

On SBS it was SBS World News (152,000 / 120,000), Shadowplay and Mastermind (both 76,000).

The Morning Show: 112,000 / 63,000
Today Extra: 99,000 / 61,000
Studio 10: 46,000 /

OzTAM Overnights: Thursday 18 March 2021