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Seven tops multi network coverage of Royal Funeral

Around 3 million metro viewers watched the Royal Funeral across multiple channels.

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Collectively an estimated 3 million metro viewers watched the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last night -higher still when regional Australians and Subscription TV are added into the mix.

With so many networks broadcasting the event -and coded differently from network to network- there’s only one quick way to make sense of where they fell: by looking at the primetime share.

Between 6pm – 2am Seven emerged as the network with the highest overall share of 30.2%, ahead of Nine at 27.7% just edging out ABC at 27.6%.

Network 10 trailed at 8.8% with SBS at 5.6%.

The highest individual programme was 7News: The Grateful Goodbye at 975,000 metro viewers.

For Nine the biggest crowd was 879,000, while for ABC it was 708,000, however ABC News channel’s drew up to 362,000.

Individually ABC drew a 17.5% share for ABC TV and 8.7% for ABC News which, when added together as 26.2%, pips Nine’s primary channel of 24.5% but trails Seven’s 26.5%.

Network 10 offered alternative viewing with Have You Been Paying Attention? (324,000), 10 News First (247,000 / 181,000), The Project (217,000 / 187,000), The Amazing Race Australia (185,000) and Just for Laughs Australia (115,000). 10 BOLD, which it devoted to Royal coverage, drew a share of just 2.2%.

On SBS it was SBS World News (109,000 / 79,000), and the Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II (104,000).

Sunrise: 225,000
Today: 217,000
News Breakfast: 113,000 / 58,000

In Total TV numbers last Monday were:

The Amazing Race Australia: 653,000
The Block 1.39m
Farmer Wants a Wife: 1.06m
HYBPA?: 970,000
Media Watch: 645,000

OzTAM Overnights: Monday 19 September 2022

40 Responses

  1. It always baffles me why ch 7 always rates higher whenever these news events happen. Whether it’s bushfires, floods or a royal event. I watched 9 till they arrived at Windsor. I really felt for the guys carrying that heavy coffin all that way.

  2. I confess that I watched the coverage mostly on You Tube, where there was 24 hour coverage including for the Queen’s coffin lying in state, which was fascinating viewing when you consider that people queued for 14 or more hours to have 15 seconds to pay their respects to the Queen. I doubt that this will happen again.

  3. I’ve been watching the 7 coverage and have really enjoyed Angela and Victoria explaining and talking about the Queen, stories about palace life and what it was like covering the Royal Family.

    Kudos to the pall bearers who did an amazing job, to the band that played all that way without missing a beat, the Navy officers who pulled the carriage and the shot of the 2 gorgeous corgis at the end.

    1. The Corgi in the rear was very distressed….heavily panting and constantly licking its lips….the noise and commotion was too much for it…I felt bad watching.

  4. Although there is merit in Ten offering an alternative ratings wise it was suicidal to continue with their franchises, especially one already struggling in the overnights. They’d have been better off counterprogramming an appropriate schedule.

  5. The BBC produced the coverage of all the ceremonies including the funeral processions and services. The funeral services were broadcast on BBC, their streaming and shown on screens at locations around the United Kingdom, and broadcast in 200 countries. Different networks just used different anchors connecting up the footage with their own live crosses, mostly to fill in. Seven especially sent most of their news and currents affairs staff to England exploit and expand their brand though it added nothing. Familiar faces seemed to work for them. By the day of the funeral the BBC was doing minimal coverage, just explaining key details with the rest posted online and captions for the readers and songs. The Queen’s rituals were intended to speak for her by themselves.

  6. Am perplexed to see these results. 9’s picture quality was so much clearer and the colours much stronger – at least on my tv.

    And then there was that ridiculous watermark banner on channel 7.

    If this was the same on other tvs, why would anyone choose to watch an inferior broadcast?

  7. Always surprised that people watch it on ABC News when it was live nationwide on ABC TV in HD (except for the 20 minutes when they broke away for the state bulletin)

  8. I must be the only one who watched Sky coverage on channel 53. I liked the English commentator who seemed to know so much about everything and everyone and no stupid clocks in the corner of screen. My only regret was that I fell asleep, must’ve been just before they entered Windsor for the final service. Solo Bagpiper and regiment of bagpipers were the highlight for me, always make me cry. I am very sad and going to miss Her Majesty immensly. RIP

  9. I was planning on channel surfing just a bit, but i stuck with Seven as Angela Rippon’s commentary was superb. She kept up the pace with her comments & anecdotes based on her expertise so as to not leave any boring gaps, whilst also was not being overbearing in any way, perfect timing really. And Michael Usher was good too but Angela did most of the talking. Thank god Kochie didn’t get much air time, when he did i feel he interrupted Victoria Arbiter, no surprises there.

    That said, i’m not sure the camera work was the best (ITV?). I feel like they cut away/switched too quickly a few times from closeup to wider shots & vice versa. As i didn’t watch the other footage from BBC i can’t really compare though, unless i watch it online which i don’t think i could be bothered after last night’s marathon viewing.

  10. I did the whole 6 hours of the funeral….TV was on 9 from early afternoon….PC was on ABC….which was running a bit behind 9…..Once in a lifetime event..

  11. To those below who claim to be among “20+ million who didn’t watch the funeral”, on what is this figure based? The above “estimated 3 million” is TV viewers in 5 capital cities only. Not regional, Tasmania, NT, watching on Pay-TV, streaming, watching foreign channels on-line, etc.

  13. Random thoughts from channel surfing after the church service:

    Camera cuts to Michael Usher and Angela Rippon – Usher does 95% of the talking while Angela can only smile.

    No smirky Tom Cruise moments from Peter Overton with Tracy Grimshaw (a shining light) holding him at bay.

    Channel 9’s sound was louder than SBS/ABC but its surround sound appeared fuller.

    Overhead shots are fine in the Abbey for a few seconds, but meaningless when on for longer.
    Similarly helicopter shots of rooftops and people dots on roads show nothing – why were there not more cameras on route

    Have You Being Paying Attention had the players and audience roaring with laughter over a gardening segment on Tit Houses – yet they consider the double meaning British comedies beneath them.

    1. 213 cameras not enough for you?

      And don’t underestimate the challenge involved in covering events in the Abbey and the Chapel without the cameras intruding on proceedings. So many camera shots, but never a camera in shot.

      And it makes far more sense to follow a vehicle from the air than position multiple cameras along the route. Quite rightly the fixed camera locations were prioritised along the procession routes.

  14. We started to watch 7’s feed of the funeral @ 7.55, but found 7’s News watermark (bright red and annoyingly rotating every few minutes) too distracting.
    Changed to 9’s coverage until the motorcade took over.

  16. The Queen was an amazing person & deserves all the accolades she has received & then some, but I am Ssoglad that this is over and we can now get back to normal. We are also 2 of the 20+ million who didn’t watch the funeral. Enough is enough.

    1. Don’t worry the Coronations of the new Kings or Queens are usually the following year after a reigning British Monarch’s tenure. I bet the networks are already planning for their extensive coverage for that event and all the big network reporters are overjoyed with another free trip to London.

  17. I always wonder why Seven rates better than Nine on this

    nines coverage I thought was better and their feed was the most up to date out of the broadcasters who were delayed slightly

    2. We ended up leaving Nine for Seven, as something just didn’t sit right with using the name “Dicky” on a funeral coverage! Later I ended up on 10 Bold as it was the only one that had absolutely no watermarks or anything on the screen at all – not even for their own network. then over to ABC for the rest of the night once 10 stopped coverage.

    3. In the past few years anytime something happens with the Royals whether it be weddings or funerals Seven go hard on the coverage. They’ve basically made themselves the “royal network”.

  19. TV has changed significantly since 2010 with analog tv being phased out. In 2011, about 6 million Aussies watched Royal Ceremonies on different channels – ABC, 7, 9, 10 & on Pay TV. But the rise of streaming has lead to the decline of linear TV ratings – people can watch the FUneral coverage on YouTube, FB, TikTok and on various streaming platforms. I switched from 10Bold to SBS on Demand to 7 to ABC to 9. I felt that all FTA networks should congratulate themselves for their dedication to their live coverage of the funeral of QEII. However, 10Bold had ended coverage at 10:41pm (EST) and didn’t screen the motorcade procession. 9 had very good commitment to live coverage of Royal Ceremonies.

  20. Whoever is making the decisions at ten needs to go. They had a fantastic guest in Nick Bryant, two very capable hosts in Sandra and Lisa but ruined by a jerky transition to a multichannel at 7.30pm then running multiple ads which missed much of the action and had people simply switching to a channel covering it ad free and in HD

  21. Was a touching service and great coverage overall. I also watched on 7 last night, was suprised that ABC wasnt the winner of that battle, possibly the 7News lead in helped with that. Someone at 7 must of been watching the other channels as their graphics during the service got more and more subdued when compared to the other channels, with the flashing 7news logo and live banner being turned off for the actual service, which was good to see.

    Interesting that 7 took their feed from ITV while the others appeared to get theirs from BBC, when flicking around all other channels seemed to be the same but 7’s. The ITV announcer was also very brilliant.

  22. So a pretty clear gold medal position for Seven (they will be very pleased with that too), and effectively dead heat for silver with ABC/Nine. Personally I thought Seven looked and sounded a bit slicker and more polished overall – but you can’t watch three channels simultaneously so maybe unfair given I watched more of Seven than the other two mentioned.
    As many have noted, absolutely beautifully produced BBC world-feed coverage of the main ceremonial aspects – pictures, sound, commentary were all absolutely first-class.

    1. Actually, more people watched it on the ABC if you add the ABC main channel and ABC News channel figures together. So 1.07 million watched on the ABC network. Gold medal to the ABC. Ha Ha!

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