While
it was a close win to Nine last week, beating Seven by 0.4%, 25.8% to
25.4%, the SBS coverage of the first Ashes cricket test produced a surprise
result on Saturday night: in sports mad Melbourne, SBS scored a narrow but no
doubt satisfying win in the all people category.

The
national cricket audience for SBS averaged 537,600 on Friday and 608,700 on Saturday
night across the country, well down on the 737,400 from 7.15pm to
11.10pm on Thursday.
The
Tour De France was watched by 399,100 on Friday and 428,200 on Saturday,
further helping SBS.

Nationally,
SBS finished fourth on Friday, but improved to third on Saturday as it
relegated Ten to fourth slot on the night.

In Melbourne though SBS won
the night with a 22.2% share. The AFL game between Brisbane and Essendon on Ten
had a bigger audience than the cricket, but SBS’s audience later in the night
helped it over the line. Nine was second in Melbourne, followed by Ten and Seven. In Sydney, SBS was third on 21.0% behind Seven
and Nine.