A one hit wonder — the audience for the second Thursday night NRL game (Sydney Roosters v Brisbane Broncos) plunged 35% to 618,000 from 952,000 for the season restart last week between Parramatta and Brisbane. The return match had the highest-rating first-off NRL competition game for six years.
That, in turn, saw Nine finish third on the night behind Seven and Ten after last Thursday night’s easy win. Nine’s total people share fell from 30.3% a week ago to 24.6% last night.
All the backslapping and self congratulation from last week (and the past seven days) went up in smoke as the NRL reverted to the weak figures that plagued the 2019 competition. The 618,000 national figure was down 334,000 viewers from last week — a significant loss.
It meant Masterchef Australia with 1.29 million viewers more than doubled the NRL audience, and Seven’s Britain’s Got Talent even outshone it with 753,000 national viewers.
There is nothing positive from last night’s figures. (The on-field thrashing of Brisbane by Easts 59-0 might have helped, but Parramatta also thrashed Brisbane the week before.)
The audience on Fox Sports also slumped — from a top 355,000 last week to just 216,000 last night, that’s a drop of 39%.
ABC News Breakfast (308,000 nationally and 196,000 in metro areas) third after Today (336,000 nationally and 230,000 in metro areas) which was behind Sunrise — 492,000 nationally and 288,000 metro.
In the regions, Seven News, 676,000, Seven News 6.30, 609,000, The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 434,000, Home and Away 389,000, 7pm ABC News, 369,000.
Network channel share:
- Seven (27.3%)
- Ten (24.8%)
- Nine (24.7%)
- ABC (14.8%)
- SBS (8.4%)
Network main channels:
- Seven (18.3%)
- Nine (17.9%)
- Ten (17.8%)
- ABC (9.7%)
- SBS ONE (4.8%)
Top 5 digital channels:
- 7TWO, 10 Bold (4.6%)
- ABC Kids/Comedy (2.7%)
- 7mate (2.5%)
- Gem, 10 Peach (2.4%)
Top 10 national programs:
- Seven News — 1.78 million
- Seven News 6.30 — 1.65 million
- Nine/NBN News — 1.36 million
- Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.36 million
- Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.29 million
- 7pm ABC News — 1.19 million
- The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.07 million
- Home and Away (Seven) — 1.03 million
- A Current Affair (Nine) — 994,000
- 7.30 (ABC) — 821,000
Top metro programs:
- Seven News — 1.1 million
- Seven News 6.30, Nine News — 1.04 million
- Nine News 6.30 — 1.02 million
Losers: NRL — a significant loss in audience last night
Metro news and current affairs:
- Seven News — 1.104 million
- Seven News 6.30, Nine News — 1.04 million
- Nine News 6.30 — 1.02 million
- 7pm ABC News – 818,000
- A Current Affair (Nine) – 689,000
- The Project 7pm (Ten) — 572,000
- 7.30 (ABC) — 556,000
- Ten News First — 405,000
- The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 384,000
Morning (National) TV:
- Sunrise (Seven) – 492,000/288,000
- Today (Nine) – 336,000/230,000
- News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News) — 308,000/196,000
- The Morning Show (Seven) — 252,000
- Today Extra (Nine) — 177,000
- Studio 10 (Ten) — 74,000
Top five pay TV programs:
- NRL: Brisbane v Easts (Fox League) — 216,000
- Aussie Gold Hunters (Discovery) — 84,000
- The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 72,000
- NRL: Pre-Game (Fox League ) — 67,000
- The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 66,000
it was always going to be an uneven contest. I think people realised that.
Might be that contrary to the self belief of sports executives, that there might be more than a few people who before lockdowns were only watching boring organised thuggery so they had something to talk about around the hot desk with their fellow dead eyed automatons who likewise wouldn’t be anywhere near the water cooler were it not for their need to pay the grocery bills?
It’s a dilemma. I usually watch the NRL, and by this time of year we’re into state of origin and the vibe is starting to peak. I haven’t tuned in yet, and don’t want to miss my fix of the excellent planet America on Friday night’s, so may not bother much.
This year could be a bit of a write off until we get closer to the finals series, which will also be weird in late October.
Losing interest!