Michael Rowland and Tony Armstrong react to an earthquake during the ABC News Breakfast broadcast (Image: Supplied)

News Breakfast on the ABC had a big surge yesterday, as did its news from 9 to 11am: about 400,000 watched for the two hours, about double normal audiences, and 267,000 tuned in from 9 to 10am. The reasons? The earthquake story and the third day of Melbourne marches by the hi-vis all sorts.

The metro audience for News Breakfast on the main channel added 100,000 viewers from 7 to 9am from the 62,000 who watched before 7am, a big addition. Seven’s The Morning Show also got extra viewers, as did Sunrise, but not Today (compared with the previous Wednesday morning).

In the evening, more than 400,000 extra people tuned in (compared with the previous Wednesday evening) to watch the 6 to 7pm news on Seven and Nine, the 7pm ABC news, 7.30 and earlier Ten news from 5 to 6pm and then The Project from 6.30 to 7pm. Seven did well, as did the ABC (after the News Breakfast and the morning news performance).

Nine won narrowly in total people and the main channels because of The Block (1.17 million nationally). SAS Australia on Seven had 907,000 — it still can’t make the million mark — and Royal Flying Doctor Service followed with a solid 709,000. Hard Quiz‘s 978,000 helped the ABC jump to third because Ten had nothing except 90 minutes of Making It Australia — 448,000.

Breakfast: Sunrise, 468,000 nationally and 237,000 metro; News Breakfast, 374,000 and 254,000; Today, 339,000 and 233,000.

Regional top five: Seven News, 626,000; Seven News 6.30, 588,000; Home and Away, 409,000; 7pm ABC News, 400,000; Nine News, Nine News 6.30, 368,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (29.6%)
  2. Seven (28.3%)
  3. ABC (18.4%)
  4. Ten (15.8%)
  5. SBS (8.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (22.6%)
  2. Seven (20.6%)
  3. ABC (14.0%)
  4. Ten (9.1%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (3.8%)
  2. 10 Bold (3.5%)
  3. Gem (2.7%)
  4. 10 Peach (2.6%)
  5. ABC News (2.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.791 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.675 million
  3. Nine News  — 1.440 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.369 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 1.222 million
  6. The Block (Nine) —1.173 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.093 million
  8. Home and Away (Seven) — 991,000
  9. 7.30 (ABC) — 993,000
  10. Hard Quiz (ABC) — 978,000

Top metro programs: 
1. Seven News  — 1.165 million
2. Seven News — 1.087 million
3. Nine News  — 1.072 million
4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.001 million.

Losers: the reality of the news day intruded from Melbourne, overlaid by more COVID cases and deaths in Victoria and NSW.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.1650 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.087 million
  3. Nine News — 1.072 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.001 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 882,000
  6. ACA (Nine) — 742,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 657,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 492,000
  9. Ten News First (ABC) — 387,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 304,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 468,000/280,000
  2. News Breakfast (ABC) — 374,000/254,000
  3. Today (Nine) — 339,000/223,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 316,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 246,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) —  56,000

Top 5 pay TV programs:

  1. Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 173,000
  2. Credlin (Sky News) — 89,000
  3. NewsDay, Newsday, AM Agenda (Sky News) — 79,000