Nine last night gave its troubled NRL Footy Show a chance of survival by changing tack, taking the program to the game of the night rather than anchoring it in a studio deep in Sydney’s lower north shore. As a result the NRL Footy Show had more currency that any previous version of the program.  Hopefully this now becomes the norm for the rest of the season (but a pregnant Erin Moylan will find it increasingly difficult to travel). This didn’t bump the ratings up  — they got 77,000 in Sydney against 82,000 the week before and 110,000 for the first show of 2018. But  this tactic is one worth pursuing, especially in Sydney.

Nationally the program had 271,000 viewers, after the Storm-Cowboys game attracted 817,000 on Nine’s main channel and Gem. Over on Seven, the first AFL game of the season (won by Richmond who beat Carlton) had a total of 862,000 free to air viewers — 663,000 on Seven’s main channel and 199,000 on 7mate. On Foxtel, a win to the AFL game which had 275,000 viewers, while the NRL clash was watched by 258,000.

Anyway it was Seven’s night from Nine, Ten was third with strong figures for Googlebox (860,000 nationally), while the debut of Rove’s Show Me The Movie (a quiz game based in Melbourne and using the same recycled gang of comedians that Dave Hughes and Are You Paying Attention draw from). It was watched by 783,000 viewers which wasn’t bad up against the start of the AFL and NRL games.

In regional areas Seven News was on top with 509,000, followed by Seven News/Today Tonight with 409,000, then NRL  with 345,000. The 5.30pm part of The Chase Australia was fourth with 305,000 and the 7pm ABC News was fifth with 303,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (34.3%)
  2. Nine (24.4%)
  3. Ten (17.4%)
  4. ABC (16.0%)
  5. SBS (5.9%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (23.1%)
  2. Nine (17.9%)
  3. Ten (14.3%)
  4. ABC (11.5%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO, 7mate (4.3%)
  2. Gem (3.7%)
  3. 7flix (2.6%)
  4. ONE (2.5%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.322 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.125 million *
  3. Nine/NBN News 6.30pm  — 1.119 million
  4. Nine/NBN News — 1.090 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 963,000
  6. AFL (Seven, 7mate) —862,000
  7. Gogglebox (Ten) — 860,000
  8. Show Me The Movie (Ten) — 783,00
  9. NRL (Nine, Gem) — 817,000
  10. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 771,00

* Pre-empted in some markets by the AFL coverage on Seven

Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers

Losers: No one.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 813,000
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 716,000 *
  3. Nine News (6.30pm) — 1.037 million
  4. Nine News — 1.022 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 965,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 918,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 776,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 613,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 500,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 451,000

* Pre-empted in some markets by the AFL coverage on Seven

** Pre-empted by Nine’s NRL coverage in some market

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 435,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 379,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC 183,000 + 72,000 on News 24) — 255,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven), Today Extra (Nine)— 182,000
  5. Studio 10 (Ten) — 98,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Richmond v Carlton (Fox Footy) — 275,000
  2. NRL: Melbourne v North Qld  (Fox League) — 258,000
  3. The Great Australian Bake-Off  (LifeStyle) — 162,000
  4. Thursday Night Footy on Fox (Fox Footy) — 138,000
  5. NRL: The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 107,000