Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and rising floodwaters in Queensland and New South Wales saw hundreds of thousands of extra viewers tuned in to news broadcasts across the day on Sunday, with ABC News channel coming out on top again.
On Saturday, its leading prime-time share last night of 3.6% followed wins (across the digital channels) with 5.0%, Friday with 5.3% and Thursday with 5.9%.
Across the board, Sunday morning saw Sunrise, Weekend Today and Insiders add around 400,000 viewers across the three hours from 7am to 10am, and the total audience across those three hours swelled to more than 1.6 million (shades of a post-federal election Sunday).
In prime time, Nine won easily again because Married At First Sight averaged 1.351 million and the ancient Dancing With The Stars creaked its way to 884,000. While Seven News was tops with 1.539 million, followed by Nine News with 1.439 million (and a surprise win in the metros — 1.105 million to 1.068 million), the 7pm ABC News averaged 1.023 million. In the morning, Insiders jumped to 724,000 and a top 10 finish (7th) because of the added news interest.
On Foxtel, none of the Sky News regular “straight” news programs cracked the top 20, but Paul Murray, an after-dark barker, showed up in the top five behind 3 NRL programs.
Network channel share:
- Nine (34.5%)
- Seven (26.8%)
- ABC, Ten (16.0%)
- SBS (6.7%)
Network main channels:
- Nine (27.2%)
- Seven (19.5%)
- ABC, Ten (11.0%)
- SBS ONE (4.4%)
Top 5 digital channels:
- ABC News (3.6%)
- 7TWO (2.8%)
- 10 Bold (2.8%)
- 7mate (2.5%)
- GO (2.2%)
Top 10 national programs:
- Seven News — 1.539 million
- Nine News — 1.439 million
- Married At First Sight (Nine) — 1.351 million
- 7pm ABC News — 1.023 million
- Dancing With The Stars: All Stars (Seven) — 884,000
- 60 Minutes (Nine) — 834,000
- Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 724,000
- Grand Designs New Zealand (ABC) — 668,000
- Australian Survivor (Ten) — 634,000
- Troppo (ABC) — 546,000
Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers.
Regional Top 5: Seven News, 471,000; MAFS, 344,000; Nine News, 334,000; 7pm ABC News, 322,000; Dancing With The Stars: All Stars, 279,000.
Losers: Sky News Australia.
Metro news and current affairs:
- Nine News — 1.105 million
- Seven News — 1.068 million
- 7pm ABC News — 701,000
- 60 Minutes (Nine) — 611,000
- Nine News Late — 391,000
- The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 354,000
- Ten News First — 303,000
- The Sunday Project 6.30 (Ten) — 243,000
- SBS News — 212,000
Morning (national) TV:
- Insiders (ABC, ABC News) —724,000
- Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 521,000
- Landline (ABC) — 427,000
- Weekend Today (Nine) — 369,000
- Offsiders (ABC) — 246,000
Top 5 pay TV programs:
- NRL: Pre-Season Game (Fox League) — 98,000
- NRL: Pre-Game (Fox League) — 82,000
- NRL: NRLW (Fox League) — 69,000
- Paul Murray Live — (Sky News) — 65,000
- Outsiders (Sky News) — 55,000
