Oh, for the Williams sisters or Ash Barty — players with flair and personalities who are ready to take risks and impose their wills on matches. Instead last night we got patty cake tennis in the Australian Open women’s singles. Can anyone remember who played apart from the defeated semi-finalist and former two-time champion Victoria Azarenka?
The women’s semi-finals had 709,000 watching last night’s first night session nationally, with nearly 600,000 watching the second. Nine easily won the night. Today and tonight it’s the men’s semis — no one can forget the Joker or Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas. If they win and meet in the final on Sunday night, it could soften the blow from what has been a very weak Australian Open.
Network channel share:
1. Nine (36.3%)
2. Seven (24.4%)
3. ABC (16.5%)
4. Ten (14.8%)
5. SBS (8.1%)
Network main channels:
1. Nine (26.4%)
2. Seven (15.7%)
3. ABC (11.6%)
4. Ten (8.0%)
5. SBS (3.8%)
Top 5 digital channels:
1. 7TWO (3.4%)
2. Gem (3.2%)
3. 7mate (2.9%)
4. Gem (2.8%)
5. 10 Peach (2.7%)
Top 10 national programs:
1. Seven News — 1.267 million
2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.246 million
3. Nine News 6.30 —- 876,000
4. Nine News — 885,000
5. 7pm ABC News — 748,000
6. Australian Open Tennis, Day 11 Night (Nine) — 709,000
7. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (R, Seven) — 675,000
8. Home and Away (Seven) — 658,000
9. Australian Open Tennis, Day 3 Night Session 2 (Nine) — 599,000
10. The Chase Australia 5pm (Seven) — 440,000
Top metro programs: None with a million or more viewers.
Regional Top Five: Seven News, 432,000; Seven News 6.30, 449,000; 7pm ABC News, 254,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 243,000; Home and Away, 242,000.
Losers: Tennis just OK, the rest a snore (again), especially Australia Day stuff on the ABC.
Metro news and current affair
1. Seven News — 815,000
2. Seven News 6.30 — 797,000
3. Nine News, Nine News 6.30 — 672,000
4. 7pm ABC News — 494,000
5. Ten News First — 248,000
6. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 216,000
7. The Project 6.30pm — 136,000
8. SBS World News — 107,000
Morning (National) TV:
1. Sunrise (Seven) — 357,000/248,000
2. The Morning Show (Seven) — 254,000
3. Today (Nine) — 246,000/164,000
4. ABC News Breakfast 209,000/188,000
5. ABC Morning News (ABC) —168,000
6. Today Extra (Nine) — n/a
7. Studio 10 (Ten) — 36,000
Top five Pay TV programs:
1. Cricket: Australia v Pakistan (Fox Cricket) — 92,000
2. Cricket: Australia v Pakistan (Fox Cricket) — 84,000
3. Cricket: Australia v Pakistan (Fox Cricket) — 76,000
4. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 45,000
5. Credlin (Sky News) — 38,000
