I hope @TV.Cynic doesn’t mind me starting this one, but since 2016 is almost over it will soon be time for a 2017 Ratings Predictions thread.
Anyway, here’s my predictions for the year ahead in TV ratings! 
In 2017, I think we’ll see Seven remaining Australia’s #1 network overall, Nine having some success in the demographics and the East Coast but otherwise remaining #2 (primarily due to news/sport) with Ten having continued primetime growth (even outrating Nine during primetime for much of the year) but otherwise remaining #3 overall. Ten really needs better news & sports departments if they really want to properly take Nine head on for the spot of Australia’s #2 rating network.
One of the big ratings stories of 2017 is probably going to be the continuing battle between Seven and Nine in breakfast TV and 6pm news. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both networks pump millions of dollars into branding refreshes, an onslaught of primetime promotion, viewer competitions and (in the case of breakfast TV alone) weeks of OBs across the country throughout the year in the fight for #1 between Sunrise and Today in the morning as well as Seven News and Nine News in the evening.
Leading into the 6pm news, I’m expecting The Chase Australia to continue to perform well in the ratings for Seven but the extended, relaunched Hot Seat to be one of many ratings disappointments for Nine in 2017. By the end of 2017 or early 2018, I would not be totally surprised to see some sort of 5pm news bulletin or another news/current affairs-based program as a lead-in to Nine’s 6pm news bulletins.
In primetime…
*Final seasons for The Voice, House Rules and The Block due to declining ratings and being tired formats generally.
*Like what we saw with Australia’s Got Talent this year, the ratings of the next instalment of Underbelly will prove to Nine why they rested it in the first place. I don’t expect House Husbands to recover from being off our screens for over a year either.
*Australian Ninja Warrior to be the biggest flop on Australian TV in 2017 and bumped to late night or 9Go! after no more than three episodes.
*The genre of dating/romance-themed reality shows to decline across the board due to viewers getting sick and tired of seeing so many types of these shows on our screens.
*My Kitchen Rules, MasterChef, Australian Survivor and the miniseries’ on Paul Hogan and Olivia Newton John that Seven are airing will probably be among the most notable non-sport ratings hits of 2017.
*As usual, the true ratings winners will be major sporting events including (but not limited to) the Summer Of Tennis, AFL, NRL, State Of Origin, Melbourne Cup and the Summer Of Cricket.
Now let’s come back in twelve months time to see how wrong I was with all that! 
As always, I’d certainly be very interested to hear what others on Media Spy are predicting for the year ahead! Of course throughout the year, I’ll probably occasionally do the usual daily predictions that many Media Spy members partake in.
