ABC’s coverage was good until Daryl sang his song live on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House moments before midnight,
Can we officially say that meme is dead now? Horses is such a shit song it’s not even funny
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He’s beating a dead horse…geddit? 
Horses is only a good song when you’re pissed and swaying from side to side.
The only time I want to hear Horses is when I’m being sent to the glue factory
And on that note. I’m knackered and going to bed! Night all and happy new year!
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I know Aretha Franklin was a great talent, but why did we need to have a tribute to her specifically during our fireworks?
They peaked in 2000, seriously. You want to impress me? I want to see “F##k off c##t” on the Bridge during the fireworks. 
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I agree, but that’s hardly going to stop Sydney (and probably most cities across the world) from overhyping next year’s fireworks!
…or the Opera House (too soon?)! 
And here’s The Age / SMH take on the event:
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From ABC:
Millions of Australians welcome in the New Year with ABC.
Australians around the country and people around the world turned to the the ABC last night to celebrate the biggest night of the year, New Year’s Eve.
Acting Head of Entertainment and Specialist Michael Carrington says “We are proud that so many Australians have once again seen in the new year on the ABC, across television, iview and social media. New Year’s Eve showcases Sydney at its best and brightest and we are thrilled to have beamed images of the city’s iconic fireworks across the world. Thank you to the more than 180 ABC staff and crew who worked through the night to bring New Year’s Eve to life for so many millions of people here and overseas.”
Television and iview Audiences
Last night, ABC was the leading network in the metro markets with a 5 city metro prime-time share of 22.0% (2017 result was 23.2%).
ABC TV’s New Year’s Eve: Midnight Fireworks was the #1 program of the night, New Year’s Eve: Countdown to Midnight was ranked #2 and New Year’s Eve: Family Fireworks was ranked #3.
ABC’s NYE coverage was live streamed 90,000 times via ABC, ABC ME and ABC NEWS channels on iview last night. The ABC live stream generated 70,000 plays yesterday, (46,000 in 2017) which was the highest result for the channel on iview ever.
Sources: OzTAM & Regional TAM Preliminary Overnight data; OzTAM VPM data, live stream based on: ABC, ABC NEWS and ABC ME channels, highest result ever based on daily results across 2017/18 since measurement commenced.
Social Audiences
ABC’s New Year’s Eve 2018 coverage was live streamed directly to ABC TV and iview’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts and shared to over 50 more ABC and partner accounts. This included more than 40 of the ABC’s location-based regional and capital city Facebook pages, giving viewers right across Australia the ability to join in the live coverage and bringing the ABC’s vast audience into the New Year’s Eve conversation.
On Facebook, the live streams and highlights packages amassed a combined total of 1.2M+ views across ABC and partner pages overnight.
On YouTube, ABC TV’s live stream and highlights packages had 180,000 views at the time of reporting.
Audience engagement was particularly strong throughout the night, with over 34,000 comments and shares on the live streams and highlights on Facebook alone.
#NYEABC trended number 2 on Twitter during the broadcast, with over 2000 tweets using that hashtag in the last 24 hours.
Sources: Facebook Insights, Twitter, YouTube Analytics. Numbers correct at 9am 1 January
Families were entertained early in the night with Rove McManus hosting the The Early Night Show – Family Fireworks Spectacular . ABC ME’s Design your own Firework competition winner 12-year-old Dhrithi from Adelaide launched the 9pm fireworks and watched her firework light up the sky.
From 9.30pm, Charlie Pickering and Zan Rowe ramped up the celebrations and dialed up the volume, presenting The Night is Yours live show, from the Broardwalk of the Sydney Opera House. Featuring a not to be missed concert, with a star-studded line-up of artists performing songs from a playlist voted by the Australian people. Artists rocking the night included, Tim Minchin, Ben Folds, Casey Donovan, Christine Anu, Client Liaison, Baker Boy and crowd favourite Daryl Braithwaite who lead us up to midnight with the number one voted song…The Horses.
As the clock ticked over to midnight, ABC crews positioned around the harbour, beamed Sydney’s iconic, 12 minute long midnight fireworks around Australia and the world.
The broadcast closed with Tim Minchin and all The Night is Yours artists welcoming the 2019 with a moving live performance of Auld Lang Syne, capping off a truly magnificent night and cementing ABC’s commitment to entertaining Australian audiences.
(Some ratings info removed to comply with OzTAM agreement.
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Looks like more people will tune into Sydney NYE midnight fireworks through social media in future years, whichever network it is broadcasted on.
Where I was we had the iview stream projecting on a big screen but didn’t realise it was delayed by over a minute until someone said it’s 12:01 while Pickering was still counting down, so we missed NYE by about a minute.
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There was a mistake on the Bridge pylon projecting “Happy New Year 2018!” with revellers thinking it was still 2018. Also, the famous golden waterfall appearing at every fireworks displays since the beginning failed to fire.
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People are thick.
People are also drunk. 
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You got me this time
While ratings were down on 2017, this year was up on 2016.
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ABC countdown was out of sync from the Bridge Countdown. Fireworks started as Pickering and co were saying “Happy New Year!”
New Year Eve 2019 ticket ballot is open now
ABC is excited to join forces with the City of Sydney and the Sydney Opera House to welcome the start of the twenty twenties. With a fantastic concert and fireworks spectacular live from the Boardwalk of the Sydney Opera House, this NYE is set to be the Party of the Decades!
Join us to celebrate the most memorable songs from recent decades. From the rock-n ’roll classics of the 60s, to the high tempo disco hits of the 80s and present day classics – the hits will keep coming.
Hosts Zan Rowe and Charlie Pickering will be joined by some of Australia’s biggest and brightest singers. Songstress Kate Miller-Heidke, vocal inspirations Vika and Linda Bull, Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson, pop singer Angie Hart, musician Mojo Juju, soulful rap artist Adrian Eagle and the powerhouse that is Casey Donovan, have all signed up to perform.
With even more performers still to be announced, this New Year’s Eve - ABC’s Party of the Decades is one not to be missed! The live concert will be broadcast to Australia via ABC TV, iview, ABC Radio and to the world via ABC Australia and ABC Online.
For your chance to get tickets to join ABC’s star-studded concert and celebrate the new year, apply at the Sydney Opera House website at the link below.
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New Year’s Eve Fireworks
Tuesday 31 December 8.30pm
ABC is excited to join forces with the City of Sydney and the Sydney Opera House to welcome the start of the twenty twenties. With a fantastic concert and fireworks spectacular live from the Boardwalk of the Sydney Opera House, this NYE is set to be the Party of the Decades!
Join us to celebrate the most memorable songs from recent decades. From the rock-n ’roll classics of the 60s, to the high tempo disco hits of the 80s and present day classics – the hits will keep coming.
Hosts Zan Rowe and Charlie Pickering will be joined by some of Australia’s biggest and brightest singers. Songstress Kate Miller-Heidke, vocal inspirations Vika and Linda Bull, Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson, pop singer Angie Hart, musician Mojo Juju, soulful rap artist Adrian Eagle and the powerhouse that is Casey Donovan, have all signed up to perform.
With even more performers still to be announced, this New Year’s Eve - ABC’s Party of the Decades is one not to be missed! The live concert will be broadcast to Australia via ABC TV, iview, ABC Radio and to the world via ABC Australia and ABC Online.