Ratings: AFL Footy Show returns, Nine wins Thursday

A combination of the return of the AFL Footy Show and live NRL gave the Nine Network its fifth win in a row in overnight TV ratings.

On a night when no show scored over one million, The Bachelor was the night’s top entertainment program. But the main interest last night was on Melbourne as the AFL version of The Footy Show received a make-over including new opening, host, set and format after a two-week hiatus.

Preliminary numbers show a Melbourne audience of 381,000 tuned in for the new look, more than double that watched the previous episode. That saw it rank number one in Melbourne while elsewhere it was sixth in Adelaide and fourteenth in Perth.

Over on Seven, The Front Bar that had received a boost in the absence of the previously dominant The Footy Show, had a national audience of 231,000 including 180,000 in Melbourne where it ranked eleventh overall.

Nine won with a 31.0% network share, well clear of Seven (26.0%), Ten (18.4%), ABC (17.1%) and SBS (7.5%).

Earlier in the night, Nine News scored 931,000 and 926,000 and A Current Affair 789,000. A split schedule also saw RBT (362,000) and True Story with Hamish and Andy (261,000) in the AFL markets while Sydney and Brisbane had NRL (366,000 and 286,000) and NRL Footy Show (142,000).

For Seven, Seven News (971,000 and 909,000) and Home and Away (687,000) got the network off to a good start. Later, Make You Laugh Out Loud managed 530,000 while All Round to Mrs Browns dropped to 366,000.

The audience for Ten’s The Bachelor was up to its highest number since launch with 763,000 plus a number one spot in the three demographics groups. The Project also had a good night to land in the top ten with 581,000 for the 7pm segment after 346,000 tuned in at 6.30pm. Earlier, Ten Eyewitness News had 426,000 and Family Feud 296,000. Later, Common Sense, however, lost ground to 286,000 and even later Law and Order SVU had 200,000.

ABC’s night included ABC News (701,000) and 7.30 (512,000) while Pulse improved to 437,000. Outside the top 20 were Short Cuts to Glory (332,000), Catching a Killer (279,000) and Restoration Man (213,000).

Great British Railway Journeys lost ground to 348,000 this week but was still SBS’s best. Why Are We Getting So Fat later had 237,000.

Early in the day, Today with 259,000 and Sunrise 254,000 continued their close battle for breakfast viewers.

See Thursday 10 August 2017 for a more detailed look at the ratings numbers in the Media Spy forums.

Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2017. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM.

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