Seven secures a massive +40% share, its biggest Saturday outside the World Cup and up four on the previous week. The AFL game that featured main channel coverage along the east coast did well for home cities Adelaide where it was the number one show and Sydney where almost 100k tuned in. The 750k preliminary audience compared to 747k last year.
Nine’s share was down six thanks to the afternoon scheduling of the NRL semi-final (and a one-sided game). The game was the top non-news program in Sydney and Brisbane but only drew 17k in Melbourne where it was on the main channel. The result compared to 562k in 2022 when it was the only sport in prime time.
The NRL proved to be a poor lead in for Nine News in Melbourne where the news was at a 2023 low (subject to adjustment for a late start). It also had an interesting impact on 10 News in Melbourne that posted one of it highest audiences of the year as Nine viewers sought an alternative. Nine’s primetime saw A Current Affair do well but NRLW miss the top 20.
Not much change for ABC, 10 and SBS though SBS Movies did well with a line up that included Rush (2013). The new season of Shakespeare and Hathaway was the top entertainment show of the night, just ahead of a Vera repeat while The Dog House Australia again made the top 20.
At breakfast, Weekend Today continued the good results its weekday partner has experienced with its highest Saturday audience of the year.
Both AFL and NRL did well for Foxtel though down on the previous year (363k AFL and 343k NRL).