Yet again there’s no love lost between the networks, as Seven is crowned this year’s ratings winner in terms of audience share, while fierce rival Nine has claimed it won the demos, including the coveted “grocery buying mum”. 10 was once again a distant third in 2021’s rankings.

Despite a rather scandal-plagued 2021, Seven won the most weeks of the 38 weeks included in the ratings period.

Measured across the 2021 television ratings survey year, the Seven Network had the greatest share of total television viewers in Australia – with or without the inclusion of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 coverage.

However, Nine is claiming (ex-Olympics) it won the demos including people 25-54, 16-39 and grocery shopper and child.

Today’s result means Seven has now won 13 of the past 15 years, with Nine having won in 2019 and 2020.

Seven also claimed the most-watched show of the year (the AFL grand final) and Sunrise was the most-watched breakfast show, once again seeing off arch-rival TODAY. It was Sunrise’s 18th consecutive win.

Seven supremo James Warburton was also quoted on News.com.au this morning saying the network “wouldn’t have won the year without The Voice to be frank”. Warburton’s comments a clear dig at its rival after Nine publicly ridiculed Seven for pinching the rights to the long-running talent show late last year.

“We stole that from under (Channel Nine’s) nose,” Warburton said. “The Voice was such a dominant force. The Voice is top five in every country around the world, it was an absolute no-brainer.”

“It will go down as one of the biggest programming coups in the history of television,” he bragged.

More confusing still, both networks released media statements today claiming their respective BVODs were in the number one spot. B&T understands that Seven’s is actually number one.

“Seven’s free digital on-demand and streaming service 7plus once again ranks number one across the calendar year to date, recording more total minutes and live minutes streamed than any other Australian commercial free-to-air BVOD service in 2021,” boasted Seven.

While Nine claimed: “As BVOD becomes an increasingly integral part of Nine’s business, we can report today that 9Now is Australia’s number one commercial BVOD service. 9Now leads in share across Live, VOD and combined. In calendar year 2021 (ex. Olympics), 9Now currently has a share of 46.4 per cent across Live + VOD, while the platform also leads in Live share (49.2 per cent) and VOD share (44.7 per cent) share.”

B&T will bring you more extensive coverage of the numbers in Monday’s bulletin.

On Seven’s win, Warburton, said: “It’s great to be back at number one. Seven has now won 13 of the past 15 years and our digital offering 7plus is also the number one BVOD service for the second year in a row.

“I’m extremely proud of the team at Seven. We have momentum, confidence and the shows Australia wants to watch. We are yet to deliver our full programming schedule, as we lost key productions this year due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Despite these setbacks, more people have watched Seven in 2021 than any other network, with or without the Olympics. Bring on 2022. We are just getting started,” Warburton said.

Commenting on the numbers, Nine’s director of television, Michael Healy, said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the achievements of the Nine team in delivering a slate that has reaffirmed our leadership position across both linear and digital. Once again, our shows have dominated the key demographics as well as the national conversation throughout the year. Channel 9 is also the number one channel in Total People (ex. Olympics). We’re extremely proud of our shows and have worked with our production partners to deliver content that has engaged, informed and entertained us throughout another challenging year.”
 
Michael Stephenson, Nine’s chief sales officer, added: “Nine is number one again in the thing that matters most – the demographics that advertisers buy. When you remove the Olympics, Nine is number one in 25-54s, 16-39s, and grocery shoppers with children. We have had a strategy which is focused on delivering the audiences that our clients buy. That is what we have done again this year and what we will do again in 2022.”