Channel Seven has officially won the 2016 TV ratings and, in doing so, has come out on top for the tenth consecutive year.
The Olympics certainly helped the network to the number one spot, but it also had a number of ratings winners included the irrepressible My Kitchen Rules and the drama mini-series Molly. The AFL Grand Final was also the most watched program of the year with 3.2 million viewers.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing with Seven’s Zumbo’s Just Desserts proving a dud among viewers and looking unlikely to return in 2017.
Seven got 30.2 per cent of the 2016’s viewing audience, up slightly on 2015’s 29.3 per cent.
Nine got 26.7 per cent which was a fall of 1.4 per cent from the year previous, while Ten (18.8 per cent) and the ABC (17.6 per cent) had the exact same percentage of viewers from 2015. SBS was also up 0.4 per cent to 6.8 per cent.
Nine had a disappointing start to 2016 with The Farmer Wants A Wife, Reno Rumble and Australia’s Got Talent not rating as well as would have been expected. However, the NRL continued to be a boon for the network with the Grand Final getting 2.67 million viewers and State Of Origin One claiming 2.74 million viewers.
Nine’s The Block was the most watched non-sport TV event for 2016, the final getting 2.21 million viewers and just nudging out Seven’s MKR final with 2.1 million viewers.
Seven won 31 of the 40 ratings weeks while Nine won nine of the weeks. Seven also claimed top spot in the demos 25-54, 18-49 and 16-39.
