A Married At First Sight-free night at Channel Nine last night has handed the ratings to rival Seven who won the night comfortably on the back of Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story and stalwart bon vivant program MKR.
With Nine opting for T20 cricket – a match between Sri Lanka and a second-string Australian side – MKR was the most watched program with 1.24 million viewers according to OzTam figures. And with no competition from Married At First Sight, MKR was able to add 160,000 viewers from the week previous.
However, viewers continued to be indifferent to Seven’s Hoges. It drew 839,000 viewers last night which, to its credit, was 2000 more than last week.
Hoges will prove a worry for all the TV bosses, considering its audiences are almost half of last year’s highly successful Molly. It also follows on from comments last week from Ten CEO Paul Anderson bemoaning the high cost of license fees and the prohibitive cost in making local dramas.
Seven won the night with 33.2 per cent, followed by Nine with 26.4 per cent, the ABC with 17.7 per cent, Ten with 15.5 per cent and SBS 7.2 per cent.
It’s clear we’re over cricket this summer, with Nine’s T20 game (despite being a last-ball thriller) recording 703,000, 695,000 and 575,000 for its various stages. Some 363,000 viewers then hung around for the post-match movie Lethal Weapon featuring a mulleted Mel Gibson.
For Ten, I’m A Celebrity Get…. Me Out of Here attracted 879,000. TEN Eyewitness News was 358,000, Bondi Rescue was 322,000, 24: Legacy was 294,000 and Homeland a disappointing 129,000.
The ABC continues with its impressive Sunday night with its 7pm news bulletin (780,000 viewers), Grand Designs (757,000) and Midsomer Murders (805,000).
