Day one of the Ashes proved a winner for Nine’s Gem, with 477,000 viewers tuning in for the first session to watch Australia’s batting collapse.
According to OzTAM metro numbers, that fell to 355,000 for the second session, while 301,000 hardy souls hung on until the end of play.
On the downside, the cricket affected Nine’s NRL coverage, the Tigers-Cowboys match pulling just 287,000 viewers.
Nine easily won Thursday with 34.6 per cent of the audience share (all channels). Seven did 26.6 per cent, 10 had 17.7 per cent, the ABC had an off night and just 12.7 per cent and SBS did 8.3 per cent.
Over at the other “it” show of the moment, The Bachelor pulled 693,000.
Seven had the most watched show of Thursday, its 6pm news pulling 950,000. Other highlights for Seven were Home And Away (565,000), The Chase (543,000) and The Front Bar (344,000).
10’s other doers were The Project (457,000) and 10 News First (342,000).
Nine’s news did 815,000, ACA had 716,000 and Hot Seat had 461,000.
The ABC’s evening ran this way: 7pm news (595,000), 7.30 (476,000) and Escape From The City (389,000).
