TV Ratings April 24, 2022: Hey Hey and AFL helps Seven hold-off Nine

Total TV Ratings, April 17

The top non-news program in the total TV ratings was Grand Designs on the ABC with 651,000 viewers, up 20%. This was followed by Seven's 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts which had 432,000 viewers, up 10%.

Overnight TV Ratings, April 24

Seven has won Sunday night's TV ratings battle thanks to its combo of the AFL (432,000) and Hey Hey it's 100 Years (400,000), with the two combining at 7:00pm across different markets for 832,000 viewers. This led to Seven having the #1 primary channel with 25.3% and also the top network with 34.6%.

On Nine, Lego Masters was the top non-news program of the night with 511,000 tuning in from 7:00pm. The program was #1 in all key demos. It was then followed by 60 Minutes with 311,000 tuning in. 

On 10, The Sunday Project had 185,000 (6:30pm) and 260,000 (7:00pm) viewers before MasterChef Australia had 442,000 tune in. MasterChef was in the top five for all key demos.

On the ABC, Grand Designs had an audience of 379,000 viewers before the public broadcasters' new local drama, Barons, had 186,000 tune in. Barons took the spot of fellow local drama Troppo in the lineup.

Mediaweek spoke to Barons co-creator, lead writer, and executive producer Liz Doran last week about hitting the waves for the new eight-part series.

“I was really passionate about this idea of a surfing story, which is always told from a really male perspective, and I always really wanted to tell it including other perspectives – nonwhite men, women, and other people who weren’t necessarily fitting into that type.”

“A lot of other surf stories just tell the story of surfing and the development of new boards or wetsuits or board shorts.

“Once you start digging into this time, you go ‘well, okay, so if we start the story in 1971, what was happening in 1971?’ One of the really big things that was happening was the Vietnam War. There are really quite famous stories of famous surfers who either got called up to the war, or who were conscientious objectors, so it’s actually not a story that’s disconnected from the actual real history of surfing anyway – especially in Australia. 

“It was always a story that was set in the world of surfing, rather than being a story about surfing itself.”

See more: How the ABC’s Barons hit the waves and recreated the world of 1970s

The top program on SBS was Chernobyl: The New Evidence with 144,000 viewers.