TV Ratings March 2: NRL kickoff secures Nine Thursday win
Mediaweek editor James Manning looks at last night's TV ratings
• Nine takes Thursday as NRL season kicks off: Game ranks #1 in Sydney & Brisbane
• TEN ranks #1 in Melbourne with special Thursday I'm A Celebrity double elimination
The first NRL match of the 2017 season has helped Nine to a metro win with the channel also claiming top spot in Sydney and Brisbane.
The arrival of the NRL gave TEN an opportunity, which it grabbed as it managed to rank #1 in Melbourne with a special midweek elimination on I'm A Celebrity and then another strong audience for Gogglebox. TEN's share in Melbourne was 22.0%, well ahead of Nine and Seven.
Seven held on to again rank #1 in Adelaide and Perth.
Seven
Home and Away reverted to three back-to-back episodes last night and did 595,000.
One of two primetime FTA programs looking at train travel was on Seven at 8.30pm when Mighty Trains did 470,000 with a trip across Canada.
Nine
A Current Affair did 556,000 with a broadcast into four markets (no Brisbane) because of the launch of Thursday night NRL for the first game of the season.
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The match between the Cronulla Sharks and the Brisbane Broncos saw new Nine recruit James Bracey hosting the first NRL match of season 2017. The metro audience was 545,000 on Nine and 9Gem – with most of the viewers, 506,000, watching in Sydney and Brisbane.
TEN
The Thursday numbers for I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! have been strong in the past few weeks. A special double elimination episode last night (goodbye Keira and Kris) started on 767,000 and then lifted to 818,000 for the elimination.
Following the action in the jungle was Gogglebox on 714,000, which wasn't knocked around too much by the NRL after 751,000 a week earlier.
ABC
At 8pm Dream Gardens held just over half a million.
Newton's Law then did 455,000, another week-on-week dip after 510,000 the week prior.
SBS
Michael Portillo was in the Lake District for 30 minutes on Great British Railway Journeys with 310,000 watching at 7.30pm.
The audience dropped to 177,000 for Destination Flavour Singapore and then to 114,000 for Food Detectives.
