ABC wins election night as Australia plays it safe

Nathan Jolly

May 5, 2025 11:49

ABC wins election night as Australia plays it safe

Antony Green's final call

Over 4 million Australians turned to the ABC for their election results on the weekend, with the national broadcaster’s coverage as usual trumping the commercial networks.

The top three programs for the day were made up of the ABC’s six-hour rolling coverage of Labor’s decisive election victory, with an average of 2.3 million tuning into the results portion at any given time. The ABC has won every at least the past eight federal election night ratings.

Seven’s lineup of mismatched stars (Bill Shorten, Clive Palmer, Michaelia Cash) drew 2.78 million total viewers throughout, with an average audience of 580,000 during the broadcast. It managed to beat Nine’s coverage, which pulled a total audience of 2.42 million, with an average audience of 527,000.

Ten, not traditionally known for its election night coverage, managed to draw 1.74 million curious viewers, but could only retain an average viewership of 97,000.

All three free-to-air networks (SBS didn’t cover the results) opted for a lighter tone than usual. Seven opted to give airtime to Clive Palmer, seen below holding a Kit Kat to the Seven cameras.

Seven’s election coverage

Nine went one step further, introducing a dunk tank, and solemnly announced Peter Dutton’s exit from politics by dunking a cut-out of his head.

Ten, meanwhile, interviewed residents of fictional town Betoota, with Sandra Sully gamely attempting to play along with the fantasy. The aim appeared to be somewhere between The Chaser and The Onion.

Nine’s dunk tank

ABC played it safe, with straight down the line coverage.

It also had an extra emotional tug with chief elections analyst Antony Green’s final on-air call, after 32 years as election night guide. The national broadcaster had five of the top seven most-watched programs of the day.

Antony Green’s final call

Viewers typically turn to the ABC in times of crisis and instability. During the pandemic, the ABC News became the country’s most-read news site in April 2020, as borders slammed shut and Aussies turned the national broadcaster for information. After a four-year unbroken streak as #1, news.com.au was bumped from the top spot, which ABC then held throughout the entire pandemic, close to three years.

Although this was touted as the first social media election, Australians flocked to free-to-air TV on the day of the election.

Of the top 30 programs watched during the day, just two were non-election or news related: the Saturday afternoon NRL on Nine, and Seven’s horse racing coverage.