EJ Whitten game takes Seven to massive ratings win in Melbourne

Tim Burrowes

September 3, 2016 2:52

Seven’s EJ Whitten Legends game helped the network dominate ratings in Melbourne and win across the five capital cities on Friday night.

The annual battle featuring media personalities and former stars of AFL saw Seven pull in a 36.3% share of the audience in Melbourne, with an average audience of 426,000 in the city, according to preliminary overnight ratings from OzTam. The game averaged a further 84,000 viewers in Adelaide .

Seven, which aired movie Meet The Parents in non AFL states, achieved a national metro share on Friday night of 24%, ahead of Nine’s 16.6% and Ten’s 10.7%.

Nine’s best performance came in Sydney, thanks to the end-of-season clash between Canterbury Bulldogs and South Sydney Rabbitohs, which rated 326,000 in Sydney and 147,00 in Brisbane.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.