Keeping up with the TV networks: Seven sheds no tears over Nine’s reality triumph
With the first official television ratings period of the year complete, Zoe Samios checks in with the network programming bosses on how they’ve performed so far and what’s in store for the post-Easter battle
It was always going to be an unusual start to the 2018 official ratings year.
Some of the elements were standard. Nine’s summer of cricket ended with Australia cruising to an Ashes win over England; Ten’s Big Bash rated strongly, as did Seven’s Australian Open; and as January turned to February, the three networks rolled out their first tranche of reality shows.
But this year, there was an added wrinkle. Seven was able to kick off the year with the Winter Olympics.
It had been a difficult 2017 for the networks with Seven’s programming slump, Ten going into administration and flat advertising revenues. This year has opened with strong audience for the medium as a whole and one of the tightest two-way television battles in some time between Seven and Nine.
