Tennis surges in the ratings as last Aussies bows out

Nine’s Australian Open ratings surged on Tuesday night as Alex De Minaur battled Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz for a place in the final four of the men’s draw.

The national average audience went within a whisker of 2m later in the evening — over 50% better than the 1.2m watching the previous high this year, the night session on Monday.

The anticipation for the De Minaur game saw Nine’s Tuesday night session build to 1,726,000. The straight sets victory for Alcaraz only lasted just over two hours but it was late enough in the evening to push Nine’s night two session to 1,993,000.

The Tuesday crowds watching on Nine were bigger than any sessions in 2025, bat the Men’s Final, when 2,068,000 watched  Italian Jannik Sinner defeat German Alexander Zverev.

On Wednesday night, the ratings continued to shine, with Djokovic’s victory over Italian Lorenzo Musetti (who retired after two sets) drawing an average audience of 1.24, while the second match of the night — where Jannik Sinner toppled American Ben Shelton — pulled an average of 1.09m.

The VOZ ratings show that after 11 completed days of the 2026 Australian Open, ten separate sessions have broken the 1m audience barrier.

At the 2025 tournament, the night sessions only cracked 1m three times in the first 10 days.

Eight best men and women still standing

Nine’s coverage of the women’s semi finals is the highlight of Day 12 with the final four of Sabalenka, Svitolina, Pegula and Rybakina facing off in Thursday prime time.

The two best women will then battle for the title on Saturday night with Nine hoping to beat last year’s women’s final audience of 1.5m.

The men’s semi finals take place on Friday, with Djokovic, Sinner, Alcaraz and Zverev taking centre court.

Tennis doing the job as promotional tool

The Australian Open has proven to be a vital showcase for the host networks programming.

When Seven had the Australian Open, it endlessly ran promos for My Kitchen Rules. It worked. For the first nine years the MKR format flourished, screening after the Open wrapped. Every year while Seven had both, the MKR finale did 1.5m or better. It’s no coincidence that the first MKR series that screened without the Australian Open (2020) as a lead-in wrapped with an audience under 1m.

Nine now uses tennis to lure viewers into the world of Married At First Sight. That format was already a hit when Nine secured the Australian Open, but in the first year both screened in Q1, Nine extended the number of episodes by 30%. MAFS of course has maintained its momentum since then.

Tennis flourishes in cricket-free zone

Nine’s tennis is enjoying a cricket-free week after the Big Bash League wrapped last Sunday evening.

The cricket season has not yet wrapped, however, with Seven covering the Women’s International Series between Australia and India beginning Sunday, 15 February, with a T20 game at the SCG.

Seven this week revealed that its summer of cricket set new records. The Big Bash League recorded its biggest audience in six years off the back of The Ashes which was the highest rated Test series ever on Seven.

The average total TV audience for The Ashes was up 12% compared to the 2024-25 Australia v India Test, while the BBL was up 9% and the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) up 28% year-on-year.

For those with a renewed appetite for Test cricket, Australia doesn’t play another five-day match until August 2026.

The next cricket featuring an Australian men’s team is the T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup (from February 7th to March 8th 2026) which will be streaming live only on Prime Video.