McGrath a star as real stories trump reality TV

Another day and night dominated by news — the floods in Queensland and NSW, then the events in Ukraine were the drivers. Hundreds of thousands of people tuned into breakfast TV, adding audiences of close to half a million for Sunrise, Today, ABC News Breakfast and Mornings on Seven, which continued the coverage past 9am when Sunrise ended. Over 1.7 million people watched the four programs, but the real figures were much higher as viewers tend to come and go throughout the two-hour period from 7am.

At night, around 700,000 extra viewers tuned into the Nine and Seven news hours, Nine’s A Current Affair and the ABC’s 7pm news bulletin and 7.30 program. All networks did well with the difficult flood coverage — ABC News topped the digital channels again with a share of 3.6% (which was shared with 7TWO’s more general viewing).

Married At First Sight averaged 1.260 million with, you wouldn’t believe it, a cheating scandal (right on cue to keep ratings high) — gee, when will the shocks and surprises end? Seven’s SAS Australia, 597,000; Seven’s The Amazing Race, 308,000. Ten’s Australian Survivor, 599,000 — more viewers than SAS Australia!

Australian Story returned with a profile of Glenn McGrath, the former fast bowler and spearhead of the Pink cricket test in Sydney each year. It was a good episode; 910,000 viewers tuned in nationwide.

It was Nine’s night from Seven, the ABC and Ten. The realities of the events in the news broadcasts made the stuff in MAFS, SAS Australia and Australian Survivor look like manufactured tosh.

Network channel share: