Get the Picture - Free-to-air TV - Ratings

Ratings: By network

Television ratings for commercial and non-commercial broadcasters in the five metropolitan markets, share of all people, 6 pm to midnight, 1983–2007

Although the share of commercial broadcasters fell in 2007, commercial stations still attract the bulk of free-to-air television viewing. Of these, Seven achieved the highest share at 29.1 per cent to surpass Nine for the first time since 1983, with the exception of Seven's broadcast of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

In 2007, the three commercial networks accounted for 77.9 per cent of all viewing in the five metropolitan markets, a slight rise from 78.2 per cent in 2005; 2005 being the lowest share since 1983. The non-commercial share rose to 22.2 per cent from 20.7 per cent the previous year, both ABC and SBS maintained shares above their 10-year average.

There is a reasonable amount of variation in the ratings of each of the five television networks across different markets (see Ratings: By network and market).

Snapshot, 2007

Graph: Ratings by network, 6pm to midnight, 2007. The table following provides the data.

Next update December 2008

	Commercial share (%)				Non-commercial share (%)
	Seven	Nine	Ten	Total	ABC	SBS	Total
1983	30.8	30.9	24.9	86.6	11.9	1.5	13.4
1984	29.5	31.9	26.1	87.5	11.2	1.3	12.5
1985	30.9	31.2	25.8	87.9	10.7	1.4	12.1
1986	30.9	32.5	25.0	88.4	10.4	1.2	11.6
1987	27.9	32.2	26.2	86.3	11.9	1.8	13.7
1988	27.9	31.6	28.2	87.7	10.6	1.7	12.3
1989	28.2	33.2	25.2	86.6	11.5	1.9	13.4
1990	30.4	32.6	23.3	86.3	11.6	2.1	13.7
1991	30.5	31.6	21.5	83.6	13.8	2.6	16.4
1992	29.9	31.9	21.0	82.8	14.5	2.7	17.2
1993	29.9	30.9	22.0	82.8	14.6	2.7	17.3
1994	28.8	32.7	22.1	83.6	13.6	2.8	16.4
1995	29.8	32.4	21.1	83.3	13.9	2.9	16.8
1996	30.4	31.9	20.7	83.0	14.2	2.8	17.0
1997	29.5	32.6	20.7	82.8	14.3	2.8	17.1
1998	29.1	32.6	20.8	82.5	14.4	3.1	17.5
1999	29.4	32.8	19.5	81.7	14.7	3.7	18.4
2000¹	32.2 (29.3)	31.0 (32.9)	18.5 (19.3)	81.7 (81.5)	14.8 (15.5)	3.4 (3.5)	18.2 (19.0)
2001	29.4	30.6	21.3	81.3	14.0	4.6	18.6
2002	26.4	30.3	23.0	79.7	15.5	4.9	20.4
2003	25.6	31.2	23.2	80.0	15.6	4.5	20.1
2004	24.9	29.9	23.8	78.6	16.9	4.6	21.5
2005	27.1	29.2	21.9	78.2	15.7	6.1	21.8
2006	27.8	29.2	22.2	79.2	15.3	5.4	20.7
2007	29.1	26.9	21.9	77.9	16.7	5.5	22.2
10-year average 1998–2007²	28.1	30.4	21.6	80.1	15.4	4.6	19.9

Source: 1983 to 1990, McNair Anderson; 1991 to 2000, ACNielsen Australian TV Trends 2001; and from January 2001, OzTAM.

Notes:
Figures are per cent shares of free-to-air viewing, excluding subscription television, videos and out-of-market stations.
Any comparison of data before and after January 2001 should take into account that a different audience measurement system has applied since that date.
1. Figures in brackets exclude the Olympics (weeks 38 to 41).
2. Average figures include the ratings during the Olympics period.