Nine's first day of the Australian Open serves up 538,000 viewers

Josh McDonnell
By Josh McDonnell | 15 January 2019
 

The ratings are in for the first day of the Australian Open, with Nine's debut coverage of night one pulling in 538,000 viewers.

Nine suffered a slight dip in ratings when compared to Seven's coverage of the event last year, which had an overnight audience of 589,000.

However, in a reversal of last year's first evening, the Australian Open was able to pip the Big Bash League (BBL), which is now on Seven.

Seven's coverage of the BBL, which saw the Melbourne Stars take on the Hobart Hurricanes, drew 497,000 viewers for session two.

Further ratings from the Australian Open saw 'day one', which included the match-up between Rafael Nadal and Australia James Duckworth, as well as Marin Čilić and Bernard Tomic, draw in 344,000 viewers, while the 'late' session drew in 332,000.

Ten took out the top spot in the primetime slot for the second night in a row, with the second episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here beating Nine's coverage of night one of the Australian Open.

The reality show drew a metro audience of 890,000 overnight.

New Today Show line-up

Outside of primetime ratings, all eyes were also on the breakfast slot, as Nine debuted its new Today Show line-up, which featured Georgie Gardiner and Deb Knight leading a 'Karl Stefanovic-less' panel.

The show, which was broadcasting live from Melbourne in a bid to draw further attention to the first day for the Australian Open, made a metro audience debut of 196,700.

Despite the promotional efforts by Nine, Today was beaten by Sunrise which had a metro audience of 266,500 and, in Melbourne (where the Australian Open is hosted) and Adelaide, Today was also beaten by ABC's news breakfast.

In the overnight main channel share race, Ten was unable to repeat its magic from Sunday night despite the primetime win, falling back to third place with a 14.9% share.

Nine's coverage of the Australian Open led it to a main channel win, taking a 19.8% share, with Seven trailing in second spot with a 16.4% share.

Day two of the Australian Open continues today, with Nine most likely expecting stronger ratings in the evening slot, as Australia's Nick Kyrgios goes up against Milos Raonic, while world ranked number one Novak Djokovic takes on Mitchell Krueger.

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