Cancellation of AFL and NRL matches across the country on Saturday ensured Tokyo 2020 performed even better in the TV ratings. The Olympic Games coverage was one of the few days where Seven’s star duo of Bruce McAvaney and Basil Zempilas were at work covering the key sports of track and field and swimming.
Photo: Emma McKeon joins Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones as Australia’s most successful Olympian
TV ratings: Seven
The primary channel, plus 7mate and 7TWO at different times, and 7plus all the time, offered many highlights across many sports on Day 8 of Olympic Games competition.
The channel’s second-biggest audience across the day was 1,496,000 watching the Seven News at 6pm.
The metro numbers for the various sessions on Seven were:
Night 1,699,000
Evening 1,361,000
Afternoon 1,241,000
Late Afternoon 1,155,000
Late Night 1,034,000
Morning 844,000
Weekend Sunrise 368,000
Nine
Nine News was just under 1m after 6pm.
A Current Affair Saturday was up week-on-week from 538,000 to 603,000.
David Attenborough’s Life in Colour then did 260,000.
10
Share was again crushed by the pull of Tokyo 2020 with another sub-5% Saturday.
10 News First had the most viewers across Saturday with 325,000.
Later in primetime the best result was 209,000 watching one of two The Dog House repeats.
ABC
ABC News found a spot in the TV ratings top 10 with 620,000.
The Durrells was just under 300,000 followed by Belgravia on 206,000.
SBS
SBS World News started on 109,000, followed by the second weekend of Hemingway on 111,000.
Saturday TV ratings Metro primetime shares primary/network
ABC 6.8% (9.7%)
Seven 46.0% (56.6%)
Nine 12.5% (19.6%)
10 4.1% (9.5%)
SBS 2.8% (4.6%)
See also: Weekend TV ratings Saturday July 24, 2021
Saturday TV ratings Metro top 20 all people
| 1 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – NIGHT | Channel 7 | 1,699,000 |
| 2 | SEVEN NEWS – SATURDAY | Channel 7 | 1,496,000 |
| 3 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – EVENING | Channel 7 | 1,361,000 |
| 4 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – AFTERNOON | Channel 7 | 1,241,000 |
| 5 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – LATE AFTERNOON | Channel 7 | 1,155,000 |
| 6 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – LATE NIGHT | Channel 7 | 1,034,000 |
| 7 | NINE NEWS SATURDAY | Channel 9 | 986,000 |
| 8 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – MORNING | Channel 7 | 844,000 |
| 9 | ABC NEWS SATURDAY | ABC TV | 620,000 |
| 10 | A CURRENT AFFAIR -SATURDAY | Channel 9 | 603,000 |
| 11 | WEEKEND SUNRISE – SATURDAY | Channel 7 | 368,000 |
| 12 | GETAWAY | Channel 9 | 329,000 |
| 13 | 10 NEWS FIRST SATURDAY | Channel 10 | 325,000 |
| 14 | THE DURRELLS | ABC TV | 290,000 |
| 15 | DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S LIFE IN COLOUR | Channel 9 | 260,000 |
| 16 | CORONAVIRUS: PUBLIC UPDATE | ABC NEWS | 245,000 |
| 17 | WEEKEND TODAY – SATURDAY LATE | Channel 9 | 233,000 |
| 18 | TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES: DAY 8 – EVENING MULTI | 7TWO | 231,000 |
| 19 | WEEKEND TODAY – SATURDAY | Channel 9 | 223,000 |
| 20 | THE DOG HOUSE EP 2 (R) | Channel 10 | 209,000 |
Saturday Sports FTA and STV
AFL
Fox Footy
#AFLPiesEagles 139,000
#AFLNorthCats 108,000
#AFLDogsCrows 63,000/52,000 (screened on 503 and 504)
NRL
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is confident the remainder of the NRL season can go ahead as planned after the remaining five games in round 20 were rescheduled on Saturday night, reports NRL.com.
The three games that were postponed on Saturday have been transferred to a Super Sunday at Suncorp Stadium, kicking off at 1.50pm with the Knights playing Canberra followed by a 4.05pm Storm v Panthers blockbuster.
The third game on Sunday will see the Dragons and Rabbitohs square off at 6.25pm.
Sunday’s two fixtures will move to Monday night to ensure the entire round is completed ahead of round 21.
Suncorp Super Netball
No Saturday action again this week with matches scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
F1: Hungary Grand Prix
Fox Sports
#HungarianGP Qualifying: 57,000