Source : THE AGE NEWS
Millions of Australians watched Labor sweep to a landslide majority election victory live on their mobile phone and television screens on Saturday night, and the ABC dominated coverage across the country.
The public broadcaster was by some distance the most popular choice for people to watch the results. There were some technical glitches for chief election analyst Antony Green during the ABC’s broadcast, which reached more than 4 million people.
Election analyst Antony Green on the ABC election set, his last for the public broadcaster.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Its programming between 8.30pm and 10pm was the most viewed of the evening, drawing an average audience of 2.36 million.Its average audience remained steady around 2 million across the night.
Network Seven’s coverage was the second most popular, reaching 2.78 million people. It had an average audience of 580,000, significantly lower than the ABC’s.
Nine’s coverage reached 2.42 million. An average audience of 527,000 watched the results come in. Network 10’s coverage, which reached 1.74 million people, had an average audience of just 97,000. Sky News Regional’s average viewership was 68,000.
Reach describes the total number of unique viewers having watched a program for at least one minute, while average describes the average audience watching across the length of the program on broadcast and streaming platforms, such as ABC iview and 9Now.
The ABC’s coverage between 10pm and 11pm, headlined by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s victory speech addressing the nation, reached 3.2 million people. The average audience was 1.99 million, of which 188,000 were watching on digital streaming platform ABC iview.
Coalition senator James McGrath told the ABC’s panel early in the evening the nation would not know who its next prime minister would be by the end of the evening, but it was not even 8pm when both Sky News and Seven declared there was no path to government for the Coalition.
By 9 o’clock, Nine was broadcasting its election “Dunk Tank”, dropping Opposition Leader Peter Dutton into a virtual tank of water after he lost his Queensland seat of Dickson.
Nine, Seven, Ten and Sky News Australia all titled their coverage Australia Decides. Most viewers opted for Seven out of the commercial networks. The ABC’s coverage was titled Australia Votes.
The election coverage did not have to compete with live sport for audiences that only had access to free-to-air television. Coverage of Aussie rules and rugby league was behind a paywall on Foxtel or streaming platform Kayo on Saturday night.
Nine’s coverage of the Newcastle Knights victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the afternoon, with an average audience of 308,000, was the most popular non-news or election program of the day.
The ABC’s coverage was fronted by David Speers and Sarah Ferguson. Its panel featured prominent journalists Annabel Crabb, Laura Tingle, Bridget Brennan, Patricia Karvelas and others, alongside insights from Treasurer Jim Chalmers and McGrath.
It was the final ABC election broadcast for Green, who joined the broadcaster 36 years ago. Early in the night, Green faced some technical difficulties with his interactive results screen.
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