The ratings also soar when there is a large event that will engross the audiences such as the ceremonies of the Olympics, news years eve, the sporting finals and even the annual Melbourne Cup race. The finales of various shows are always quite successful as well.
The 'exclusives' are always what draw in the audiences as well, whether it is a hard hitting interview with Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair or funnily enough an interview with a shady character who has spent time in jail and is getting paid an extreme amount to retell his or her story on 60 Minutes, paid by Channel Nine. These stories are what attract audiences and what we all (mostly) like to tune in to watch.
The ACA interview with Matthew Johns made Tracy a bigger star and ratings rocketed for the show (1.4 million to be exact for that night).
Each network is vying for the top spot at the end of the day which are collected by three main organisations known as OzTAM (metro areas), Regional TAM (obviously regional) in areas with three television commercial networks and through Nielsen Media Research Australia in areas with two commercial TV networks.
The ratings are recorded over 40 weeks of the year, where there is a 2 week break over the Easter period and a 10 week break over the summer period- which explains why a million repeated episodes of The Big Bang Theory are shown at this time and we want to start throwing things at our TV screen (well I do because its frustrating).
On Wednesday night, a large audience of 2.51 million turned on Channel Nine to watch the first (and controversial) game of the State of Origin, setting a new record for the game since OzTAM ratings had been introduced in 2001.
The big program of the time that everyone is talking about is The Voice. There have been many singing competitions over the years but for some weird reason this show has taken off like no others. I can't figure out whether it is put down to the types of contestants, the nice natured judging or the brightly coloured nail polish judge Seal wears yet week after week the ratings have displayed 1 to 2 million viewers. It truly is a knock out show hitting all the right notes.
In the US, the ratings are a whole different juggernaut where figures that compare to a viewing audience the same size of the population of Australia tunes in just to watch an episode of American Idol- crazy!
THE MOST WATCHED SHOWS TO DATE
This is the list of the 13 most watched broadcasts since 2001 (when OzTam began) in Australia, with ratings of over 3 million viewers (metro viewers only *).
| Rank | Show | Number of Viewers | Date | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Voice Australia : Premiere | 4,110,000 | 15 April 2012 | Channel Nine |
| 2 | Australian Open: Men's Final (Lleyton Hewitt v Marat Safin) | 4,045,000 | 2005 | Channel Seven |
| 3 | 2003 Rugby World Cup: Final (Australia v England) | 4,016,000 | 2003 | Channel Seven |
| 4 | Masterchef Australia : Winner Announced | 3,964,000 | 25 July 2010 | Channel Ten |
| 5 | Masterchef Australia : Winner Announced | 3,560,000 | 19 July 2009 | Channel Ten |
| 6 | 2006 Commonwealth Games: Opening Ceremony | 3,560,000 | 2006 | Channel Nine |
| 7 | Masterchef Australia: Finale Night | 3,542,000 | 25 July 2010 | Channel Ten |
| 8 | 2005 AFL Grand Final (Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles) | 3,386,000 | 2005 | Channel Ten |
| 9 | Australian Idol: The final verdict | 3,344,000 | 2004 | Channel Ten |
| 10 | Masterchef Australia: Finale night | 3,313,000 | 19 July 2009 | Channel Ten |
| 11 | Australian Idol: The final verdict | 3,330,000 | 2006 | Channel Ten |
| 12 | 2006 AFL Grand Final (West Coast Eagles v Sydney Swans) | 3,145,000 | 2006 | Channel Ten |
| 13 | The Block: Final | 3,115,000 | 2003 | Channel Nine |
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_ratings_in_Australia
A useful TV blog that summarises the ratings each day is TV Tonight.
TV Tonight Blog-Day to day Ratings
The official site of OzTAM, the television audience measurement system for metropolitan cities.
http://www.oztam.com.au/
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