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2014’s top shows

What were the biggest shows of the year? Here's how they stacked up.

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2014-12-06_2218Sport and Reality Television have dominated the 2014 ratings season.

The AFL Grand Final was the top rated show in the 5 city metro at 2,828,000 viewers.

In second place was My Kitchen Rules (Winner announced: 2,712,000), The Block: Glasshouse (Winner: 2,687,000) and NRL Grand Final (2,621,000).

However adding in Regional viewers, the State of Origin II Match takes top prize at 4,064,000, followed by Rugby League Grand Final (4,015,000), State of Origin I (3,981,000), My Kitchen Rules (Winner: 3,869,000) and AFL Grand Final (3,733,000) -the latter at a slight disadvantage being outside primetime.

OzTAM has limited TV Tonight to the rankings for the Top 20 rankings only, a list dominated by strategic coding by commercial networks:

# Description Network 5 City Metro
1  AFL: Grand Final: Sydney V Hawthorn Network 7 2,828,000
2 My Kitchen Rules-Winner Announced Network 7 2,712,000
3 The Block Glasshouse -Winner Announced Network 9 2,687,000
4 Rugby League Grand Final Network 9 2,621,000
5 State Of Origin Rugby League NSW V Qld 2nd – Match Network 9 2,600,000
6 Seven’s AFL: Grand Final: Presentations Network 7 2,565,000
7 State Of Origin Rugby League Qld V NSW 1st – Match Network 9 2,530,000
8 My Kitchen Rules-Grand Final Network 7 2,408,000
9 The Block Glasshouse -Auction Network 9 2,379,000
10 The Block: Fans V Faves -Auctions Network 9 2,271,000
11 The Block: Fans V Faves -Winner Announced Network 9 2,265,000
12 INXS: Never Tear Us Apart – Part 1 Network 7 2,243,000
13 The Voice -Launch Network 9 2,229,000
14 Seven’s AFL: Grand Final: On The Ground Network 7 2,188,000
15 The 2014 Melbourne Cup Carnival: Melbourne Cup-The Race Network 7 2,184,000
16 INXS:: Never Tear Us Apart – Part 2 Network 7 2,081,000
17 House Rules-Winner Announced Network 7 2,070,000
18 State Of Origin Rugby League Qld V Nsw 3rd – Match Network 9 2,057,000
19 The Block: Fans V Faves -Grand Final Network 9 1,999,000
20 The Voice -Wed Network 9 1,979,000

However, it is possible to report other results too. These results are based on coding and averaging of series’ performance.

TEN
MasterChef Australia: Winner Announced was the biggest audience TEN had all year at 1,749,000 viewers. It was followed by Masterchef Australia: Finale Night (1,696,000), The Bachelor Australia: The Final Decision (1,436,000), Aust FIA Formula One World Championship: Race (1,355,000 simulcast on TEN and ONE) and MasterChef (Thurs: 1,108,000). The Bachelor Australia: Finale was 1,050,000 viewers, Ian Thorpe: The Parkinson Interview (1,030,000), Offspring (1,027,000), The Biggest Loser: Challenge Australia (Winner Announced: 983,000, Final Weigh-In: 894,000) and Mrs Doubtfire (948,000). Best Lifestyle was The Living Room’s Hot List (641,000) and 50 Years Young (693,000) was best Light Entertainment.

ABC
ABC’s controversial New Year’s Eve: Midnight Fireworks was their biggest audience in 2014 at 1,366,000 viewers. It was followed by Doc Martin (1,246,000), and Death in Paradise (1,173,000). Midsomer Murders (1,094,000), NYE Family Fireworks (1,081,000), The Doctor Blake Mysteries (1,054,000), The Broken Shore (1,036,000), ANZAC Girls (1,033,000), Jack Irish (1,004,000). In Light Entertainment, The Checkout was best at 864,000 viewers and Catalyst the best Lifestyle at 693,000.

SBS
The 2014 FIFA World Cup match between Chile and Australia was the biggest audience all year for SBS. At 1,741,000 it outranked everything on ABC (and just 9,000 short of pipping TEN’s best). No other data has been supplied.

Given the interest in Seven and Nine shows outside Sport and Reality here are some highlights:

SEVEN
Seven’s best Drama performer was INXS: Never Tear us Apart (Part 1: 2,243,000 / Pt 2: 2,081,000) then The Killing Field (1,405,000), Downton Abbey (1,292,000), A Place to Call Home (1,154,000), Revenge (1,046,000), The Blacklist (1,036,000) and Winners and Losers (1,034,000). Best Lifestyle was Better Homes and Gardens (894,000). Outside of X Factor (Winner: 1,619,000) best Light Entertainment was My France with Manu (1,369,000).

NINE
Love Child (1,466,000) was Nine’s strongest drama audience then Fat Tony & Co. (Ep 2: 1,227,000 / Series: 1,214,000), Schapelle (1,153,000), House Husbands (1,060,000), Gotham (Ep 2: 1,032,000). Outside of The Voice (Winner: 2,229,000) and The Voice: Kids (1,277,000), the best Light Entertainment was Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year South America (1,142,000). Best Lifestyle was Top Gear at 638,000.

All titles based on 5 city metro consolidated except where otherwise stated.

© OzTAM Pty Limited 2014. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM.

11 Responses

  1. Bet Ch 9 must hate that the AFL Grand Final, in non-prime time afternoon, still gets the nod over the NRL version, even after they upset supporters and years of tradition and took it to prime time.

  4. Its a very interesting mix. It shows we love our sports and unfortunately we love reality. Its also interesting to see the averages for shows which based on overnight figures were lower but when the timeshifting is factored in they are bigger than i expected. Still can’t believe A Place To Call Home was cancelled then moved to Foxtel based on those numbers.

    Thanks for the insight David. Really appreciate it. I wonder if our habits will continue in 2015.

  5. Thanks David, compiling these sorts of things takes time and dedication.

    Have a happy Christmas and a very prosperous New Year to you and yours.

  7. Thanks for breaking down the lists into respective networks performances.

    Oz Tam should also supply a list of program series averages in order to determine the popularity of shows. The list above is really only the biggest tv audiences/events of 2014.

    1. Nicholas: Sort of, yes. The results are according to the coding given by networks. MKR for instance will code as Winner Announced, Finale and then MKR Tuesday (an average of all their Tuesday shows) for example. But House Husbands and ANZAC Girls just averages across all episodes. Notice Fat Tony has two codes. It just depends how networks coded them with OzTAM.

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