Television ratings in Australia

This article is about measuring television viewership. For television content classification, see Television content rating systems § Australia.

Television ratings
in Australia

Television ratings in Australia are used to determine the size and composition of audiences across Australian broadcast and subscription television, primarily for the purpose of informing advertisers what programming is popular with the audience they are attempting to sell their product or service to.[1]

Ratings are monitored year-round, however, viewership figures are only officially counted for 40 weeks during the year, excluding a two-week break during Easter and ten weeks over summer. Thus, the majority of locally produced programming and popular international shows on commercial networks are shown during the rating period.[2][3]

A 2016 report found that commercial television in Australia reaches 85.1% of the population aged over 13 years old (down from 93.1% in 2008) with viewership decreasing fastest in viewers aged under 50. The decline in free-to-air television audiences of recent years has been attributed to a tougher and more competitive environment brought about by video on demand and streaming services.[4]

  1. ^ "About Ratings". ThinkTV. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  2. ^ Walters, Conrad (23 April 2011). "Made to measure but can we trust TV ratings?". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ^ "Explaining TV's non-rating period". Crikey. 11 January 2005. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  4. ^ "1 in 7 Australians now watch no Commercial TV, nearly half of all broadcasting reaches people 50+, and those with SVOD watch 30 minutes less a day". Roy Morgan Research. 1 February 2016.