Total TV viewing on the rise as Seven leads summer ratings boon

The Seven Network has cemented its position as Australia’s most-watched network over summer, with a 6% audience increase fuelled largely by cricket.

Across the 10-week summer period, Seven reached 21.3 million viewers and captured a 44.4% share of national total TV audience, up from 43.3% the previous summer.

From 1 December 2024 to 8 February 2025, OzTAM data shows Seven led summer across ‘all people’ ahead of the Nine Network with 38.9% share and Network Ten with a 16.7% share.

In the 6.00pm to midnight block however, Nine inched ahead across with 41.4% of all people, ahead of Seven’s 40.4% and was also ahead in the 25 to 54 year-old demo with 42.6% ahead of Seven’s 37.3%.

Across the board, Seven’s performance was powered by Test cricket, the Big Bash League, 7NEWS, and entertainment staples such as Home and Away and Australian Idol.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series between Australia and India was a standout, drawing an average audience of over 1 million, up 39% year-on-year.

But it was the network’s streaming platform 7plus that saw the strongest growth, with audience numbers up 79%. The addition of live cricket streaming for the first time helped boost 7plus’ market share to 40.8%, up from 33.5% last summer.

Brook Hall, Seven’s chief content officer, highlighted the broader industry trend of growing Total TV consumption, noting that viewership across all three commercial networks was up 3%.

“Total TV is a strong and growing sector,” Hall said. “An incredible summer of Test cricket, the highest rating BBL season ever on Seven, the most-watched news in Australia and the #1 drama series in the country made it a hot summer on Seven.”

Looking ahead, Seven expects continued momentum with the return of the AFL season in March, alongside a line-up of major entertainment titles including Farmer Wants a Wife, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, and the newly launched reality format Stranded on Honeymoon Island.