Time to get real: Networks go head to head in reality TV battle

We’ve hit that point of the year again when all the major sporting spectacles are in the rearview mirror (farewell Australian Open, goodbye Ashes, so long Winter Olympics), and the networks shift their focus to doing what they do best: ramping up the reality TV drama.

Happily never after. Married At First Sight continues to dominate the ratings for Channel Nine.Credit: Nine

Australia’s reality TV landscape has morphed into a moveable feast, with formats falling in and out of favour as our tastes (read: our thirst for drama) changes. One of the more consistent performers has been Married At First Sight on Channel Nine (Nine Entertainment Co is the owner of this masthead), which launched its most recent series on January 31, up against a new season of Survivor: Blood vs Water (the Ten Network) and the three-night special The Voice: Generations (Seven).

Following on from the bounce of the Australian Open coverage, MAFS launched to an overnight audience of 869,000 viewers, according to OzTam, across the five metro capitals.

However, the Total TV audience - made up of metro, regional, time-shifted audiences who watch within seven days of broadcast plus those watching on the network’s Broadcast Video on Demand (BVOD) player - rose to 1.826 million. Last season’s MAFS premiere also netted a Total TV audience of 1.8 million.

Comparatively, Survivor and The Voice launched to 608,00 and 529,000 overnight metro viewers respectively, with The Voice rising to 1.064 million in Total TV audience, and Survivor just behind on 1.052 million.

Mother and daughter Sandra Diaz and Nina Twine in this year’s Australian Survivor: Blood vs Water.

This three-horse race marked the beginning of reality TV season in Australia, a breathless battle between Seven, Nine and Ten to carve up the biggest slice of the pie. Since launching, MAFS has settled into a rhythm, flexing its muscle over Survivor. The most recent Total TV rankings highlight the gap between the two shows, with MAFS rising to 1.924 million for the February 13 episode, compared to Survivor’s 889,000.

But it may not be happily ever after for MAFS, as Channel Seven looks to upset the apple cart by launching a new season of SAS Australia tonight. The third season sees a fresh batch of celebrities take on one of the toughest endurance tests under the terrifying instruction of ex-British Special Forces soldier Ant Middleton.

Among this season’s recruits are former Bachelor star Lochie Gilbert and comedian Paul Fenech. In the lead-up to launch, Seven has been promoting a high-profile clash between the pair, perhaps hoping to tap into the appetite for drama that has served MAFS so well.

The previous season of SAS Australia, which launched in September, premiered to an overnight metro audience of 647,000. This rose substantially to 1.315 million, an increase of 36 per cent when Total TV ratings were taken into account.

Seven is also banking on the success of Dancing With The Stars: All Stars, which launched on Sunday night. The celeb-heavy version of DWTS features famous faces who have all previously competed for the mirror ball trophy, including Kylie Gillies, Bridie Carter and Grant Denyer.

Famous faces getting footloose. Seven is banking on star power for Dancing With The Stars: All Stars.Credit: Seven

The buzz around the launch wasn’t enough to muscle MAFS out of the top spot. Sunday night’s “Commitment Ceremony” episode had an overnight audience of 926,000 viewers across the five metros. Meanwhile, DWTS managed 588,000 while Survivor (in a slightly later timeslot) slipped to 491,000. That night’s Total TV rankings haven’t yet been released.

The reality TV battle isn’t ending any time soon. Seven has confirmed it is bringing back My Kitchen Rules later this year, with host Manu Feildel. Previously a rating juggernaut for the network, MKR has been on hiatus since March 2020. In its final season on air, it recorded an average overnight audience of 542,000: down 40 per cent from 2019 and down 72 per cent on 2013.

Julie Goodwin is one of the returning faces in MasterChef: Foodies vs Favourites, set to air on Network Ten later this year.Credit: Ten

Network Ten has also struggled with some of its rusted-on franchises. In 2021, MasterChef premiered to its lowest-ever figures last season for the Ten Network, with an average of 670,000 metropolitan viewers tuning in overnight to watch the first episode.

The Ten Network will look to reverse this downturn with MasterChef Australia: Foodies vs Favourites, which welcomes back former contestants and winners such as Julie Goodwin. This will be Ten’s next big roll of the dice and will premiere around Easter.

Let the rating games begin.

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