News dominates Anzac Day viewing

NEWS and current affairs programming dominated last night's ratings as Australians applied holiday viewing patterns to the Anzac Day TV schedule.

NEWS and current affairs programming dominated last night's ratings as Australians applied holiday viewing patterns to the Anzac Day television schedule.

Seven News was the most-watched program of the night with 1.38 million viewers in the five capital cities, closely followed by Nine's 1.29 million, according to preliminary OzTAM data.

Four of the top five shows were news and current affairs programs, which were dominated by Anzac Day events, although the most-watched Anzac Day telecast was the Governor-General's Anzac Day address, with 528,000 viewers on ABC1.

No non-news programs broke the million-viewers mark, with Home and Away (958,000) the top entertainment program.

Seven won the night with a network share of 30.5 per cent ahead of Nine's 27.0 per cent, Ten's 18.6 per cent and the ABC's 18.3 per cent. SBS had a network share of 5.6 per cent.

For some it is a long weekend, with many Australians expected to take leave today following yesterday's public holiday, and tonight's viewing habits likely to follow suit.

OZTAM OVERNIGHT RANKINGS, APRIL 25
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,377,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,293,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,149,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 958,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC 926,000
6 MRS. BROWN'S BOYS Seven 922,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 920,000
8 BORDER SECURITY: INTERNATIONAL Seven 889,000
9 SEVEN'S AFL: ANZAC DAY FOOTBALL Seven 847,000
10 DEAL OR NO DEAL Seven 776,000
11 THE CHECKOUT ABC 740,000
12 TOP GEAR Nine 690,000
13 7.30 ABC 649,000
14 DESERT WAR ABC 622,000
15 THE FOOTY SHOW Nine 612,000
Copyright in the data is owned by OzTAM and may not be used or reproduced without permission.