Nine’s claim that it is winning the ratings thrown into doubt by official OzTAM figures

The claims by Nine Entertainment boss Mike Sneesby that the station is winning the TV ratings in 2022 has come under dispute.

Nine Entertainment chief executive officer Mike Sneesby. Picture: Britta Campion

Nine Entertainment chief executive officer Mike Sneesby’s claims the network is winning this year’s ratings has been questioned, with official survey figures showing rival Seven is in front.

Announcing the company’s annual results last week, Sneesby said: “In free-to-air, Nine network has drawn further ahead in the 2022 ratings year to date, once again dominating the key demographics”.

However figures from television ratings company, OzTAM, show Seven is No. 1 in the ratings in both the year-to-date metric and in the official TV ratings year, which began on February 6.

An industry source, who did not wish to be named, said Nine had looked at “selective” data that wasn’t a fair representation of the year’s ratings.

The source said some of Nine’s figures failed to include Seven’s strong ratings from the Commonwealth Games.

In previous years when the Commonwealth Games have been held, the event has always been included in official ratings data.

“If we’re excluding major sporting events why not exclude the Ashes, Wimbledon or the Australian Open?” the industry source said.

“These events arguably have just as big, if not a bigger, impact on the overall ratings picture.”

Official OzTAM figures show for the ratings survey year to date across the metropolitan locations, Seven is at 39 per cent share, Nine 38.2 per cent and Ten at 22.8 per cent.

Seven also leads across national data (6pm to midnight) in the survey year to date race, showing the network at 40.7 per cent, Nine at 36.7 per cent and Ten at 22.7 per cent.

Despite the disputed figures, Sneesby boasted of the company’s dominance across total TV audiences when announcing Nine’s results on Thursday.

“Our total television business leads in broadcast ratings as well as BVOD (broadcast viewing on demand) streaming for the calendar year to date,” he said.

“Importantly, we led the market for total TV revenue in both the June half with a pleasing 41.5 per cent share, and also for the full financial year, notwithstanding the impact of two Olympics and an Ashes series on another network.

“Our total television audience strategy focuses on key demographics that advertisers buy across all of our platforms, and that strategy is delivering.”