It was a day of high drama on and off the field at the MCG impacting TV ratings before and during the second day’s play of the Third Test.
After a positive case impacted Seven’s coverage of the day’s action, the first ball was bowled 30 minutes after the scheduled time after England’s arrival at the ground was impacted by Covid tests on the touring party. (All Covid tests of English players and their families have been negative.)
Seven’s BBL commentary team started the day’s coverage and during the day some of the Seven Test team were given clearance to return to the airwaves. That included Ricky Ponting, Damien Fleming, and Ian Botham, who all received negative Covid test results.
Seven’s Jason Richardson with Lisa Sthalekar.
Top: Alister Nicholson, Lisa Sthalekar, Brad Hodge, Andy Maher
Former England captain Michael Atherton was called in as a special guest at Seven. The former English captain is part of the SEN radio commentary team and he is part of the visiting media as The Times chief cricket correspondent, a role he has held since 2007.
On the pitch, England managed to bowl themselves back into the match by removing Australia for under 300. However later in the day they batted themselves out of contention with a series of familiar failures.
Second Ashes Test TV ratings
3rd Test Australia v England December 26
Day One Melbourne (Sunday)
Seven and Fox Cricket
First session Total: 1,472,000 Seven: 1,140,000 (Metro 791,000 Regional 349,000) Fox 332,000
Second session Total: 1,600,000 Seven: 1,255,000 (Metro 880,000 Regional 375,000) Fox 345,000
Third session Total: 1,833,000 Seven: 1,462,000 (Metro 994,000 Regional 468,000) Fox 371,000
Day Two Melbourne (Monday)
Seven and Fox Cricket
First session Total: 1,229,000 Seven: 915,000 (Metro 618,000 Regional 297,000) Fox: 314,000
Second session Total: 1,471,000 Seven: 1,111,000 (Metro 762,000 Regional 349,000) Fox: 360,000
Third session Total: 1,752,000 Seven: 1,339,000 (Metro 897,000 Regional 442,000) Fox: 413,000
The best of the rest non-sport on Monday included:
Seven: News 1,047,000
Nine: 823,000, A Current Affair 541,000, RBT 360,000, Australian Crime Stories 254,000
10: The Project 7pm 268,000, 10 News First 260,000
ABC: News 483,000, Australian Story 223,000
SBS: World News 130,000
Monday TV ratings Metro primetime shares primary/network
ABC 8.7% (14.3%)
Seven 25.9% (36.0%)
Nine 18.2% (25.6%)
10 8.1% (14.8%)
SBS 4.5% (9.3%)
See also: Summer Survey TV ratings – Sunday December 26, 2021, Week 1
Monday TV ratings Metro top 20 all people
| 1 | SEVEN NEWS | Channel 7 | 1,047,000 |
| 2 | SEVEN NEWS AT 6.30 | Channel 7 | 1,028,000 |
| 3 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: THIRD TEST – THE ASHES D2 S3 | Channel 7 | 897,000 |
| 4 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: THIRD TEST – THE ASHES D2 TEA | Channel 7 | 845,000 |
| 5 | NINE NEWS | Channel 9 | 823,000 |
| 6 | NINE NEWS 6:30 | Channel 9 | 803,000 |
| 7 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: THIRD TEST – THE ASHES D2 S2 | Channel 7 | 762,000 |
| 8 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: THIRD TEST – THE ASHES D2 LUNCH | Channel 7 | 742,000 |
| 9 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: THIRD TEST – THE ASHES D2 S1 | Channel 7 | 618,000 |
| 10 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: BIG BASH LEAGUE – HOBART V ADELAIDE | Channel 7 | 584,000 |
| 11 | A CURRENT AFFAIR | Channel 9 | 541,000 |
| 12 | ABC NEWS | ABC TV | 483,000 |
| 13 | RBT | Channel 9 | 360,000 |
| 14 | HOT SEAT | Channel 9 | 336,000 |
| 15 | LIVE: BBL PRE GAME | FOX CRICKET | 324,000 |
| 16 | LIVE: THE ASHES TEA BREAK | FOX CRICKET | 314,000 |
| 17 | SEVEN’S CRICKET: BIG BASH LEAGUE – BRISBANE V MELB STARS | 7mate, Channel 7 | 309,000 |
| 18 | LIVE: THE ASHES BIG BREAK | FOX CRICKET | 292,000 |
| 19 | NINE’S AFTERNOON NEWS | Channel 9 | 291,000 |
| 20 | LIVE: THE ASHES: AUS V ENG 3RD TEST D2 | FOX CRICKET | 279,000 |
Other Monday Sport
Cricket: Big Bash League
Hobart Hurricanes v Adelaide Strikers
Seven: 899,000 (Metro 584,000 Regional 315,000)
Fox Cricket: 303,000/201,000 (1st and 2nd innings)
Brisbane Heat v Melbourne Stars
Seven: 454,000 (Metro 309,000 Regional 145,000)
Fox Cricket: 171,000/96,000
