If there were ever a day when the spin machines ran hot enough to short-circuit a newsroom coffee machine, it was the day the networks sent out their year-end ratings wrap.
Suddenly, everyone was a winner, every metric was a record, and 2025 started to look a lot like the era of free-to-air participation trophies – albeit very shiny ones.
Behind the chest-beating and carefully calibrated brag sheets, the hard numbers still tell a real story: Seven has nudged ahead of Nine in Total TV share, Nine has tightened its grip on the advertiser-sweet demos, and 10 has built its biggest streaming year on the backs of younger audiences who are drifting faster than ever toward connected screens.
Now, into the actual results…
Seven: live sport muscle, 7plus momentum and drama rebounds
Seven enters 2026 with its chest out, pointing to both audience growth and streaming acceleration. The network says it lifted its Total TV audience by 1.6 per cent year-on-year, finishing the survey with a 41.6 per cent commercial share.
Across the 40 survey weeks (minus Easter), Seven topped 24 of them. The network now says more than 17.4 million Australians tune in each month, including 4.8 million on 7plus.
Growth across the platform was significant: average live minutes up 73 per cent, VOD up 24 per cent, and daily active users up 34 per cent. BVOD share finished at 41.4 per cent, solidly ahead of last year.
Sport was the spine. The 2025 AFL season reached 17.58 million viewers, with the Geelong–Brisbane Grand Final becoming Seven’s biggest program of the year, pulling 4.19 million in Total TV and a record 984,700 viewers on 7plus Sport, up more than 50 per cent.
The Ashes lit up early summer. The First Test reached 6.2 million Australians, averaging 1.15 million per session. Streaming exploded: 186,000 viewers per session on 7plus Sport, up 232 per cent. Day 2’s third session hit 1.49 million.
News and current affairs also had a strong year. Seven says 7NEWS now reaches 12 million Australians per month, with the 6pm weekday bulletin up 4 per cent, Sunday up 6 per cent and Spotlight lifting 13 per cent.
Sunrise
Breakfast and mornings remain an unbroken winning streak:
Sunrise: number one for 22 consecutive years;
Weekend Sunrise: leading since 2006;
The Morning Show: 18 years on top.
Drama helped round out the slate. RFDS became Australia’s most-watched FTA drama (1.12 million average), while Home and Away lifted across Total TV and streaming.
Tentpoles surged too: MKR up 16 per cent, Idol up 15 per cent, The Rookie up 13 per cent, The 1% Club up 11 per cent.
Seven West Media CEO Jeff Howard framed the year in classic momentum terms, telling advertisers: “Seven’s story in 2025 is one of momentum and audience growth. Our audiences have grown thanks to our unmissable slate of the best Australian and international content, and the powerhouse that is 7plus.”
Group MD of Television Angus Ross doubled down on Seven’s ownership of “big moment” viewing, saying: “More and more Australians are turning to Seven and 7plus for the big moments – the nail-biting sport that unites our nation, the news that connects us and the entertainment that dominates our national conversation.”
He teased next year’s slate – My Reno Rules, Caught In The Middle, Mick Molloy and Glenn Robbins’ new comedy, plus 6,000 hours of fresh content – and leaned heavily on Seven’s live sport scale.
“Australians love sport, and the growth in our audiences this year proves they love watching it live and free on Seven and 7plus,” Ross said.
Angus Ross
Nine: the biggest program of 2025 and unbeatable demo leadership
If Seven owned the total share, Nine owned the demos – and the metro story. Nine says it finished the year as the number one network across the five capitals, leading 25–54s, 16–39s, grocery buyers with children and Total People.
In the evenings (6pm to midnight), Nine recorded:
• 44.5% metro commercial share in 25–54s
• 47.4% in 16–39s
• 42.1% in GBs with kids
• 42.1% in Total People
Streaming was equally strong: 9Now posted a 45 per cent commercial BVOD share in 25–54s and almost 50 per cent in 16–39s.
And Nine delivered the single biggest TV event of 2025: The NRL Grand Final – 4.564 million Total TV. The game also set a new streaming record for 9Now with 1.377 million viewers, becoming the highest-rating BVOD event in VOZ history.
Rugby league dominated the network’s top programs. The State of Origin series averaged 3.846 million viewers, with BVOD up 23 per cent. The Women’s Origin series also posted growth across platforms.
Tennis remained reliable. The Australian Open Men’s Final averaged 2.068 million viewers (BVOD up 15 per cent), while the Women’s Final lifted 16 per cent in Total TV and 44 per cent in BVOD.
MAFS
Reality delivered the network’s most consistent year in a decade:
Married at First Sight: 2.58 million per episode
The Block Grand Final: 2.69 million
The Floor: 1.37 million
Tipping Point Australia: 753,000 (up 16 per cent)
Love Island Australia: 734,000 average, driven by a 576,000 streaming-only audience, up 104 per cent
News and current affairs also powered Nine’s brand. 9News’ 6pm bulletin averaged 1.263 million Total TV, up 11 per cent, with 130,000 nightly streamers on 9Now (up 48 per cent). A Current Affair held steady at 1.027 million.
Nine executive director Hamish Turner said the network’s mission was cultural impact: “We are immensely pleased that Nine has consistently presented Australia’s most essential and culturally resonant content throughout 2025.”
He highlighted trust as Nine’s premium currency: “In an age of disinformation and information overload, the trust and credibility of our News and Current Affairs programming is the vital currency Australians rely on.”
Chief sales officer Matt James tied the big moments to advertising demand: “Brands and advertisers want to be part of big cultural moments – and we deliver that from January through to December.”
Matt James
10: youngest audience, record streaming and a supercharged reality revival
Network 10 enters 2026 waving one clear flag: youth.
The broadcaster claims to have the youngest FTA audience in Australia, with an average viewer age up to seven years younger than its competitors’.
2025 was also 10’s biggest streaming year ever – up 31 per cent – with a monthly streaming reach of 2.7 million.
Reality drove the lift:
Big Brother: 5.5 million reached, 881,000 viewers average (up 125 per cent), and the network’s biggest streaming audience ever
Survivor: Australia V The World: 842,000 average, 225,000 streamers
The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition: 813,000 average, up seven per cent
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II: 806,000 average
MasterChef Australia: Back To Win: 760,000 average, record streaming audience
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!: 753,000 average
Gogglebox: 722,000 average, streaming up 214 per cent
Comedy also punched hard: Sam Pang Tonight averaged 590,000 and topped its slot; The Cheap Seats hit 538,000; Taskmaster Australia reached 489,000.
Sport proved a crucial pillar. The 2025 F1 Australian Grand Prix drew its largest TV audience since 2016, averaging 1.06 million viewers. Matildas and Socceroos matches posted record streaming numbers across 10 and Paramount+.
Paramount Australia VP content Tamara Simoneau framed the year around momentum: Big Brother broke records, clocking up 10’s biggest ever streaming audiences and captivating hard-to-reach younger demos. It is safe to say that Big Brother returned home with a bang!
CSO Rod Prosser pitched 10’s youth skew directly to marketers: “2025 has been a standout year for 10’s slate, delivering exceptional performance with younger, commercially valuable audiences that advertisers are actively seeking.”
Free-to-air’s fundamentals: sport reigns, news holds, reality endures
Across all three networks, the dominant trend of 2025 is unmistakable: Australians still show up for big, shared, live moments.
The two biggest programs of the year were the NRL and AFL Grand Finals. Motorsport, tennis, Ashes cricket and prime-time football fixtures all lifted.
News remained a daily anchor, with Nine leading metro markets and Seven owning breakfast and mornings.
Reality franchises again proved resilient – MAFS, The Block, MKR, Idol, Survivor, MasterChef, and Celebrity all posted double-digit lifts in Total TV or streaming.
The OzTAM 2025 survey reflects a local TV industry that’s fragmenting but still capable of delivering scale when it matters – and in 2026, the fight for those moments only gets fiercer.