Ariarne Titmus' coach Dean Boxall reacts to her Tokyo win (Image: Seven)

Games, games, games — with apologies to the late Norman May (what would that sports-calling icon and swimming nut done with Ariarne Titmus’ epic win in the women’s 400 metre freestyle classic?).

Almost 1.3 million people tuned in across the five metro markets for the swim (the period from 12.15pm to 12.45pm — the race started around 12.20pm and ended around 12.29pm or thereabouts). If Seven had broken out the race for a separate rating, it would have been the eighth most-watched broadcast on all of Monday just on its metro figures.

Seven won easily, as we would have expected it to do. But the size of the games audience, while big, is falling. Monday night was the lowest of the three days so far. The average of the evening and night figures are:

  • Saturday, day one, 1.788 million
  • Sunday, day two, 2.12 million and
  • Monday, day three, 1.66 million.

Audiences will continue to fall for next week when the athletics dominates (with finals in a few other competitions). That’s the way it has happened in past games coverages.

Non-games programming continues of course, and the Four Corners report on the dangers of Tik Tok averaged 532,000 nationally. Nine’s Beauty and The Geek got 739,00, Have You Been Paying Attention on Ten, 750,000, and Australian Survivor, also on Ten, 777,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (46.3%)
  2. Nine (19.3%)
  3. Ten (17.7%)
  4. ABC (12.0%)
  5. SBS (4.8%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (31.4%)
  2. Nine (13.6%)
  3. Ten (11.8%)
  4. ABC (8.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (2.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (10.5%)
  2. 10 Bold (3.5%)
  3. 7TWO (2.7%)
  4. Gem (2.2%)
  5. 10 Peach (2.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 2.205 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 2.140 million
  3. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Evening (Seven) — 1.734 million
  4. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Night (Seven) — 1.596 million
  5. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Afternoon (Seven) — 1.507 million
  6. Nine News — 1.506 million
  7. Nine News 6.30 — 1.368 million
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) —1.303 million
  9. 7pm ABC News — 1.128 million
  10. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Late Afternoon (Seven) — 1.097 million

Top metro programs: 

  1. Seven News — 1.474 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.405 million
  3. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Evening (Seven) — 1.210 million
  4. Nine News — 1.156 million
  5. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Night (Seven) — 1.146 million
  6. Tokyo Games Day 3 – Afternoon (Seven) — 1.087 million
  7. Nine News 6.30 — 1.038 million

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.474 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.405 million
  3. Nine News — 1.156 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.038 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 771,000
  6. ACA (Nine) — 738,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 662,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 496,000
  9. Ten News First — 451,000
  10. Four Corners (ABC) — 370,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 85,000
  2. Credlin (Sky News) — 64,000
  3. Alan Jones (Sky News) — 61,000
  4. Paul Murray (Sky News) — 50,000
  5. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy), Newsday (Sky News) —47,000