An analysis of the first week of Australian Open ratings on Nine indicates the tennis has so far failed to draw as big a crowd as the Ashes cricket did on Seven.

Despite the Ashes cricket only being played on 18 days out of a potential 25, the much-hyped cricket series has smashed a lob from the tennis for six.

The data will be carefully analysed by advertisers, with one major media agency telling Mumbrella that, partly because of timing, many big and small brands think about buying both sports.

Ratings battle: Ashes cricket v Australian Open tennis

A quick analysis of the data starts with the magic millions. Getting over a million viewers in metro markets alone was no big achievement not that long ago. These days 1m average viewers nationally see the sales teams and the advertisers doing high fives in the office.

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Across the 18 days of the Ashes coverage on Seven, there were 37 sessions (out of a possible 51) where the average national audience stood above 1m.

On the first eight days of the Australian Open on Nine’s primary channel, the audience cracked 1m five times.

The cricket audience passed 1.5m in five separate sessions. The tennis audience has peaked at 1.158m, which was for the De Minaur clash on Sunday night: a strong figure considering it was up against the final of the Big Bash League on Seven, which managed to average 997,000.

The lowest rating primetime session so far was the Night session* on Day 1 of the Australian Open. The tournament started with a national average of 661,000. Also that night the launch of “I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here” trailed only Seven News with 1,185,000 (consolidated data lifting the overnight figure of 925,000).

This comparison doesn’t factor in Nine advertisers having the option of also accessing packages that include coverage of the tennis across 9Gem and Stan. The 9Gem audience can add as much as 200,000, while the audience numbers for Stan are not revealed by the broadcaster.

The biggest clashes of the Australian Open are also yet to come, although there remains just one Australian left (De Minaur, who will play Carlos Alcaraz tonight) in the chase for the Men’s and Women’s singles titles.

What’s the best buy for advertisers: Cricket or tennis?

One of Australia’s biggest media agencies notes that the events work equally hard for the commercial partners.

Major brands have reasons to buy both, founder and chairman of Atomic 212, Barry O’Brien, told Mumbrella.

“The sporting events are tentpole programming for the networks because it gives them the opportunity to cross-sell into other programming later on in the year.

“Big advertisers need to be always on so they ideally use the cricket across December, and then later in January click straight into the Australian Open.”

He added it’s not just Australia’s biggest advertisers either. “There is a place for both big brands and small brands. All categories seem to be covered too, from fast food, to travel, to auto, plus retail from the likes of Gerry Harvey and Katie Page.”

Despite the number of options available to advertisers, O’Brien explained that TV continues to attract big dollars.

He also added that while Seven had the Ashes, it was still being well supplemented by the Big Bash, which O’Brien notes pulls a younger audience.

Are clients ever tempted to over-spend on cricket or tennis?

O’Brien replies that “clever media people” make sure there is budget left over for the rest of the year.

“Brands are still active for the remainder of the year, but these summer sports are the two platforms that they go and support.”

Nine’s biggest tennis crowds

After the first eight days of the Australian Open 2026, it is outperforming the 2025 tournament. The average audience for the night session on Nine this year has been higher than 2025 five times. After the first eight nights last year, the night sessions failed to make it to 1m, with 943,000 the best result at that point on Day 3.

In a taste of what might be to come in the final days this year, Nine’s audiences pushed above a million 10 times in the final week of the 2025 Australian Open.

Nine splits its tennis into four sessions for ratings data. The biggest session audiences for Days 1 through 8 for 2026 as follows:

Day session (11am until 6pm): 670,000 on Day 8

Night session (7pm until 9pm): 1,158,000 Day 8

Night session 2 (9pm until 10.30pm): 1,056,000 Day 6

Late session: (22:30 until close): 749,000 Day 5

Data: VOZ national average audiences Consolidated (day 1), Overnight (Days 2-8)