Australian commercial broadcaster Nine Network’s average audience for the opening two Test matches of the current Australia v India series was 30 per cent higher than the average for the last Australia v England series.
Nine, the host broadcaster of the India series, recorded an average audience of 1.492 million viewers for the first two matches of the four-match series. Australia leads the series 2-0 ahead of the start of the third Test match in Perth on Friday.
The 2010-11 Ashes series between Australia and England gave Nine an average national rating of 1.144 million. Australia lost the series 3-1 to suffer its first home series defeat by England in 24 years.
Channel 9’s head of sport, Steve Crawley, told the Daily Telegraph that the ratings indicated that India is currently a bigger draw than traditional rival England for Australian audiences.