DESPITE drawing in 90,000 Canberra viewers, WIN’s coverage of the London Olympics opening ceremony still didn’t manage to top ratings for this year’s second State of Origin, which attracted 111,000 local viewers. 

In a report by Grey Advertising media newsletter “Eye on the Media”, day one coverage of the Olympics peaked at over 76,000 viewers – less than expected for the major sporting event.

Nationally, the numbers were the lowest Australian audience for an Olympic opening ceremony since the current OzTam system began in 1999.

It’s suspected pay TV station Foxtel, with its market penetration of 36 per cent in Canberra and eight-channel coverage, may be pulling eyeballs away from WIN.

Meanwhile, “Masterchef” continued to perform for TEN with the finale night and winner announcement drawing in 70,058.

But TEN’s much-hyped ‘dramality’ series “The Shire” has failed to take off in Canberra, coming in at number 34 on the program list, although actual numbers are marginally up on the previous week.

Top 20 programs – Canberra 22 – 28 July 2012

# Program Channel Audience

1 LONDON LIVE: D1 EARLY EVENING WIN 76,468
2 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA – THE WINNER ANNOUNCED SC TEN 70,058
3 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA – FINALE NIGHT SC TEN 69,727
4 NATIONAL NEWS SATURDAY WIN 63,205
5 LONDON LIVE: D1 EVENING WIN 62,711
6 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA – MON SC TEN 59,760
7 LONDON LIVE: OPENING CEREMONY WIN 51,868

8 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA – TUES SC TEN 43,498
9 MEDIA WATCH ABC1 43,085
10 NATIONAL NEWS SUNDAY WIN 42,803
11 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA – SUN SC TEN 42,621
12 HAMISH & ANDY’S EURO GAP YEAR WIN 41,954
13 WIN NEWS WIN 40,572
14 FOUR CORNERS ABC1 40,348
15 LONDON GOLD: OPENING CEREMONY (R) WIN 38,062
16 NATIONAL NEWS WIN 37,985
17 GRUEN SWEAT ABC1 36,144
18 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT ABC1 34,562
19 HOT PROPERTY WIN 34,116
20 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA ALL STARS – THURS SC TEN 34,101

Source: Regional TAM, All people, Overnight data.