The Australian premiere of the genealogical detective series, Who Do You Think You Are? attracted a record 863, 000 viewers to SBS last night – the largest audience share for a local production for SBS ever, according to the latest figures from OzTAM*.
The winning figures follow the conclusion of the successful BBC series, which aired prior to the Australian premiere and rated very strongly across the six episodes.
Who Do You Think You Are? tracks the heritage of six unique Australians as they look to their own roots to explain who they are and how this fits with their view of what it means to be Australian.
The debut Australian episode featured Jack Thompson and following episodes feature Kate Ceberano, Geoffrey Robertson, Catherine Freeman, Dennis Cometti and Ita Buttrose.
Meanwhile, Top Gear continues its winning streak, topping the ratings chart with its Polar special. More than 1.2 million viewers tuned into the popular UK series in the week commencing January 6.
Other ratings hits include Marx and Venus (508, 000 viewers), Mythbusters (475, 000 viewers) and Iron Chef (429, 000), which were placed third, fourth and five in the ratings chart respectively.
A table of the top 10- shows for the week commencing January 6, 2008 is below.
SBS Top Ten Programs w/c January 6, 2008
Rank – Description – AUD (000s)
1 – Top Gear Polar Special – 1028
2 – Who Do You Think You Are? – 863
3 – Marx & Venus – 508
4 – Mythbusters – 475
5 – Iron Chef – 429
6 – South Park Rpt – 397
7 – Inspector Rex Rpt – 393
8 – A Survivor’s Guide to Plane Crashes – 365
9 – Skins – 364
10 – XY Documentary: Indie Sex – 358
Source: OzTAM/AGB Nielsen Media Research 6/1-12/1/2008
[release from SBS]