Warnie puts bums on seats for last time

Warnie won the evening for all of us last night, with his memorial service at the MCG watched by close to 3 million people across various channels and services. On Seven’s main channel, the broadcast averaged 1.165 million. The documentary Warnie, around 9.30pm (much of which has helped the networks cover the great man’s life), averaged a further 433,000.

The memorial service on Nine’s Gem channel and on Nine’s main channel averaged 521,000. ABC News broadcast it to an average 239,000. Ten broadcast it on 10 Bold and on its main channel in Melbourne, averaging 242,000. Foxtel broadcast it on Sky News, Fox Cricket and Fox Footy Channels and it totalled 204,000. So all up, easily 2.8 million watched the service and documentary — and we all said goodbye.

Seven took the big risk with the national broadcast on its main channel. Foxtel realised that fans of football and news nuts were also Warnie fans. Streaming data next week will be watched with interest by the network. Seven separated the service broadcast and the documentary with a half-hour news update that held much of the audience and averaged 1.131 million.

And that was the night — a reminder of what we have lost. Having Don Bradman’s grand-daughter, opera singer Greta Bradman, perform was a very nice touch.

Regional Top 5: Seven News, 547,000; Seven News 6.30, 531,000; The Latest: Seven News, 353,000; The Shane Warne Memorial (Seven), 336,000; The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 306,000.

Network channel share: