It was Nine Network CEO David Gyngell's A$450M ($392M) "ouch moment" as he described it last June, the moment when Nine Entertainment retained cricket "but at a price many in the industry saw as too high," according to Nick Leys of THE AUSTRALIAN. The investment "has paid off." Nine is ending the summer "with a spectacular set of figures" led by Australia's 5-0 victory over England in the Ashes and an ad share for December of 45.9% off the second, third and fourth Ashes tests. Gyngell: "Cricket is part of Nine's DNA but I have expectations on any rights we buy because we need them to perform strongly." The Ashes series achieved an average audience of 1.128 million across metro markets and a combined audience (metro and regional) of 1.653 million. At the same time, Ten "has made the most of its coverage of the shorter Twenty20 games" off the back of its A$80M investment. While those figures "have bounced back" and Sunday night's final "will undoubtedly prove a big win for the network, Seven will be disappointed on the overall figures" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/27).
