Day One of first Test attracts huge TV viewership

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The opening day of the first cricket Test between India and Australia attracted a huge number of eyeballs, which came within 1000 viewers of eclipsing last year's Ashes day total on Channel Nine.

The first day's play of the Test dominated television viewing in Australia and was watched by more than 2.6 million viewers across the country.

A peak national audience (five city metro and regional) of 2.625 million people tuned in to the live action from the MCG during day one.

The average national audience was 1.838 million people and audiences were up on last year in Sydney (2.1 per cent), Brisbane (21.7 per cent) and Adelaide (7.8 per cent), according to a report in Daily Telegraph.

In Sydney, Nine's coverage attracted a peak audience of 486,000 and an average of 339,000, with an audience share of 67.8 per cent.

In Melbourne, it secured a peak audience of 550,000 and an average of 379,000 viewers and drew an audience share of 67.5 per cent. In Brisbane, a peak audience of 310,000 people tuned in with an average of 251,000 and an audience share of 71.1 per cent.