Seven’s Telethon rates #1 for every minute of the 26 hour live broadcast
The spirit of Telethon was in full swing over the weekend welcoming back some of Australia’s biggest stars for the iconic 26-hour live broadcast. 613,632 West Australians tuned in as WA rallied together to raise a record breaking $71,356,721 million for Telethon.
In addition to winning every minute of broadcast ratings, Telethon also hit another epic milestone, reaching a staggering $500 million raised in its 55 years.
The broadcast kicked off on Saturday evening with an audience of 93,000 metro viewers tuning in to watch opening performances from AGT and Australian Idol host Ricki-Lee, The Voice 2022 winner Lachie Gill, Human Nature’s Phil Burton and a host of local artists.
Over the course of the opening night an average of 71,000 enjoyed more performances from Ella Hooper, Jemma Rix from Frozen the Musical, Normie Rowe and Johnny Young and the traditional Telethon antics with Home and Away’s Matt Evans heeding the call to take his shirt off not long before falling victim to the infamous Phantom Pie Thrower.
After a massive weekend of fun, the closing show kicked off at 7pm on Sunday to an average audience of 158,000 viewers, and saw live performances from the Hoodoo Gurus and Casey Barnes. As the final tally announcement edged closer, 166,000 West Australians watched Premier Mark McGowan provide a record $11 million donation to cap off a fantastic Telethon weekend.
During the 26-hour broadcast, people were treated to a weekend full of entertainment, laughter and unscripted moments. Along with much loved 7NEWS Perth presenters and reporters, for the first time since before COVID, a stellar line-up of stars from interstate returned, including:
• David Koch – Sunrise
• Natalie Barr – Sunrise
• Sally Bowrey – Sunrise
• Mark Beretta – Sunrise
• Michael Usher – The Latest
• Larry Emdur – The Morning Show / The Chase
• Karen Ledbury – The Morning Show
• James Tobin – Weekend Sunrise
• Matt Shirvington – Weekend Sunrise / 7Sport
• Peter Ford – The Morning Show
• Luke Hodge – 7Sport
• Brian Taylor – 7Sport
• Abbey Gelmi – 7Sport
• Abbey Holmes – 7Sport
• Will Davison – Supercars
• Riana Crehan – SAS / Supercars
• Sonia Kruger – The Voice/Big Brother/ Dancing With The Stars
• Charlie Albone – Better Homes and Gardens
• Juliet Love – Better Homes and Gardens
• Manu Feildel – MKR
• Locky Gilbert – SAS Australia / The 4WD Adventure Show
• Lynne McGranger – (Irene) Home and Away
• Ada Nicodemou – (Leah) Home and Away
• Matt Evans – (Theo) Home and Away
• Kirsty Marillier – (Rose) Home and Away
• Juliet Godwin – (Bree) Home and Away
• Luke Van Os – (Xander) Home and Away
• Jacqui Purvis – (Felicity) Home and Away
To relive the magic moments and highlights from the weekend, please see the following short video: click here.
1 Comment
Well done to the Seven and Telethon teams on this. A brilliant community event that also build the brand for Seven in WA.
One of the things that this demonstrates is the power of building and evolving a brand over time.
The individual audience numbers are strong and impressive as stand alones, as is winning ‘every minute’, but it is worth looking at the broader audience numbers in context of the total population, as a percentage. Free to air tv remains a challenge and there a lot of people who have permanently cut the cord.