‘Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story’ Helps Seven Network to No. 1 Ratings
The TV premiere of the Michael Gudinski documentary was part of a No. 1 schedule.
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story pulled in a national audience of 563,000 and a BVOD audience of 19,000 for Network Seven on Tuesday, April 9, according to data published by market research firm OzTam, with a national TV reach of 1.62 million.
That’s well ahead of Nine’s Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars (376,000 average across two episodes), and behind the timeslot champion, Network 10’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (737,000).
That strong result for Ego, combined with the success of Seven’s The Chase Australia, Home and Away, and 7News, helped the network win Tuesday (5.54 million reach).
Ego rolled out in cinemas last year to coincide with the 50th anniversary celebrations for the Mushroom Group, the indie juggernaut Gudinski built from the ground up.
Helmed by Paul Goldman (“Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins”) and produced by Bethany Jones, Ego captures Gudinski at work and play, and houses exclusive interviews with many of the great acts which came into his orbit, including Jimmy Barnes, Vika & Linda Bull, Garbage, Dave Grohl, Vance Joy, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Mark Seymour, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen and Sting.
Initially pitched with the working title Gudinski, and announced to the public in March 2022, Ego is a Mushroom Studios production, with principal production funding from Screen Australia in association with VicScreen, with financing support from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).
Gudinski died March 2, 2021, aged 68, trigging an unprecedented wave of tributes from the global music community, from Paul McCartney to Springsteen and Sheeran, who wrote and dedicated the song “Visiting Hours” to his good friend.
Mushroom Group is said to be Australia and New Zealand’s largest independent music and entertainment collective, employing more than 260 people across six specialist divisions and more than two dozen companies.
Recently, 63 current staff members — collectively serving 1,193 years with the company — were recognised for their efforts with special commemorative plaques.